This Saturday in Adv. Foods was even better than the last. I was slightly apprehensive because I had to present first thing in the morning, but once that was over with I ended up having a great day.

A quick run down of our day: We first listened to four presentations (well I listened to two and presented one). The first was on soy sauce, the second on aphrodisiac foods, the third on muffins, and the fourth was my presentation on tea. Then we went into the kitchen to play two games, which were staggered and again kept under-wraps until the very last second. For homework the previous week, we were told to bring in 3-4 items that represented a flavor profile of a specific region’s cooking which were then used in the first game. This game consisted of making two types of chicken soup-one using only one member’s flavor profile and the second using one or more items from each group member’s flavor profile. The second game, revealed to us about 2 hours after the first, consisted of making either muffins or dumplings to express an emotion given to us on a card. The day ended with two more presentations: one on how to get ideas and another on chocolate.

My reaction: I was a bit apprehensive when I came in the door that morning. I had been up late working on my tea presentation (including a back up plan in case the computer did not work) and was a little nervous to give it to the class because I was afraid technical difficulties might override the delivery of the information. Luckily, though, I had three presentations ahead of me, so I could relax a bit and get into the class before presenting. I thought all of the presentations of the day were very informative. I think the central theme to all of the presentations was ‘more than meets the eye’ meaning we each picked a topic that on the outside could be thought of as an ordinary item or idea: chocolate, muffins, tea, food, writing steps, soy sauce, but then were able to scratch the surface and show that there is more than meets the eye about each topic. We were really able to demonstrate how food itself can be so different and complex depending on the region, chef, or even the time of day or age of the ingredients which lead wonderfully into the discussion of flavor profiles and regional cuisine.

The student presentations will have a big impact on my cooking. I have been interested in revamping some of my old recipes and plan on adding in many of the items featured today. I was very impressed with the aphrodisiac foods because they all tend to be chock full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc. The list Jax presented was great because it reminded me about certain foods that I can easily eat, but never think to like honey and bananas. Also, I was thrilled to taste the soy sauces because it is something that I do not use very much, and I was able to find out which one I really like-Dark Chinese-without having to buy a bunch of bottles. I think I am going to leave a bottle on the counter, so I will think to pick it up more easily. Chocolate, well, I am one of those types who already has a container of dark chocolate squares on my counter-I often add them to fresh air popped popcorn, so they melt down over it, so I am not sure I need to add even more into my diet…I really enjoyed, though, being able to taste the different types because like the soy sauces, I can just pick my favorite and go with that. Tea, well that has been in my diet ever since I gave up soda years ago, but I think I will actively try some of those recipes I handed out especially the poached pears one (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/109088). Thanks Jon, for suggesting I add that component into my presentation. Finally, I loved Rachel’s presentation because it got me thinking of actually wanting to get new ideas, which is the first step to change. I loved her eavesdropping suggestion because I am forever doing that on the train into NYC everyday, but she also reminded me how I love to check out new grocery stores. As a dietician in training, I feel the need to ‘tour’ the grocery store for 3 hours every month or so looking for new products, but I have not actively driven to a new part of town for a while to check out products in other areas and communities. I have added that to my to do list for the weekend.

When thinking about my flavor profile for the week, I really wanted to go with something that I had familiarity with because I wanted to have an opinion on why the ingredients were of a particular region and what their history and significance was. I first thought about doing Northeastern flavor profile, which, with Jon’s help, I identified as butter, salt, pepper, and parsley, because I grew up here, but quickly realized the reason I needed Jon’s help-I was not extremely familiar with it cooking wise. As I mentioned last week, my parents are from Milwaukee and even though they moved to the Northeast when they were teenagers, much of the cooking influence I have grown up with has been from the Midwest. Throughout the week, I thought about the different flavors from the region and came up with cheddar cheese, butter, ketchup, and mustard (with mayo coming in a close fifth). All of these items appear in traditional Wisconsin cuisine, a large part due to the high incidence of dairy farming and of test marketing by major food manufactures in the region.

When it came to the game, I was excited that I was paired with Jamie and Maria. I also found it interesting that I was not doing the picking this week, but that, due to my flavor profile, I was the one being picked. After we got our first assignment and a quick chat about the direction our soups should take, Jamie stepped up to do the stove work while Maria and I collected, chopped, and assembled the ingredients. I was amazed by how quickly we all fell into a routine. In about an hour and a half, 3 soups were turned out (thanks to Jamie’s ability to produce extra chicken stock and cheddar soup for me to slap together my idea of Wisconsin cheddar broccoli soup): a spicy asian chicken soup that only got better as it sat (using Jamie’s Chinese flavor profile), the afore mentioned Wisconsin cheddar broccoli soup complete with about ¼ cup of ketchup mixed in to “give color and a sweeter flavor”, and out piece de resistance ‘Around the World Cheddar Broccoli Soup’ which was a savory and spicy mix of each of our flavor profiles: ‘special’ pepper corns, mushrooms, tea, cumin, cheddar, mustard to name a few of the ingredients using Jamie’s Chinese flavor profile, Maria’s Spanish flavor profile, and my Wisconsin flavor profile. Jon’s addition of a French bread loaf to the serving table really complimented the creamy, cheesy soups nicely. I learned how fun and easy it is to make soup provided you have a few basic tips like browning the bones before cooking and making very, very flavorful spice liquors to add to the pot. I also was very impressed to see how flavors from all over the world can be mixed to create a new complexity to ‘ordinary dishes’.

As for the second game, this one was my favorite. I am all over creating recipes that “taste” like something else because one of the specializations I am thinking about going into is improving the taste of same consistency diets like puréed, mechanical soft, etc to encourage people to eat more. We got the emotion ‘hung-over’ which I was thrilled with (well, knowing me I would have been ‘thrilled’ with any one of them). After a quick chat about what a hangover means to each of us, my team let me take command of the recipe (well, I think they saw how enthusiastic I was and did not want to ruin my momentum). Some adjectives that we came up with before starting were sour and same consistency (meaning no chunky lentils or anything). We used yogurt, sour cream, old OJ, lemon juice, and a good helping of vinegar to take the place of the milk in the basic muffin recipe that Jon gave us and accidentally added a touch more sugar than we were supposed to, but the final product was amazing, if I do say so myself. Presented crumbed on a muffin tin because we did not have the ‘energy’ to plate it, the muffins were sour to the taste, had an even, kind of crumbly consistency, and made your mouth go dry after swallowing. They also had a pretzel-like aftertaste, which I thought was appropriate to the mood. Maria noticed that people kept coming back to them for nibbles, just like when you actually have a hang over and you pick at what ever you can find. As for the other dishes, I thought each group had a very creative take on their word, but I think the ‘Best in Show’ has to go to Ilex, Leah, and Marcus for their ‘frustration’ muffins considering I was so excited to taste them because they looked so interesting, so left them until last, but ended up reflexively splitting them back on my plate because the taste in my mouth was so not ‘right’! Through this game, I was reminded of how much I like to cook for others and how fun it is to change recipes to suit a specific need or in this case mood.

Well, thanks for a great two Saturdays…if I lived closer to the city, I would definitely stop by to see the final products this weekend…I will be excited to see what you all write about in your blogs in the coming weeks!

Oh, btw here are the tea websites I was talking about in class:
www.teausa.com; www.silvertipstea.com; and www.epicurious.com keyword: tea

Let me know if anyone tries any of the tea recipes!