Miso Maple Magic + Connecting to TASTE

This is way more than just a dressing.

Happy Friday, friends! Sometimes it’s the simplest of recipes that are the biggest game-changers. Like today’s. It’s creamy miso dressing that feels like magic, instantly elevating salads, slaws, noodles, vegetables, grain bowls, chicken, salmon and more. It’s one of those powerhouse back-pocket staples that takes just minutes to make. Before we dive in however, let’s talk about connection, and how it influences taste. 

As I’ve mentioned before, every New Year’s Eve I set an intention, which is most often just a single word that describes what I want to lean into in the coming year. The intention isn’t a resolution or goal (learn more about the differences between intentions and goals here) but rather a feeling or state that I want to better embody, such as presence (last year) or stillness (2021). The intentions don’t come from my mind, but bubble up from someplace deeper. This year the intention that appeared was connection. 

I assumed connection meant with people, and in part, it does. I launched this newsletter this year, where I can better connect with all of you. I’ve been paying closer attention to the connections I have with my family and friends. However, I’ve come to realize that it’s also a connection with everything—with my body, my inner essence and even with the things around me. 

Last month my family vacationed on the beach (which was its own lesson in releasing expectations—you can read about that here), and I realized that the act of lying on a chair in the sand could be experienced in different ways. I could use the time to veg out—to dissociate from everything. Or, I could use it as a chance to connect—to connect with the heat of the sun on my skin, to connect with the vastness of the sky and the sound of the waves, to connect with my daughter as she sat beside me. 

Of course, lying on the beach is both of those things, but I found that the more I focused on connection, the more something awakened inside me. I could become fully present and in relationship with the sand under my toes, with the sound of the waves crashing, with my own heart. I could be more intimate with the world around me, and in that intimacy I found deep satisfaction. 

Connecting to taste

We can carry this idea of connection to the kitchen and to our sense of taste. Often we speed through tasting our food—we’re in a hurry, or we’re talking, or we’re watching a screen. We dissociate and eat to numb or as a means to an end. But if we pause and connect to our sense of taste—if we take the time to really taste what we’re eating—then we can access a deeper intimacy to our food. 

I’ve found that this intimacy fosters more satisfaction and pleasure (or perhaps just curiosity if what I’m tasting is new or unfamiliar). Consciously connecting to taste slows me down, allowing me to experience the full spectrum of a particular food. I begin to notice the sweet, salty, sour, bitter and/or pungent flavors as they hit my tongue. My palate awakens. I can better discern my own preferences (do I like this? do I not like this?), as well as better gauge when I’m filled. 

Tasting also makes us better cooks. By tasting and exploring we can begin to understand how how acid, salt, sugar and bitter flavors impact the dishes we’re making. We learn to trust our own palates.

Tasting with our full presence can even connect to the wider world and foster a deeper sense of gratitude. Can you sense the soil from which the carrot was pulled? Can you connect to the beans that made the chocolate? Can you honor the hands that formed the cheese?

Food ceases to become a means to an end but rather something vastly more interesting and perhaps even sacred. We’re alive in bodies, inviting connection and pleasure.

My invitation to you this week is to connect to your sense of taste: Pause. Taste. Connect. Enjoy. Engage with yourself and with the world, even if just for a bite.  

Related essays:

• The Power of Pleasure

• Cooking in the “Dark”

• Intentions in the Kitchen

• Gratitude

• Intentional Eating

Miso Maple Dressing

This miso maple dressing is the perfect place to start. White miso lends a salty, umami flavor to the dressing, providing a grounding foundation. Garlic and ginger provide a subtle punch, and maple syrup sings a high note. Can you feel where the salt hits your tongue? Can you pick out the hint of spice? Can you taste the uplifing sweetness in the finish? 

The dressing is endlessly versatile and is an easy way to transform a simple meal into something pretty damn spectacular. Here are some ways I love to use it: