flavour secrets
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Cooking Styles
Besides the variety of different flavour methods, many countries
have their own cooking
methods. For example aMoroccan dish cooked ina traditional Tagine
cooks a lot more slowlythan a meal cooked in a
Chinese wok.
Ingredients in a wok are cut
smaller to cook faster.
Sauces like soy or oyster,
are already concentratedbefore addition to the pan.
b e y o n d t h e p a s s
FOREIGN FLAVOURS
Exposure to foreign cuisines is like an inspirational tonicwhich can boost your cooking knowledge and broaden
your culinary horizons.
First choose a regional cuisine that interests you and then try and identify
the key ingredients which define it, for example:
China: soy sauce, rice wine and ginger = Chinese taste
Italy: wheat, olives, tomatoes, grapes, basil
Thailand: fish sauce, coconut, lime and chilies
Spain: pimento, cured ham, saffron, smoked paprika, white beans,
Morocco: mint, lemon, lamb, clove, rosewater, almond, cous cous
Scandinavia: dill, salt, juniper, horseradish, herring
Mexico: chilli, black beans, cocao, corn, pork
Norwegian Gravad lax: salmon, salt, sugar and dill
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Professional courses
We are presently compiling our student list
for the 2011 Diploma course. If you feel
you would like to become a trained chef,
then contact us for an interview and tour of
our premises. Alternatively, ask us for a free
infopack to be emailed to you.
Part time courses
If you are a chef already working in
industry but needing a formal qualification,
we can help by offering you a part time
course over six months, one afternoon per
week.
Contact us
Tel: 021 447 3168
www.SaChefsAcademy.com
Six Elements of Flavour 1. Fats and Oils
It could be olive oil in the
Mediterranean, butter in France, pork fat in
Mexico or clarified butter in India. Sealedmeat in the pan gains a better colour and
flavour plus it cooks more evenly. Avoid
excess fats, as they coat the tongue and
prevent proper tasting.
2. Aromatics
In China, the aromatic base often
comprises ginger, garlic and green onions,
while in French cooking they use
“mirepoix”, which is a mix of onions, leeks,
celery and carrot to begin a stock. In
Thailand they use lime leaves and crushed
lemon grass at the end of the cooking
process, in much the same way Italians add
basil to a tomato sauce at the end stage.
Aromatics form the foundation for cooking
stocks and liquids.
3. Stocks and Liquids
Both a seasoning and a cooking
medium, stocks are a cornerstone of French
cooking, while in Asian cooking they are
used in a more concentrated form such assoy, oyster and fish sauce. Other liquids that
enhance flavour include wine and brandy
while cream is a legendary ingredient which
also thickens a sauce.
4. Sweet and Sour
The Chinese use rice vinegar, the
French use grape. Tamarind fruit is popular
in India and in Peru the acidity of lemon is
used to ‘cook’ raw fish for ceviche. Wine,
vinegars and citrus juices are essential in
every kind of cooking. Just think of how
wine stars in French sauces, or how lime
juice lifts Thai soups. They augment and
offset the flavors of mild or even sweet
ingredients such as most vegetables, meat
and fish. If you are making Spanish
gazpacho, add some apple vinegar and
sugar at the very end taste the difference.
Taste root vegetables before and after the
addition of acid and sugar and discover adramatic improvement.
Excellent sources of sour
flavour include lemon,
tomatoes, tamarind,
pomegranate syrup,
certain fruit juices,
yogurt and buttermilk.
For sweetness, look to
raisins in Moroccan
dishes, or mango in
Indian chutney.
5. Salt and Spices
Garam masala is to
Indian cooking what
cinnamon, mace and nutmeg in Moroccan
dishes. In Spain they are famous for smoked
paprika, while Scandanavian countries use
salt (and sugar) to preserve salmon for
gravad lax. It helps to briefly toast spices in
a hot dry pan to release their true flavours.
6. Compounds
Sometimes the above mentioned
ingredients are combined to create
flavourful compounds which are used as
accompaniments. In Western cooking we
use tomato, Tobasco or Worcester Sauce
and in China they use hoisin sauce. In
Morrocco it is Harissa—a caraway-spiked
chile paste, while the Mexicans use a molé
paste made from cocoa and chilli.