Anyone who has ever eaten something they liked can cook without recipes. That combination of raspberries and chocolate you enjoyed in a cafe can be served as chocolate ice cream and raspberries at home; if you liked salmon and avocado in sushi or a baguette, that’s the basis of a salad plate.

In fact, everyone already has a personal bank of great ideas to put on a plate. To perfect your palate and your plates, here are the Top 10 flavour-trail tips.

1. KNOW YOUR TASTE BUDS

Know whereabouts on your tongue to taste and you’ll recognise what’s missing or overdone in a mouthful.

BACKGROUND

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• Le Manoir’s healthy cooking course

We recognise most tastes all over the tongue, but you first taste sugars in a small area at the tip of the tongue; salt to either side and behind that area, and acidity in narrow strips on the edges of your tongue: bitterness at the back of the tongue and down the throat. The brothy taste of umami, the most satisfying but elusive taste, seems to have receptors in many parts of the tongue.

Then learn the difference between fruitiness (it ends with acidity) and sweetness; and realise acidity on the front of the palate is too often dismissed as bitterness, which is tasted at the back

2 . . . AND THE REST OF YOUR MOUTH

Both nose and tongue get easily bored and refuse to acknowledge the same flavours and aromas continuously. Such nose/tongue blindness is why it’s not always a good idea to taste, taste, taste.

They get bored, stop tasting; you panic and overseason at the last moment. If you must taste continuously ensure plenty of ventilation so the nose and tongue are kept stimulated.

3. UNDERSTAND THE BITE-BACK PRINCIPLE

The bigger the flavour of food, the less we need for both mouth and stomach to be satisfied – just as we easily drink less of fine wine than cheap quaffing wine.

Fats and oils mask taste buds and so give less taste and flavour experiences. Using the tastiest ingredients with only fats and oils which have bite-back flavour of their own means you eat and drink better, perhaps weigh less, too. Bite-back enjoyment also comes with delicious long finishes, staying on the palate well after you have swallowed

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