Being a food critic is a responsible job as people trust your reviews and food-related suggestions say Peter Salzano a popular food blogger. People nowadays like to try new food items especially the one shared or suggested by a food critic like you, by a food Instagram influence, reviews by experts like you, or recommended by a friend, etc.
Awareness and knowledge are easy to spread and gain as well. People travel a lot these days, try new dishes and like to share their experience on social platforms. This makes it easy for the restaurant owners to advertise their offers and top menu items with influencers and other food experts. You can consider it as a free advertisement by travelers or the restaurant customers.
But if you want to be a food critic then you must have good knowledge about how to test the food. Here are some tips shared by Peter J Salzano that will help you to know how to taste and judge dishes:
Consider skillful cooking first
Mostly the food critic focuses on the presentation of the dish first which is not the right approach. You should consider how the food is cooked? Check if the spices have blended properly, if it's a banked item, judge it on the basis of softness, check if the cake is dry? etc. After that move on to presentations as many small or I must say the roadside food shops do not focus on presentation as much as the big restaurants so keep your judgment focused on how the food is cooked.
Details of the dish
As a food critic you should check the details of a dish, like what are the spices used, is there a special ingredient? Or is something used added to the dish that makes it taste different? This kind of situation is most common with traditional dishes where people use the secret or homemade ingredients to make the dish taste best.
Is something missing or used in large quantity
Sometimes to bring a twist in a dish or to create something new the chefs try different ways to make the dish special. This is a point when adding something to the dish actually spoils the dish, you need to identify that first. Sometimes the chefs serve some extra with the dish like avocado, extra chocolate, etc, that was not needed and should be identified by you as a food critic.
Most important the ingredients of the dish
You should have a good knowledge of the ingredients, how they taste, identify the ingredients by the color of the dish, judge the dish by the flavors of the ingredients.
These are the simple ways in which you can judge the dishes and not just by the presentation of the dish, says Peter Salzano. Keep in mind the cost of the dish, judge the cost on parameters like the ingredients used, time to prepare the dish and the restaurant serving it. It is suggested to provide your honest opinions with the management so that they can improve and the customers can choose the dish based on your reviews.
