Culinary Development and Innovation Essay

CULINARY DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATIONS MODULE
REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON THE PRACTICAL VISITING FELLOWS EVENT 2014
FLORENTINA DANIELA FATT – 23019661
MODULE TUTOR: NORMAN DINSDALE
WORD COUNT: 2237
HAND IN DATE: 23 APRIL 2014

Florentina Daniela Fatt Reflective Essay based on the Practical Visiting Fellows Event 2014
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(Dinsdale 2014)
The ‘distinction between a first chemical approximation and the first flavor
approximation is essential, because we eat foods, not chemistry. The flavor of coffee
is not the same as that of tea; chocolate-fat and sugar from the point of flavor. These
sorts of distinctions, between chemistry and flavor, art and craft, innovation and
invention, and so on, illustrate kinds of methods that will accompany us on our
voyage towards the construction of a meal’ (This 2009, p3). Fig.1 illustrates different
flavours which should to be balanced and the relationships between the two
approximations meantioned earlier
(Mouritsen and Risbo 2013) are
understood only when we are allowed
to play with our food, a point
underlined by Dinsdale (2014) from our
first encounter, one of many –
seminars, Master Classes, practicaly-
based sessions, team meetings,
tasting sessions and practical
evaluation.
The whole context of this exercise was
the organisation of the ‘Visiting Fellows
Event 2014’, a ‘fine-dining’ (Sutton
1998) experience as the result of the collaboration between the final year students -
International Hospitality Events Management (Front of House) and Hospitality
Business Management with Culinary Art (Back of House)(Appendix I).
Figure 1- Wheel of flavours

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At the beginning, after the first meeting on the 23 January 2014, we were given the
impression that we were the ones deciding on the theme and the fusion of the food,
but very shortly we were told the cuisines on which we should base the whole meniu
were French (Hagloch 2003), British (Learn English Network 2014) and Korean –
‘Hansik’ (This 2009, p119) (KOREA Tourism Organisation 2014). The meaning of
cuisine is a complex concept involving the practice or manner of preparing food,
characteristic styles associated with a place of origin including their specific
beverages or drinks (Bissell 1989) (Learn English Network 2014). We were given an
explanation of why those particular cuisines we were chosen, but to be honest I
could not tell you what that was. After I researched each and every cuisine, my
reasoning would be that French was choosen due to it status/prestige of haute
cuisine with its innovative chefs such as Antonin Careme (Kelly 2003) and Auguste
Escoffier (Hagloch 2003) (The Guardian 2003); the English cuisine has been
choosen due to upcoming focus on innovatitve British chefs: Heston Blumenthal
(Wilson 2013), Michel Roux Jr. (BBC 2014), Robert Thompson (Great British Chefs
2013) meanwhile the Korean cuisine represents one of the impending trends
(Korean Tourism Organisation 2014) (Korea.net 2014). The general feeling had been
one of confusion but personal I felt more overwhelmed as we had only 41 days from
getting the brief to the execution of it (only 21 hours of practice - Appendix II). Later
on I been made aware of the fact that in real situations, the time in which a menu
should be delivered could be much shorter and with an even more complexity.
The reality was that a quarter of our team did not have any experience in a
professional kitchen on top of the fact all of us were not familiarised with the £3,5 mil
refurbishment restaurant and kitchen on 12th floor (SHU 2014). Truth be told I did
not believe that we would deliver, especially due to a few things that went wrong
such as food orders misshandelled which caused the Scotch eggs (Cloarke 2013) to
be smaller and the edible cones for the canapes to be replaced with shop bought
mini blinis (Appendix III). The cause has been the poor communication among the
two teams, us – Back of House (BoH) and Front of House (FoH) and the technicians
which started from the beginning when we were told about 22 covers whilst FoH

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knew about 25, however there were actually 27 on service (Appenix IV). The
labelling of the tables and unwilliness by FOH to change regarding table layout, as
well as the fact that we were told about dietary restrictions (veggies/allergies/meat)
(CCFRA 2007) only two-three hours before the event created a delay in service.
The poor communication had been reached its peak the day before the event, in
which we should have had access to prepare dishes such as the terreins, pies,and
eggs for the Scotch eggs and parts of dessert but in reality it did not happened and
not only did we have to fight over space in the kitchen, but also over ingredients with
other classes. The situation in the preparation stage was a big confusion due to the
lack of clarity in recipes, recipes that did not comply with the brief, in my opinion,
e.g. the Steak Tartare (Gilt Club 2012) canape recipe which I worked on had to be
changed too many times, time which could have been spent in perfecting the flavour
and the presentation or even making our own blinis. Kitchens perform due to their
hierarchy structure (better-dining.com 2012), in this case I had to comply with the
instructions that were being given to me even if I did not agree or I questioned my
superiors decision. As a group, we made heavy use of jellification (Barham 2001).
The process worked due to the usage of different hydrocolloids (Lerch 2008) which
have been chosen instead of gelatine due to the problems that we incountered in
early preperation e.g. Pineapple and Soju Jelly componet in the dessert (Appendix
III) which did not solidify. Another reason in chosing hydrocolloids was the fact that
are suitable for vegetarians. Even then, my colleagues had to adjust the quantity of
‘agar-agar’ (Bissell 1989, p50) for the Dashi Seaweed Sauce for the Intermmediate
dish (Appendix III).The poor attendence at the master classes did not allow the team
members to have enough time to work with each other, a situation which has been
made more difficult after the confusion with the recipies. Unfortunately from my
personal point of view distribution of the team members based on their skills and
aptitudes did not happen, instead it was based on the personal preferences which
came from the three years in which the group have worked together on different
tasks, which affected the planning of the menu. These personal preferences and
personal tastes continued all through the execution of the event to the detriment of
the theme and purpose of the exercise.

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According to The Culinary
Institute of America (2011) the
product development process
(Fig. 2) (Winger 2009), as for
example a new menu, is
challenging as well as
regimented practice.
New product development has
dramatically increased from
1964 to 2008 (Fig.3) (Fuller
2011). The whole event as
been successful in my opinion
as it had started from nothing
and evolved, and with it, us as
well. From a development point
of view as a “new stage or
event during growth or
evolution” (Heinemann English
Dictionary 2010, p278),
unfortunately, from an
innovation point of view it
delivered more from “the
introduction of new things or
methods” (Heinemann English
Dictionary 2010, p533) than
from “something new or different
which is introduced”
(Heinemann English Dictionary 2010, p533) concurring with the introduction which
stated that we were exposed to new things and methods. For myself in particular the
Maillard reaction – searing the duck –allowing for the sugars to be released and with
it the flavour, not being bland (Barham 2001) (Exploratorium 2014), learning how to
Figure 3 - New food product introductions over a 45-
year period (Fuller 2011)
Figure 2 - Product Development Process - adapted
from The Culinary Institute of America (Winger 2009)

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use the Whipping Siphon (Fig.4) for the Salmon mousse, (Logsdon 2013) utilising
the induction hub and the convection oven, replacing salt with crème de tartar
(Arumugam 2013) to act as stabiliser in cheese soufflé (BBC a 2014).
It is highly likely that from a pure innovation standpoint, the delivery of a gastronomic
experience has been low compared with others shown e.g. Final Dessert of 20
Course Meal at Alinea (Youtube 2010). What little innovation there was came from
the dessert, which took a lot of re-does –
brownies due to the recipe in the early
stages and too many chillies on the day
and macaroons (five attempts in total,
three on the day of the event), where the
plates looked innovative (Appendix III)
only to be bettered by the taste.
Due to the extent of experience working
in professional kitchens and the fact that
for a decade I studied as a mature
student (Appenix IV), I can confirm that
‘the best thing any education can
bequeath is the habit of reflection and
questioning (Grayling 2000).
Reflection is concerned with consciously looking at and thinking about our
experiences, actions, feelings and responses and then interpreting or analysing them
in order to learn from them (Boud, Keogh and Walker 1994) (Atkins and Murphy
1994). The are a lot of reflective models out there (Kolb 1984) (Gibbs 1988) (Schon
1991) as well as platforms for implementetion such as the Learning and
Development Deparment within Sheffield Business School (SHU 2014) or Learning
Development at Plymouth University (2014). Ultimately it is down to each individual
and how much he or she wants to achieve in their career and for that matter in life.
Reflection is a transferable skill (Atlay and Harris 2000) which provides a framework
Figure 4 - How the Whipping Siphon works
(Logsdon 2013)

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for ones' Personal and Professional Development (Raelin 2002). As evidence to my
drive, out of the total posts on the groups’ Facebook account, half of them were
mine, posts such as thre numeorus recipes and research/information I posted
(Fleming 2014) (Catering & Leisure Supplies Ltd 2014) (Wenger 2011)
(jenishungry.blogspot.co.uk 2013) (Bloor 2013) (Rice 2010) (bxlblog.com 2013). Out
of these recipes two were chosen for the canapés: one was the inspiration for steak-
tartar canapé (The Chronicles of Ms I-Hua & The Boy 2014) (Wikipedia 2014) and
the other one for fish’n’chips canapé (goodfood.com.au 2014). Websites like
Molecular Gastronomy Network (2014), Foodpairing (2014)(Fig.5) as well as
Modernist Cuisine (2014), have been a real source of inspiration and a visual aid to
understand the practical, but in the same time the theatrical side of the fine-dining
experience (This 2009). It seems to me that the theatrical part of the delivery of this
fine dining experience as been neglected, more likely do to the lact of time and
experience, although I suspect that even if the time were given again, we would not
attempt anything as drastic due to people not wanting to leave their comfort zone.
Figure 5 - E.g. possibilities of pairing Fresh French Baguette

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Unfortuanetely, I do not only believe that we under performed from the theatical point
of view, but also exploring what the Korean cuisine (jenishungry.blogspot.co.uk
2013) has to offer, with its unusual ingriedients (Korean Tourism Organisation
2014), ‘Chongju – Korean cereal alcoholic bevereage’ (Campbell-Platt 2009,
p91),‘Kichudok – Steamed rice cakes’ (Campbell-Platt 2009, p94), ‘Korean
chongkukjang – fermentated soybean paste’ (Campbell-Platt 2009, p100) and
processes such as ‘Nuruk – the name of Korean fermatention startars’ (Campbell-
Platt 2009, p88); ‘Kimchi – fermented vegetables’ (Campbell-Platt 2009,
p95),’Sikhae – fermented seafood and meat product’ (Campbell-Platt 2009, p96).
Reflecting on the allocated time on the day, there was plenty of time between
preparation and service as everyone was on top of their dishes. Even I had extra
time to help one of my colleagues on mains with the glaze sauce for the duck. I
ended up making it from scratch, by following his recipe.
As mentioned earlier, panic and confusion started when it was announced the fact
that there were more diners than exepected and there were more vegetarian
customers than anticipated. As the starters were plated and ready by 6pm, I had
asked the Head Chef a couple of times about the Steak Tartare canapes, whether I
should start at least chopping the components. I was told that the canapes should be
as fresh as possible and to hold on. The evidence suggests that was a miscall as the
canapes were late which made the guests waiting, who did not take their places until
6.45pm. The technicians were not happy about the situation which put a bit of
pressure to deliver the next course. It most definitely made the practical session
more close to the real work environment which in my opinion was handled with
professionalism and was a privilige to work with my team members. The review from
some of our guests (Appendix VI) stands testimony of the performance of that night.
Looking back, unfortunately because it had been such a long day by the time that the
dessert was serverd, we did not even think to take a group photo.
This year has been particular challenging for me due to personal difficulties
ecounterd along the way but the fact that I learned on my feet, not only having to
adapt to those challenges, finding the determination to rise above those obstacles,

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learn how to time manage, to work with new people in a completety new
environment as well as in all this mess of issuses finding time to make new friends
and networking are a few of the accomplishments that I can think of. I would have
been able to accomplish these things if I did not have the support of my family,
friends and the faculty members and services.
The experience has been unique and probably one in a life time. Meanwhile this
module has been by far the highlight of the entire course. It confirmed the fact that it
was the best decision to choose this direction and this was what gave me strength to
not give up throughout the whole year. It also made me realise that my career should
be related with food. That is why I am pursuing a Graduate Scheme with Compass
Group which I see as a platform into my career as a Food & Beverage Manager and
one step closer to owning my own business one day.

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Appendices
Appendix I – The Menu

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Appendix II – Time to prepare
First session –
Thursday 23rd
of January
2014
Delivery of the
Event –
Tuesday 4th of
March 2014
Duration:
6 weeks –
41 days of
which only 21
hours of
practical
sessions.

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Appendix III – Pictures from the day of the event

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Appendix IV – The bref & nr. of covers

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Appendix V – My Curriculum Vitae

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Appendix VI – Reviews from the guests

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