Draft for Tentatives Topics
A final decision will be made after these topics have been discussed in class.
Introductory Topics
Food Photography
Blogging
Recipes—decoding and writing
Kitchen Sanitation
Knife Skills
Lecture/Activity Outline
Science
Limits of taste
Science of taste, physiology of taste
Supertasting
Aroma—essential oils
Psychology of taste
Attitudes—eating meat, ethnic, learned (Chinese and Cheese)
Hunger
Paul Rozin and disgust
Describing tastes
Descriptors
Flavor wheels
Colors
Sensory evaluation
Taste testing
Triangle tests
Lessons/limitations from wine
Basic Tastes
Sweet—miracle fruit
tasting
Sour/acid vs. alkaline—different degrees of acidity
Salty—salt tasting
Bitter—
Umami—
Wannabe Basic Tastes
Fats and oils—olive oil tasting (& olives)
Spicy—chili peppers, heat perception—dissection of a jalapeño
Misc other taste factors
Sound
Mouth feel
Texture
Taste Interactions
Complex Tastes
Smoke and burnt
tastes
Herbs & spices
Taste pairings
Ingredients
Chocolate
Cheese
Eggs
Coffee—cupping, espresso
Tea/Water
Various products tasting—cinnamons, vanillas, chilis, rices, ... (way too many possibilities to list)
Complex Dishes and Meals
Cooking and building flavors
Maillard reaction and Caramelization
Temperature and texture—meat
Fermentation
Stocks and Sauces
Recipe Variations
Recipe Cloning
Ethnic Cuisine
Modernist Cuisine/Molecular Gastronomy
Cooking Activities
Typically, we will visit the kitchen twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays except the first Thursday for a total of seven sessions. Some of the cooking sessions we are contemplating include:
Everyone:
Chocolate chip cookie day or biscuit day
Half of class each session:
Sauces, stocks, gravies
Smoking food
Cooking with chocolate (Mole) or
Cooking with
cheese
Egg day /
Ice Cream Day
Ethnic flavorings
Recipe variations
Chili Cook-off
Daily Cheese Tastings (Still very tentative)
Cow, goat, sheep
cheese comparison
Aging
Fresh, soft, hard
Families—cheddars, blues, Swiss, etc.
Daily Chocolate Tastings
Blind tasting
Component—cocoa powders, cocoa butter, sugar, nibs
Serving temperature, tasting, breathing
Types—white, milk, dark, filled
Percentages—wide range
Comparing whites
Comparing milks
Comparing darks
Percentages—tight range
Brands
Varietals
Terroir
Vintage
Blind tasting