Teaching Taste The Most Fundamental Skill for the Successful Chef

1
Teaching TasteThe Most Fundamental Skill for the
Successful Chef

• Chef Christopher Koetke
• Executive Director
• Kendall College School of Culinary Arts
• Vice President, Laureate International
  Universities
• Center for Culinary Excellence
• chris.koetke_at_kendall.edu

2
Teaching Taste

• Setting a taste context
• Role of taste
• Taste 101
• Teaching taste

3
Do Our Students Taste?

• How we train our children
• Johnny
• Jean
• And voilawhat
• should we expect?

4
The Role of Taste
Tasting is different than eating!!

• Interpretation of food as
• Safe to eat
• Nutritional needs
• Define who you are
• Delicious to eat--pleasure
• Quality control

5
Taste 101 Visual

• Precursor to the chemical /physical appreciation
• Is it safe to eat?
• Do I want to eat it?
• Consider color,
• height, shape
• Color and shape ex.
• What is absurd?
• Open kitchens
• Action stations

6
Taste 101 Hearing

• Can you really hear food?
• Bubbles
• Crunch
• Sizzle
• Kitchen sounds

7
Taste 101 Olfaction

• First chemical interpretation of food
• Is it safe to eat?
• Do I want to eat it?
• Two pathways
• Nasal
• Retronasal
• Alert system

8
Taste 101 Olfactory Taste

• 20,000 aromas
• Many levels of intensity
• Some very small
• Complexity
• Memory
• Nostril differences
• Social training
• Thermal role

9
Taste 101 Taste

• Final Chemical Analysis of food
• 5 tastes sweet, salt, acid, bitter, umami
• The tongue maptaste buds in the mouth
• Super tasters 25 population (2/3 women)
• Importance of finish

10
Taste 101 Texture

• Mouth feel
• Thermal
• Particulate
• Slimy, fatty, sticky, etc.
• Spicy

11
Taste 101 Other factors

• History and associations
• Social groups
• Religion
• Individual perceptions
• and biological differences
• Others??...

12
Teaching Taste

• Assessing our assumptions
• Assume the students cant recognize taste
• Assume they have no taste library
• Assume that they have no words for taste
• Learn about our own taste, preferences, and
  preconceived ideas

13
Teaching Taste

• Objective
• Build skills
• Build tasting library
• Build vocabulary (not with a list)
• Build an impulse to taste
• Build a control

14
Teaching Taste

• The basics
• Ask lots of questions, prod and struggle
• Assign words and categorize them
• Make students write down words
• Have fun! Disarm them
• Make sure everyone contributes

15
Teaching Taste

• Organized tastings
• Up and down tasting
• Redefine a familiar definition/experience
• Comparative tastings (start very diverse)
• Single tastings (start with familiar, build on
  library experiences)

16
Teaching Taste

• Non-organized tastings
• Reinforce tastings through curriculum
• Take every chance to build library
• Do not give answers!
• Use the individual experience to teach the group
• Use extremes
• Use comparative tastingsi.e. the sauce

17
Teaching Taste
T

• TAAT
• Taste
• Analyze
• Adjust
• Taste

A
A
T
18
Teaching Taste

• Advanced techniques
• Complexity
• Maillard reaction
• BBQ potato chips
• Spicy nacho sauce
• Balance and the circle
• Vinaigrette
• Sauces

19
THANK YOUTeaching TasteThe Most Fundamental
Skill for the Successful Chef

• Chef Christopher Koetke CEC CCE HAAC
• chris.koetke_at_kendall.edu