To learn Course 5 – Module 4, the student needs approx. You need 2 lessons (2 x 45 minutes). With the help of the Module, you learn the sequence and importance of the finishing operations.

Flavour Profiles

Basic principles of flavour profiles, including balancing flavours, layering flavours, and creating contrast

Principles of flavor profiles including flavor balance, flavor layering and creating contrast

The sweet taste softens the sour and bitter taste. Higher acid content can mask the sweet taste of sugar content as well as vice versa. A good example of the first is that, despite the higher sugar content of cherries, they are less sweet than cherries, which have a lower sugar content but less acid. Tokaj aszú offers an example of the second one, since, in addition to its sweet taste, almost no one notices its very high acid content. Salt enhances the sweet taste and the taste of high-protein substances. (For example, a common mistake is that someone adds salt to a food and thinks that it can be countered with sugar. The effect will be just the opposite. The two flavors will show up reinforcing each other.)

Salt plays a special role in the world of flavors. Its absence prevents the other flavors from taking effect. For example, if someone has put enough of everything in a broth and still feels empty, you can almost be sure that a little salt is missing, which brings the other flavors to the fore and in harmony.

⁃Finally, here are some more general tips about flavoring and seasoning our food:

We start the flavoring of our food by creating the appropriate salt content, then add the sour and sweet flavors.

Food eaten cold should always be flavored a little more intensely, because the flavors are less effective when cold.

Green herbs should preferably be chopped just before use, and usually added to the food at the final stage of food preparation. We should do this especially if we want their fragrances to take effect

When developing flavors, always rely on public taste – represented by the majority opinion. Let’s give the guest the opportunity to create a special taste at the laid table. (For example, be careful with the cherry pepper, but prepare it for the table, those who like the hot taste can adapt the food to their own taste.)

It is true for all spices that it is easy to add them, but it is impossible to remove their flavor. That’s why it’s better to run several times for the “seasoning” than to let your hands run away once.

Let’s find out which flavor and color substances dissolve in water and which are fat soluble. If, for example, we sprinkle paprika on water instead of fat, our food will not be red in color, but will taste like boiled paprika

If you forget to use salt at the start of roasting-steaming, it is useless to salt the juice, the roasted-steamed ingredients will

remain tasteless. (For example, the mushrooms in the good taste cream mushroom sauce are unsalted, the green peas in the green pea soup are tasteless.)

If the cooking water was not checked and the pasta, potatoes or vegetables were cooked in unsalted juice, we cannot correct the taste error. (For example, the carrot in the French salad is tasteless, the fine millet in the vargabeles)

If we don’t have the opportunity to use fresh herbs, we should first look for frozen ones and only lastly reach for dried ones

Flavour Profiles

Identifying and using different spices and herbs for enhancing flavour

Identify and use different spices and herbs to enhance flavor

The main purpose of seasoning is to highlight the taste of food and increase the enjoyment value of food. In addition to flavoring, different spices can dampen the characteristic smell of meat and weaken strong flavors. Thus, for example, marjoram is useful in the preparation of blood or liver fillings, because it softens the aftertaste of meat.

Allspice (Capsicum annuum)

It is obtained from ripe red peppers, which are dried after picking and then ground with varying amounts of pepper seeds. The higher the proportion of seeds, the hotter and paler the color of the spice. It provides not only the taste, but also the color of the food. Its three basic types are sweet, semi-sweet and spicy.

Pepper (Piper nigrum)

Pepper is the drupe fruit of a tropical creeper. Depending on the ripening stage of the pepper, we can talk about black, white, green and red pepper. If the fruit is picked unripe, green and dried together with the fruit wall, the surface of the berries will be brownish-black – this is how black pepper is made. Red pepper is a specialty, fully ripe grains are picked, then put in a salt-vinegar marinade and marketed in this way, nowadays it is also present on the market in dried form.

Oregano (Origanum vulgare)

Oregano is made by drying and crushing the leaves of a semi-shrub. It is also called wild marjoram because its taste is similar to marjoram. It loses a lot of its aroma during cooking, so cook it for as little time as possible.

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)

Rosemary is an evergreen shrub with broad leaves that are harvested when or after the plant blooms. They are dried and then crumbled. It tastes bitter, so pay attention to its dosage. It retains its aroma for a long time, but remove it from the food before serving, because its stem is very woody.

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

Thyme is the flowering branch tip and dried leaves of a semi-shrub, which are marketed in crumbled form. Its taste is intense and aromatic, so use with caution!

Marjoram (Majoranna hortensis)

Marjoram is a herbaceous herb that is dried and then crumbled. The taste is slightly bitter, strongly aromatic, and the smell is strong and characteristic.

Laurel leaf (Laurus nobilis)

Laurel is a shiny leaf of an evergreen shrub, which is dried and marketed whole, less often in the form of fragments. The taste is bitter, slightly pungent, aromatic.

Nowadays, different spice mixes are popular, which are made by adding several spices.

Curry spice mix

When most people hear curry, they think of Indian cuisine, but this spice means different things to an Indian and a Western cook. The curry ingredients include Roman cumin, coriander, chili pepper, nutmeg, fennel, fenugreek, pepper, saffron, turmeric, the proportion and nature of the individual ingredients may vary by region. The interesting thing about the coriander found in it is that the smell of the plant and the unripe fruit is reminiscent of a bug, which is also referred to by its Greek name “koris”, which means bug. Coriander is a round yellowish seed of a soft-stemmed plant. It is a popular spice especially in Mexican and French cuisine. The taste itself is aromatic and sweet.

Nutmeg is the seed of the nutmeg tree. The seed is peeled, dipped in milk of lime and finally dried, which is marketed either whole or ground. The taste itself is bitter. Saffron is a set of pistils of a tiny, fresh plant flower. There are 80-100 thousand pistils in 1 kg of spice, which is no small task to collect. It has a very strong coloring effect and a bitter taste.

Learning outcomes/results (ECVET)