fandomtownies | Community Center Class: Flavors, Food Choices, and Menu Planning

Entry tags:

!ccclass: cooking

Community Center Class: Flavors, Food Choices, and Menu Planning

"So, we've covered the five basic tastes," Hannibal said. "However, what we have not actually covered yet is flavor." He smiled. "Flavor is the interaction of taste and smell. Smell is thus incredibly important to our experience of food.

He brought out two plates of white cubes of food, and grinned. "So. One of these is pommes and the other pommes de terre. That is, apples and potatoes. We're going to conduct an experiment."

Which wasn't nearly as horrifying as those words could have been, coming from Hannibal.

"I want you each to hold your nose and take a piece from each plate, and see if you can tell which is which. Without smell, you are left with taste. You may be surprised how much difference there is."

He then pulled out a large, spiny fruit. "We will also discuss the durian. Its taste is rather unique, and quite good. Its scent is...less so. The question is, since scent is such a large part of flavor, how does this work?"

He waved them toward the foods. "Let us discuss it."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Smelling things

Lucille Sharpe

Sparkle

All about smells!

Try to tell the apple from the potato, smell the durian and eat it if you dare, and discuss!

Dr Lecter was correct, it was hard to tell the difference between the apple and the potato without the use of your nose. As for the durian... Lucille gave it a suspicious look.

"It's quite safe," Hannibal assured her. "Better if you taste it before you smell it, though."

"By holding my nose?" Lucille looked at the fruit with a suspicious look.

"Or your breath," Hannibal suggested. "Breathe out as you bring it closer, then..." he demonstrated, eating a piece.

Lucille did as he suggested, and once she had swallowed the fruit she looked undecided. "it is... strange."

"Good strange or bad strange?" Hannibal asked.

"I can't quite decide." Lucille looked at Hannibal. "Do you like it?"

"From time to time," Hannibal said. "It isn't a favorite fruit of mine, but it does have its own charm."

Lucille gave a small nod. "Generally when food smells badly it is better not to eat it."

"Generally, yes," Hannibal agreed. "But there are always exceptions."

Lucille had grown up eating food that wasn't always as fresh as it should be, so she drew her conclusions from that.

"What other exceptions would you suggest?"

"There are some cheeses that can be quite pungent," Hannibal said. "And several fermented foods that are unpleasant smelling while they're processed."

"Bad smell makes me think of rotten food," Lucille said. "It would take time for me not to draw conclusions based on that."

"And they would generally be the correct conclusions," Hannibal said. "Unless you know for certain that a food should smell that way, it's always best to avoid it. We have those instincts for a reason."

Which mostly involved not poisoning yourself. Poisoning others was optional.

"There is a plant where I come from," Lucille said. "It makes a very bitter tea, used for medical reasons. The taste hides poison very well. Couldn't the same be done with food tasting... like this?"

"Very likely," Hannibal agreed. "Though I personally wouldn't recommend it, unless you truly hate your food."

He didn't much go in for poison that way.

Oh yeah, Sparkle was side-eyeing that durian like a mad fiend. And then, because c'mon, he'd totally eaten things that smelled worse in his lifetime, he shrugged, sidled in, sampled some.

... For something that smelled like turpentine-marinated onion, it was actually pretty fantastic. Huh.

Hannibal chuckled. "Strange, isn't it? Think of how it smells to me." He tapped his nose.

"Yeah, my nose and my mouth are in total disagreement on this one," Sparkle replied, glancing up at Hannibal. "I want to eat more and never inhale again. That's normal?"

"Perfectly normal," Hannibal assured him. "It's a very popular fruit that is banned in some places for the smell."

"... I mean, I guess I come from the place that invented poutine..."

Which weirded a lot of Americans out for some reason? Sparkle didn't pretend to understand why, but he also didn't see the appeal in cornbread, so...

"But eegh, yeah, I can see why they wouldn't want the stink around all the time."

Hannibal raised an eyebrow at that. And Sparkle might want to remember this moment.

"What is wrong with poutine?"

Not that it was to Hannibal's taste, for the most part, but apart from the grease that seemed endemic to it, he couldn't find it actually objectionable.

"You mean the late night fast-food regret dish of choice for idiots stumbling out of bars after closing time?" Sparkle had to bite back a laugh, because... Oh god, the ways that a poutine could go horribly wrong were numerous and frightening. "Ideally it's homemade fries, a decent gravy, and fresh curds. Usually it's a powdered or canned gravy mix that might as well be glue over old fries with shredded cheese. Or those cheese slices. I have actually seen poutine with Kraft Singles before, and let me tell you, it is not pretty. Not even when you're drunk after the bars close."

Poutine was a dangerous thing in the wrong hands.

"Unless you're making it yourself, poutine is a trap."

Hannibal made a face. "That is hardly the fault of the dish itself," he pointed out. "There are many foods I make myself that I wouldn't want to eat in any but a select few restaurants. Are there objections or bans to the food made well?"

"Well, no," Sparkle replied, smirking faintly. "I mean, unless you're just stumbling out of a bar at three in the morning and you have no patience for the fancy stuff."

Which, let's face it, was basically the quintessential Canadian poutine experience in a nutshell.

Hannibal smirked. "So, no foie gras gravy and goat cheese?"

"Blasphemy," Sparkle laughed, shaking his head. "It's squeaky curds or nothing."

There was a long pause.

"But I'd eat the hell out of that."

Hannibal laughed. "In that case, I'll have to make it. But I won't give it to you if you show up drunk at night," he promised.

He's here!

I've actually had durian. One time I'm glad I have a lousy sense of smell, but it tasted good!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Community Center Class: Flavors, Food Choices, and Menu Planning

Sign in

Re: Sign in

Re: Sign in

Listen to the lecture

Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Re: Class activity

Talk to Hannibal

OOC!