to neutralize the taste
- phrasal verb
- US
:
neutralizar el sabor
- A squeeze of lemon can neutralize the taste of fish in many recipes.
Examples
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Sometimes, a pinch of salt is enough to neutralize the taste of bitterness in coffee.
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He added a bit of honey to neutralize the taste of the sour medicine.
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You can neutralize the taste of the sauce with a bit of sugar.
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To improve the dish, I neutralized the taste with lemon juice.
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A squeeze of lemon can neutralize the taste of fish in many recipes.
-
He added a bit of honey to neutralize the taste of the sour medicine.
-
Sometimes, a pinch of salt is enough to neutralize the taste of bitterness in coffee.
Synonyms
9
5.1
To balance the effect of something by adding an opposite force
Antonyms
How Strong
Surface Forms
Morphology
neutralize + the + taste
The verb 'neutralize' (make ineffective/counteract) applied to 'taste' (flavor) yields the straightforward idea of counteracting or reducing a flavor; the meaning follows directly from composing the constituents. This is a common, cross-linguistically plausible cooking metaphor, so a B1 learner who knows the component words should be able to infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Neutralize the taste comes from the simple kitchen idea of balancing a strong flavor by adding something else. When you add lemon, honey, or salt to hide a bad taste, you are trying to neutralize it, so the phrase means 'to make a flavor less strong or unpleasant'.