Small changes, minimal difference

There is a point at which a soup is perfectly salted. Yet approaching that point, and going over it, there is a band of acceptability.

I remember distinctly a video of chef Angela Dimayuga that profiled the restaurant Mission Chinese in NYC and in the background, poking his head into the frame, was the founder and owner, Danny Bowein. He was adjusting the thermostat. To be successful in the food industry, an almost obsessive attention to detail is necessary, especially when evaluating and adjusting the food.

One needs to know the degree of saturation difference and mouthfeel between a batch brewed coffee that has brewed for four minutes versus three minutes and thirty seconds (bitterness, turbidity on the tongue) if one is going to make a great, or even a half good cup of coffee. 

I remember during my trip to Hill Farmstead, Shaun and the other brewers knocking their heads together about blending in 2% versus 2.5% of another beer. We tasted mini-samples, which were hotly debated over, leading to multiple rounds of tasting. Novice as I was, I could taste no discernible difference if I was to blind taste it, especially if one was to judge its quality.