Culinario › Fix this dish

Food tastes bland or flat? Here's the fix

Your dish tastes flat, dull, or like it's missing something.

Then taste again

Still dull? Add a few drops of acid to wake up the flavor.

Why this works

Salt makes flavors clearer; acid adds brightness when seasoning is already right.

Salt isn't a flavor — it's a volume knob

Salt suppresses bitterness and makes every other flavor louder. Under-seasoning is the single most common reason home cooking tastes dull. Before you reach for herbs, spice, or more of anything else, add a pinch of salt and taste again — most of the time that was the whole problem.