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Cooking Styles

Besides the variety of different flavour methods, many countries

have their own cooking

methods. For example aMoroccan dish cooked ina traditional Tagine

cooks a lot more slowlythan a meal cooked in a

Chinese wok.

Ingredients in a wok are cut 

smaller to cook faster.

Sauces like soy or oyster,

are already concentratedbefore addition to the pan.

b e y o n d t h e p a s s

FOREIGN FLAVOURS

Exposure to foreign cuisines is like an inspirational tonicwhich can boost your cooking knowledge and broaden

 your culinary horizons.

First choose a regional cuisine that interests you and then try and identify

the key ingredients which define it, for example:

China: soy sauce, rice wine and ginger = Chinese taste

Italy: wheat, olives, tomatoes, grapes, basil

Thailand: fish sauce, coconut, lime and chilies

Spain: pimento, cured ham, saffron, smoked paprika, white beans,

Morocco: mint, lemon, lamb, clove, rosewater, almond, cous cous

Scandinavia: dill, salt, juniper, horseradish, herring 

Mexico: chilli, black beans, cocao, corn, pork 

Norwegian Gravad lax: salmon, salt, sugar and dill

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Professional courses

We are presently compiling our student list 

 for the 2011 Diploma course. If you feel 

 you would like to become a trained chef,

then contact us for an interview and tour of 

our premises. Alternatively, ask us for a free

infopack to be emailed to you.

Part time courses

 If you are a chef already working in

industry but needing a formal qualification,

we can help by offering you a part time

course over six months, one afternoon per 

week.

Contact us

Tel: 021 447 3168 

sean@sachefsacademy.com 

www.SaChefsAcademy.com

Six Elements of Flavour 1. Fats and Oils

It could be olive oil in the

Mediterranean, butter in France, pork fat in

Mexico or clarified butter in India. Sealedmeat in the pan gains a better colour and

flavour plus it cooks more evenly. Avoid

excess fats, as they coat the tongue and

prevent proper tasting.

2. Aromatics

In China, the aromatic base often

comprises ginger, garlic and green onions,

while in French cooking they use

“mirepoix”, which is a mix of onions, leeks,

celery and carrot to begin a stock. In

Thailand they use lime leaves and crushed

lemon grass at the end of the cooking 

process, in much the same way Italians add

basil to a tomato sauce at the end stage.

 Aromatics form the foundation for cooking 

stocks and liquids.

3. Stocks and Liquids

Both a seasoning and a cooking 

medium, stocks are a cornerstone of French

cooking, while in Asian cooking they are

used in a more concentrated form such assoy, oyster and fish sauce. Other liquids that

enhance flavour include wine and brandy

while cream is a legendary ingredient which

also thickens a sauce.

4. Sweet and Sour

The Chinese use rice vinegar, the

French use grape. Tamarind fruit is popular

in India and in Peru the acidity of lemon is

used to ‘cook’ raw fish for ceviche. Wine,

 vinegars and citrus juices are essential in

every kind of cooking. Just think of how

wine stars in French sauces, or how lime

 juice lifts Thai soups. They augment and

offset the flavors of mild or even sweet

ingredients such as most vegetables, meat

and fish. If you are making Spanish

gazpacho, add some apple vinegar and

sugar at the very end taste the difference.

Taste root vegetables before and after the

addition of acid and sugar and discover adramatic improvement.

Excellent sources of sour

flavour include lemon,

tomatoes, tamarind,

pomegranate syrup,

certain fruit juices,

 yogurt and buttermilk.

For sweetness, look to

raisins in Moroccan

dishes, or mango in

Indian chutney.

5. Salt and Spices

Garam masala is to

Indian cooking what

cinnamon, mace and nutmeg in Moroccan

dishes. In Spain they are famous for smoked

paprika, while Scandanavian countries use

salt (and sugar) to preserve salmon for

gravad lax. It helps to briefly toast spices in

a hot dry pan to release their true flavours.

6. Compounds

Sometimes the above mentioned

ingredients are combined to create

flavourful compounds which are used as

accompaniments. In Western cooking we

use tomato, Tobasco or Worcester Sauce

and in China they use hoisin sauce. In

Morrocco it is Harissa—a caraway-spiked

chile paste, while the Mexicans use a molé

paste made from cocoa and chilli.