Watching "Fat Salt Acid Heat"

Based on the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking, a new Netflix series covers the four elements of cooking. These were explored in Samin Nosrat's book (published 2017). I haven't read the book, but what I understand is that it's really about cooking techniques. In contrast, the Netflix series is essentially a travelogue with lots of discussions of local cooking and lots of interviews and cooking sessions with local food people. Each episode includes the cooking of a few specialties of the region, and shows Samin tasting the results with wonderful facial gestures in response. It's a highly enjoyable series!

The Italian countryside from the first episode of the Netflix series.

Every episode has beautifully filmed landscapes, as well as visits to farmers' markets and places where traditional foods are produced. In Italy, featured in the "Fat" episode, we visit a butcher shop that makes salumi from special pigs. (We also meet the pigs.) We visit a Parmesan cheese producer and learn that the dominant flavor of Parmesan is not just fat, but also umami, the elusive fifth taste that comes from amino acid, in this case visible crystals of amino acid that form as the wheels of cheese are aged.

Samin tastes the lardo from a leg of pork. She was born in California, but her family had recently immigrated
from Iran -- where of course pork is taboo.

Episode 2: Japanese traditional foods are the focus for Salt.

A visit to a traditional soy sauce factory.

The artisian soy sauce producers are disappearing.

Episode 3: In the Yucatan, Mexico, we learn about acid -- and also its opposite, alkali. The corn for tortillas is soaked in an alkaline solution, which makes it usable and also more digestible. Here: partially automated tortilla production. We also see
the even more traditional hand-forming and grilling of little corn tortillas.

A major source of acid flavor in the cuisine of the Yucatan is the sour orange. Here, Samin shops and cooks with
a local woman, learning to make turkey in escabeche.

Samin's expressive response to habanero peppers!

The final episode, Heat, takes place in Berkeley, California, where Samin has lived since attending college at UC Berkeley.
She worked at Chez Panisse, where part of the episode takes place.

The series wraps up in Samin's own Berkeley kitchen.

Dinner in her dining room.

Samin's mother and some friends eat roast chicken and a traditional Persian
saffron rice.

The Netflix series Salt Fat Acid Heat debuted a few weeks ago. It deserves the great reviews that it's been getting ever since. All photos are screen shots!