Acid is versatile!

Stumbled upon this Eater article about a talk Eleven Madison Park’s Daniel Humm’s, “Where is the acid?” gave at Harvard in 2014. Link to video of the talk on youtube here. 

I don’t regularly think to acids to my cooking, but I think Daniel’s done quite the job convincing me to start. Why wouldn’t I want to have more balanced and flavorful dishes? 

Main takeaways about acid:

1. It adds flavor – balances flavors
2. It plays a role in preservation – keeps pickling, canning, etc. safe from bad bacteria
3. It changes textures – turns milk into cheese

The dishes which I do add acid to include: guacamole, red borscht, white chicken chili. What tried and true dishes do you add acid to in your home cooking?