[dropcap1]Q. [/dropcap1]Why do some foods tend to become more flavorful a day after they're made? I just made some ratatouille out of Emeril's second cookbook. He says that it picks up more flavor after it's been reheated. I've also noticed this to be true with gumbo, chicken soup and other things. Why? [dropcap1]A. [/dropcap1]I've wondered that myself. After checking with many sources, I find that few of them had a guess as to what makes this happen, but they're all sure that certain things do taste better a day after being cooked. The most outstanding examples involve beans and other legumes like peas. In that case, it seems to be that the sugars and starches in the beans--largely undigestible by humans--oxidize after a day or two and become more available to our systems, part of which is our taste apparatus. I've also noticed that the small amount of fats that beans are always cooked with penetrate the beans more fully after a day or so. Vegetables such as those found in ratatouille are also not fully digested in our bodies. I suspect that the breakdown of their substance caused by the acids in the recipe (particularly in the tomatoes) allows a better flavor release. Another idea is that the fats found in most things we eat congeal into large blobs when a finished dish is refrigerated. When you reheat, this concentration of the fats make the rest of the food taste better. It should also be noted that not everyone agrees that a day-old dish is better. Among chefs I know, it's an even split as to whether seafood gumbo shows this behavior. On the other hand, many foods definitely do not get better the second day. Fried anything, for example, and even most roasted meats. Coffee is noticeably less good on day two and beyond.
