Sepia

Ink is a seasoning, not a colour. Rice is the only thing that takes both.

Venetian: sweet on sweet, and the ink makes it look serious.

Ink emulsifies into oil. That black slick is the entire sauce.

Softened, never browned, under the ink. Standard Venetian base.

Deglaze acid stops the ink tasting like the bottom of the lagoon.

Black tagliolini: starch is the only carrier that takes ink evenly.

Sumi-ika: scored flesh, one drop of soy, and nothing else at all.

Two colours fighting, one flavour agreeing: iodine and dried hay.

Flor salt against sea salt. The wine tastes of the same water.

Rind oil over sweet mineral flesh. Juice would just make it wet.

Fermented allium and ink both read as burnt sugar over wet soil.

Ink and tannin share the same iron-mineral bass note. Greeks braise it this way.

Ink and cocoa share pyrazines. A cuttlefish mole is untried, not silly.