Base: It’s the type of vegetables that gives a dish personality

You don't need to know how to pronounce mirepoix or suppengruen. You just need to know that a mouthwatering dish, no matter what the cuisine, no matter what the regional influence, is built upon a great flavor base.

Such mixtures of chopped vegetables play a crucial role in many stews, braises, soups and sauces. In France, it may be carrots, onions and celery for a mirepoix. In Italy, the ingredients may be similar (or not) for a soffritto. Same is true in Spain and Latin America, where peppers might show up in their version, spelled sofrito. In Germany, leek or celeriac may be part of a suppengruen. And if you ask Cajuns about making étouffée or gumbo, expect them to cite the importance of the holy trinity of onion, celery and sweet peppers.

'There are a lot of dishes that are the same except for changes to the base,” says Jack Bishop, editorial director for America's Test Kitchen. 'If you are making a Provencal seafood stew, and you're using leeks and adding some saffron, you end up with something very different from if you've got carrot, celery and onion in the base.

'Hungarian. North African. Spanish. There are a lot of similarities in how you go about building those things,” he adds, '(but) you're using harissa in one cuisine and paprika in another. In one, bay leaf makes sense.”

How can a bunch of chopped-up vegetables be so important? 'Those changes often give as much personality to the final dish as the sort of more apparent things,” Bishop says.

Shrimp and mussels in a seafood stew or melt-in-your-mouth beef in a braise may shine as the stars of a favorite dish. But it's the savvy cook who understands that it's those vegetables, strategically combined and carefully cooked, that are key to the flavor of the finished dish.

That there are so many flavor bases it is not surprising when you factor in regional influences, ingredients availability and cooking methods.

At America's Test Kitchen outside Boston, home to TV shows and cookbooks, the vegetables used in flavor bases are simply called aromatics or aromatic vegetables. Bishop divides those into two camps: 'subtle flavor boosters” and 'in-your-face flavor boosters.” How those ingredients are cooked and when they are added to the pot involves a two-step process that softens them and coaxes out flavor 'because part of the job of these things is to disappear largely.”

Subtle flavor boosters are the 'slow-cooking things that go in at the beginning ... that can really cook for a while. Everything in the onion family, leeks, different types of onions, (plus) carrots, celery, bell peppers,” Bishop says. 'They're sturdy enough that they can be sauteed without risk of burning, or they can be sweated.”

When they are sauteed over moderate heat, you'll get 'a bit of flavor from browning as well as the concentrating, the release of the juices and the breaking down of the cell walls.”

If you put a lid on the pan, you'll sweat them: 'You're really concentrating the flavors but not adding any of the flavors that come from browning.”

Bishop also adds a little salt early on. 'Salt is going to help in the breaking down, cushioning a little bit against burning because you're going to get a little bit of liquid coming out the vegetables, plus it's going to help with the early seasoning.”

Once the subtle aromatics are cooked, the in-your-face flavor boosters - i.e., garlic, ginger, tomato paste - are added.

'These are, in some ways, more prone to burning and scorching,” he says. 'It's also the best time to add ground spices.” Adding spices to hot fat allows them to bloom, releasing some of their flavor compounds. Since many spice compounds are soluble in fat rather than water, it's important to add them to the pot before adding liquids like broth or wine.

All these bases are best cooked at medium or medium-low, Bishop says. So be patient. If you pump up the heat to rush the process, you'll burn your base.

Once you've built a great flavor base, then you can add your own signature. For as our Cajun friend notes, after you've built that flavor base: 'Then I want to taste your kitchen.”

Now it's your turn. Oh, and if you're wondering, mirepoix is pronounced meer-PWAH.