Ok, before we start lets get your head around the basics of seasoning. There are four ways to season. Like Duh.

Sour seasons

Sweet seasons

Salty seasons

Spice seasons.

This is easiest to see in Asian cooking, but look for these building blocks and you will see them in every jar in your cupboard, on every shelf in your fridge. Seriously, open your cupboard and decide which category every thing falls into sweet, sour, salt or spice. Or if it is balanced.Don't just look at it, TASTE IT! then decide. Then look at their ingredients and see the four building blocks with in them. (Don’t stress if the whole four seasonings are not present in each. Its just a learning exercise)

It makes experimenting easy and fun.

That’s why everyone loves ketchup/tomato sauce on hot chips/fries. Its full of vinegar (sour), sugar (sweet), concentrated tomato (spice) and your pour it all over salty chips.

Take Japanese. Sushi rice has sugar and vinegar to season it, dipped in soy (salt) mixed with wasabi spice. Pickled ginger the same. Vinegar, sugar salt and ginger is spicy on its own.

Italian, Carbonara Sauce. Bacon (salty) cream/onion/garlic (sweet) Parmesan (sour) and lashings of cracked pepper for spice.

Mash potato, cream (sweet), butter (sweet/sour), salt and pepper to taste.

You can balance these or let one shine through. You might like a balanced mash with steak, but something a little sour with fish or lamb. How??? Find something sour for goodness sake, what ever that may be. A squeeze of lemon, sour cream instead of regular, sun dried tomato, sumac spice!!! Go through what is in you cupboard and play. There is no wrong answer here.

Thai. Coconut milk (sweet), lime juice (sour), fish sauce (salt), chili (spice).

Indian gets interesting, sweet, salty and sour spices building on each other. Finished with yogurt (sour) or coconut milk (sweet) and on and on.

Find your balance between these elements. If some thing is sour, add sweet. Too salty, add sweet and sour. Bland, add salt or a little of the 4. The Dali Lama said cook with blind abandon so go to it, relax. You get this and then you're on your way, you will only get better and more experimental.

Why am I telling you this. Because these recipes are guidelines at best, you're using different ingredients to me, maybe your lemons are sourer than mine, so you’ll need to adjust for that. How to adjust for sour add sweet……its up to you though.

Got it!?

Mainly how ever I am terribly lazy and am in no mood to write every sordid detail down for you. You are a big kid now after all.

Ok, so now lets go and play.