Physiology of Taste & Smell

Characteristics of a dish:

Appearance (color and color contrast, shape, shine, arrangement n the plate)

Aroma

Taste

Mouth feel (texture, moistness or dryness, softness or crispness) and temperature.

What is a flavor?

It's the combination of tastes, aromas and other sensations caused by the presence of a
foreign substance in the mouth.

Primary flavor - veal, poultry, etc.

Supporting Flavor - support and enhance the primary flavors of the main ingredients.

Flavoring -can be added at the beginning, middle, or end. Depending on the cooking
time, cooking process and the flavoring ingredients. It adds new taste & alters its natural
flavors

Seasoning - to enhance the flavor

"Flavor is to food what hue is to color and what timbre is to music"

Our tongue only taste 5 unique sensations: Sweet, sour, salt, bitter and umami.

The sensations we detect when a substance comes in contact with the taste
buds on the tongue
Umami delicious - refers to a foods savory characteristic
Food Flavor Profiles

Top notes or high notes - The sharpest first flavors or aromas (1st flavor)

Middle notes - The second wave of flavor, more subtle

Low notes - The most dominant lingering flavor

Aftertaste or finish - The final flavor

Roundness - The unity of a dish's various flavors (how flavors go together/balance of
dish, visual & texture)

Depth of flavor - A broad range of flavors (Part of the layers)

General Concepts in Flavor Building

When developing or modifying a recipe:

Every ingredient should have a purpose - Start with the main ingredients, and then
think about what will work with them.

Ingredients can work together by harmonizing or by contrasting - The rich taste of

the liaison and the mild taste of the beef harmonize. Or the tartness of the lemon that
contrasts with the richness of the cream.

When two ingredients contrast, be sure they balance Add enough lemon juice to
the Blanquette to balance the cream, not too much or too little.

Consider not only the components of the single recipe but also the other items
that will be served with it on the plate. - Think of how we use lemon to balance the
richness or fattiness of the cream. We can use the same idea to balance the fattiness of
a sausage by serving it with a tart mustard or chutney.

Ex. The fattiness of a Grilled pork belly, we serve it with calamansi and soy sauce.

Simpler & Complexity

Simpler is usually better. Some cooks mistakenly think that adding more ingredients is
always preferable to adding fewer. But the more flavors you combine, the harder it is to
balance them all. So don't be tempted to put too many things on a plate.

The Tongue

Until the discovery of umami, there were thought to be four basic tastes: sweet, sour,
salty and bitter; now umami is recognized as the fifth. Each of the basic tastes is unique
and cannot be reproduced by combining any of the other four.

Taste Receptors of the tongue:

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S S i
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Papillae - are the taste receptors.
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Umami is one of the basic taste and the most typical substance offering the umami
taste is the amino acid glutamate. Glutamate is found in many foods, such as kelp,
cheese, tomatoes and meat. Umami is a universal taste common to all food cultures
around the world.

It was discovered in 1908 by Dr. Kikuna Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University (now
University of Tokyo) set out to prove that there was a taste that could not be classified
as sweet, salty, bitter, or sour. He ascertained that this fifth taste derived from glutamate
contained in kelp. Dr. Ikeda named this taste "Umami," which has only recently become
a globally recognized term.

Why can't we taste when we are sick?

70% - 75% of what we perceive as taste actually comes from our nose - SMELL
Taste buds actually only allow us to perceive bitter, salty, sweet, sour and
umami.
Odor molecules allow us to form the taste sensation in our brain. (humans can
identify 4,000 - 10,000 different odor molecules)
How do we perceive taste?

Gustatory - Anything pertaining to or contributing to taste (Like tongue or saliva)

Olfactory - Anything pertaining to or contributing to smell (Like your nasal passage or

Mucus<not letting smell get through>)

Factors that affect flavor perception:

Temperature
Consistency
Presence of contrasting tastes
Presence of fats
Color
Compromises to the Perception of taste:

Age
Health
Smoking

Flavor Statement:

Crunchiness

Crispiness

Garlic flavor

Fatty
Creaminess

Acid

Insipid

Saltiness