Samin Nosrat’s “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” Docuseries’ Last Episode Wasn’t My Favourite

Have you watched “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” on Netflix? You probably already have but I only watched it last week–yes, I am late. What drew me into watching the docuseries was its title Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. It is a very clever title because I do think that great food has the perfect balance of those four components. Samin Nosrat’s show explores 4 basic keys to wonderful cooking. I watched from one episode to the other mesmerized by everything until I reached the last episode, which talks about Heat. I was let down by that episode and here is why.

The first three episodes are about fat, salt, and acid. All three of them are shown as ingredients which are essential in good food. Samin visited three different countries that make or use those basic keys masterfully– Italy for fat from olive oil, Japan for salt from soy sauce, and Mexico for acid from salsa. These episodes were perfect and I thought since they are on ingredients the last episode, Heat, would be also be about ingredients such as spices or chillies that add heat to food. It turned out to be on fire. In that episode, she talks about fire being essential to great cooking, which I do agree it is. But do everyone not know this already?

I do think that great food has a perfect balance of heat from spices. The three places Samin visited in the show–Japan, Italy and Mexico—use heat from spices masterfully in their respective food. Wasabi in sushi, dried red chillies in pasta and, jalapenos in tacos. Of course, there are many countries and cultures that use spices but I am just giving an example of the places she explored in the show. I think that not exploring heat as an ingredient in the form of spices was a missed opportunity.

I strive to achieve the balance of salt, fat, acid, and heat in my cooking because that makes food go from good to great.  An easy example of these four keys in one dish is Bolognese. A great bolognese has all four keys perfectly balanced. Acid from tomatoes, salt from sea salt or parmigiano reggiano, fat from cheese or butter and heat from dried red chillies. My favourite dishes that have the perfect balance of these four keys is Ghormeh Sabzi and Beef with Spinach and Chickpeas.

I did enjoy the first three episodes of the show thoroughly and I would highly recommend it if you haven't watched it already.

Photo via Netflix