Teaching Taste
The Most Fundamental Skill for the
Successful Chef
Chef Christopher Koetke
Vice President
Kendall College School of Culinary Arts
Vice President, Laureate International Universities
Center for Culinary Excellence
chris.koetke@kendall.edu
My Taste Teaching Journey
• As a chef:
– Expert in the kitchen
– Problem solver
– Got students to perform well
per my instructions
– Great teacher?
But what is the highest goal of education?
Critical thinking, problem
solving, empowered, self
critical/QA
Do Our Students Taste?
• How we train our children
– Johnny
– Jean
• And voila—what
should we expect?
The Role of Taste
• Interpretation of food as:
– Safe to eat
– Nutritional needs
– Define who you are
– Delicious to eat--pleasure
• Quality control
I don’t want to eat it.
I don’t care…
and the orchestra
Taste 101: Visual
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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.
Open kitchens
Action stations
Tableside service
Taste 101: Visual
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Deceiving the customer for fun
All that is new is really old
Enter molecular gastronomy
The caution of over emphasizing
appearance
Colored water and Champagne in brown
bags
White and little shape exersize
Taste 101: Hearing
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Can you really hear food?
Bubbles
Crunch
Sizzle
Kitchen sounds
Taste 101: Olfaction
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First chemical interpretation of food
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Two pathways
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Is it safe to eat?
Do I want to eat it?
Nasal
Retronasal
Alert system
Taste 101: Olfactory “Taste”
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20,000 aromas
Many levels of intensity
Some very small
Complexity
Memory
Nostril differences
Social training
Thermal role
Taste 101: Taste
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Final Chemical Analysis of
food
5 tastes: sweet, salt, acid,
bitter, umami
The tongue map—taste
buds in the mouth
Super tasters: 25%
population (2/3 women)
Importance of finish
Why Do We Have Tastes?
Where do we learn these?
History of Umami
Rome
Thailand
So, why don’t I recognize umami like
other tastes if it is so essential?
Could it be social training?
What is Umami?
• Start with definitions—protein 101
– Glutamic acid = amino acid (protein)
– Free glutamic acid/glutamate = one which is not
bound to anything else
– Umami = taste sensation derived from free glutamic
acid bound to a salt, most notably (and deliciously)
sodium
– Found in a wide variety of foods and MSG
Where Are Glutamates?
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Ripening
Maturation
Curing
Cooking
Adding glutamate
or glutamate-rich
stock
Is MSG Safe?
The body makes no distinction
• 1958 US FDA—Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS)
• 1987 Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of
UN Food and Agriculture Association confirmed MSG is
safe
• 1991 European’s Commission’s Scientific Committee for
Food decided unnecessary to set Acceptable Daily Intake
level (ADI)
• 1995 US FDA Federation of American Societies for
Experimental Biology (FASEB) confirmed safety as food
ingredient
Taste 101: Texture
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Mouth “feel”
Thermal
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Bubbles
Soup (hot/cold)
Particulate
Slimy, fatty, sticky, etc.
Spicy/aggressive
Taste 101: Other factors
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History and associations
Social groups
Religion
Individual perceptions/history
Individual biological differences
The story
Opinions of others/marketing
Teaching Taste
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Assessing our assumptions
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Assume the students can’t
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
Teaching Taste
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Objective:
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Build skills
Build tasting library
Build vocabulary (not with a list)
Build an impulse to taste
Build a control
Teaching Taste
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The basics:
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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
Teaching Taste
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Organized tastings:
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Up and down tasting and perfection
Redefine a familiar definition/experience
Comparative tastings (start very diverse)
Single tastings (start with familiar, build on library
experiences)
Teaching Taste
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Non-organized tastings:
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Reinforce tastings through curriculum
Take every chance to build library
Do not give answers!
Use the individual experience to teach the group
Use extremes (what is acid? Maillard reaction)
Use comparative tastings—i.e. the sauce
Balance
Teaching Taste
• TAAT:
– Taste
– Analyze
– Adjust
– Taste
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So, is taste the most important kitchen skill after sanitation?
Now, Let’s Taste
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What is crunchy
Chocolate comparative tasting
Honey and sugar
What is chewy
Potato chips
THANK YOU
Teaching Taste
The Most Fundamental Skill for the
Successful Chef
Chef Christopher Koetke CEC CCE HAAC
chris.koetke@kendall.edu