If you hear “season with salt and pepper”, switch over. You hear this on cookery programmes all the time and it’s just lazy. Pepper is not a seasoning, it’s a spice. The fact we use it pretty ubiquitously doesn’t mean it’s the same as salt.

There’s a simple way of looking at this: If something makes something else taste more of itself than it would without it then it’s a seasoning, if it adds a new flavour then it’s a spice.

Take Jay Rayner’s view on something I heard years ago where he was trying to cut down on salt; “Salt is the difference between eating in technicolour and black and white”. It makes the food taste more like it should (unless you overdo it).

So salt makes, say, Bolognese taste more Bolognese-y, pepper makes it taste more peppery (The Lord knows that’s a good thing, but pepper’s not seasoning).

Salt’s not the only one but it is one of a select few. Anchovies (admittedly they are quite salty) make lamb taste more like lamb. So putting little holes in lamb and putting garlic and rosemary in is a beautiful thing; it adds the flavour of garlic and rosemary to the lamb – heaven! But making little holes in it and stuffing anchovies in doesn’t make it taste of anchovies, it makes it taste like the best lamb in the world so it’s a seasoning.

Chillis can bring out the flavour in some things, fish sauce in eastern cuisine, dried mushrooms can make a stock taste more substantial without tasting of mushrooms. There aren't many though.

Why have I bothered to put this on here? Well, it matters if you care about food. Blending flavours that compliment or contrast is an art and is what good cooking is about, but the final thing it needs, whether is is a subtle blend or a huge contrast, is for you to be able to taste it properly

So yes, it does matter

Salted caramel is a bit of conundrum though . . .