Culinary Improvisation

by Deutsch, Jonathan; Billingsley, Sarah; Azima, Cricket

• ISBN13: 9780558337292
• ISBN10: 0558337295
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-08-05
• Publisher: Pearson Learning Solutions

Summary

Culinary Improvisationis a resource of improvisational, interactive exercises designed to build culinary skills.  Culinary Improvisation gives culinary students and professionals a guide for culinary improvisation and kitchen creativity, and provides many of the guides in chart format for easy reference to flavor partners and seasonal ingredients by region. This book is also a great reference for serious home cooks looking to take their cooking skills beyond the replication of a recipe.

Author Biography

Jonathan Deutsch is a classically trained chef and is Assistant Professor and director of

the Culinary Management Center at Kingsborough Community College, City University

of New York. He earned his Ph.D. in food studies and food management at New York

University and is Secretary of the Association for the Study of Food and Society and

education editor of the journal Food, Culture and Society. He is the co-author of Jewish

American Food Culture (Greenwood, 2008) and co-editor of Gastropolis: New York

at Table (Columbia University Press, 2008). A graduate of Drexel University and the

Culinary Institute of America, he has worked in a variety of foodservice settings including

product development, catering, institutions, luxury inns, and restaurants, both in the

US and abroad. He currently teaches, writes, and consults on food and foodservice and

culinary arts and entrepreneurship education. For more information on the author and

improvisation go to: culinaryimprovisation.com.

 

Sarah Billingsley is a cookbook editor, food writer and experimental home cook.

She earned her masters degree in food studies and food management at New York

University and is a member of San Francisco Professional Food Society. She worked at an

editor on the 75th anniversary edition of Joy of Cooking, and was a dining critic and food

writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, she has

worked in publishing, public relations, product development and market research. Sarah

currently lives and works in San Francisco, where she cultivates a backyard food garden

during the endless California growing season.

 

Table of Contents

1/ Introducing Culinary

Improvisation 1

Why We Wrote this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

How To Use This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

The Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Rubrics and How to Use Them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

What is Culinary Improvisation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Molecular Gastronomy–Extreme

Culinary Improvisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Go Ahead–Play with Your Food! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2/ The Basics 17

Equipment (Batterie de Cuisine) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Preparation and Cooking Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Basic Flavoring Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Making Stock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Soups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Sauces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Cooking Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Choosing and Storing Meats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Poultry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Fish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Vegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Pastry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

3/ Expanding The Basics 47

Menu Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Composition and Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Knife Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Salads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Beans and Legumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

Charcuterie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

Chocolate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Olive Oil and Other Oils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Ideas for Appetizers and Hors D’oeuvres . . . . . . . .70

Well-stocked Pantry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Salt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

4/ Flavors 83

Culinary Backstory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

Developing Flavor Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

How to taste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Molecular Gastronomy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92

The Flavor Plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96

How to transport fl avors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Flavor Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

The Flavor Map of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Food with Personality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

All in the Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

A World Map of Spices and Seasonings . . . . . . . . 109

A Review of Common and

Not-So-Common Spices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Global Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112

Classic Food Pairings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

5/ The Food System and

Cooking Seasonally 119

Why Cook Seasonally? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Seasonal Food Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Peak Season of Fruits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Peak Season of Vegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Peak Season for Nuts, Meats, Poultry,

Shellfi sh and Fish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

6/ Problem Solving Games 145

From the Line: Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Game: Hands-On Eating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Game: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner . . . . . . . . . .161

Game: Technique Trio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Game: Today’s Special . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Game: Alternative School Lunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

 

7/ Flavor & Palate Development

Games 193

From the Line: Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Game: Same Recipe–Different Style . . . . . . . . . . 201

Game: Unlikely Marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Game: Crab Libs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Game: Reverse Food and Beverage Pairing . . . . . 231

Game: Quick Fix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244

8/ Teamwork Games 247

From the Line: Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .250

Game: Team Cooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .254

Game: Sensory Perception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Game: Find Your Match . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .266

Game: Ingredient Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Game: Kitchen Entrepreneur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .280

Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .284

9/ Communication Games 289

From the Line: Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Game: Mood Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Game: Scrambled Recipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .305

Game: Shift’s Over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .308

Game: Welcome Aboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311

Game: Teaching’s Not as Easy as it Looks! . . . . . . 315

Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .320

10/ Creating Your Own Games and

Continuous Improvement 325

Creating Your Own Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .326

Game Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .329

Assessment and Continuous Improvement . . . . . 333