Cooking Food You Don't Like

[mudbug]

This question is for you pro chefs out there:

Surely your taste buds can't like every ingredient and dish you make even if others tell you it's fabulous.

Do you commonly make dishes you wouldn't eat yourself or are you trained to know what something is supposed to taste like and learn to appreciate it in your training? How does this work?

[Dlee]

cchiu,

I am a very picky eater. So is there anything that I cook that I really do not like? Yes! Do I make dishes that I would not eat? Yeah sure, so how do I know if it taste good? I taste to see if the product is palitable, then let someone else taste the product and watch there reaction and then hear what they have to say. 99 out 100 times I get it right.

You also asked if ..."are you trained to know what something is supposed to taste like and learn to appreciate it in your training? How does this work?"... I remember in school there were vegans that refuse to taste any non vegan products. You can imagine what there products taste like. School can't teach you what everything is going to taste like. They do introduce you to the high end products like truffle, foie gras, caviar... things you dont get in everyday life.

I personally took the "I will try anything once" attitude. That is how I developed my palate.

If I am trying to cook something that I have never tried before, I will research what the product is, what it should taste like and what are the cooking methods. Then I will cook the product and it should taste reasonably well. After awhile you will know when something is simply "no good".

D.Lee

[coolJ]

When I was a kid I was very picky. Now that I'm somewhat grown up, I've started to try more interesting things, but I still refuse peppers, tomatos, onions, pickles, olives, and a few other vegetables. I do however cook a lot of stuff that I will not eat or do not like, because my parents have different tastes than I do, and are always asking me to make stuff for them. As for knowing how a dish is supposed to taste, or will taste, this might sound odd, but I can usually tell what things are going to taste like, just by how they smell. it's like greek salad, I know it must taste awesome to those who like the ingredients, because when I make it the smell of the fresh vegetables is amazing. I just don't like anything that goes into it.

[CampChef]

Practice, Practice, Practice. Ove the years I have learned what different ingredients and techniques will do to a dish. We serve BBQ Chicken here about 150 times a year, so I am thouroughly sick of it. But I know by the smell and look of the marinade if it is right. Vegetarian dishes are the toughest for me, because I keep thinking they would be complete with some bacon or chicken or fumet. So I have been learning to adjust my palate to entrees without meat.

I love food but there are definitely things I don't like. But I have gained the experience to know what it tastes like even if I don't like it. I try everything I cook. I think that is very important. As well I made a promise to myself to try anything once and ocassionally I am surprised!

Being mostly a home-cook, I pretty well dictate what gets served so there isn't often a problem. The biggest problems I've run into, though, are bean dishes. I love the taste of beans, I love the smell of them as they cook, but once I put them in my mouth I can't even swallow them - there's something about their texture that I find so disgusting that I literally can't even choke 'em down. I make awesome bean soup, but I cook that largely by smell and by scooping up broth from between the little guys.

[fontzmark]

Do you commonly make dishes you wouldn't eat yourself

We had a family come in the other night, they brought micro-wave mac&cheese and asked us to "prepare" it for the kids, so yes I do.