Assignment+Guidlines

A copy of the assignment brief:


 * __Assignment Brief __**

During this Food Innovation module, you will have the opportunity to experiment with some novel scientific techniques and ingredients that are increasingly being seen in restaurant kitchens, and use them to design and develop a 3 course meal. Task 1 will involve the actual creation and delivery of this menu, and task 2 will be a report summarising your findings. You will work in groups of 2 or 3 to design and develop your meal, but your final report should be written and submitted independently. The techniques and equipment available for you to use are detailed below: These include xanthan gum, sodium alginate, soya lecithin, gellan gum and tapioca maltodextrin, all of which can be used to develop novel textures. These include a smoking gun, a cream whipper and a water bath. All these ingredients are provided by Cream Supplies. You will spend the whole 8 weeks of the Food Innovation course working on this. The first week will be spent researching all the different ingredients and pieces of equipment to help design your menu. Work in your chosen groups, using techniques such as brainstorming to develop ideas. Carry out some market research – how are other chefs currently using these techniques? As of week 2, you will be in the kitchen, where you will start trying out some of the ingredients and equipment and start working on your menus as a group. Remember to record __all__ your findings, as these will be useful for your report. In week 8 you will actually prepare you 3 course meal. __ Task 1: __ 40% of the total marks will be awarded for the 3 course menu delivered in the final week. This will involve working in groups. The final dishes will be marked on the following criteria: quality of the dishes in terms of flavour and presentation, variety shown within the three dishes, and elements of risk/ambition taken. __ Task 2: __ 60% of the total marks will be allocated to your report. This report will include all of your observations and findings during the seven weeks – what worked well, what didn’t, did you need to change your initial ideas and why, what recommendations would you make to new chefs using these products? Remember to record all your findings, even if they didn’t work – a failed result is as important for a scientist as one that works.... You should work individually to write these reports – if identical reports are submitted only half marks will be awarded to each person. The outcome of your reports may be viewed by Cream Supplies or (with your permission) used displayed on the website www.theexperimentalkitchen.co.uk so please ensure that the recipes you are using are not confidential or the intellectual property of anyone else.
 * 1) **__Novel additives__**
 * 1) **__Novel equipment__**

During the class this Tuesday (which is scheduled for 3 hours from 6-9pm), I would like you to get into groups of 2 or 3. (If any of you are absent on Tuesday, please make sure that there is a group with whom you can join in week 2). These are the groups that you will work in for the next 8 weeks.

I have given you 5 "additives"/ingredients to work with, and 3 novel pieces of equipment.

Please use your time on Tuesday to research these ingredients, understand how they work (specifically from a scientist viewpoint) and therefore what possible dishes/applications you could use them in. I have given you a range of different ingredients - sodium alginate is most commonly used for specification and reverse spherification, gellan gum is another gelling agent that can be used to make fluid gels, soya lecithin is an emulsifier often used to make mousses, tapioca maltodextrin makes powders from liquids, and xanthan gum can be used as an emulsifier, thickening agent, stabiliser and many more.

You will find lots of information on the web about chefs who have used these ingredients to make dishes - khymos have a good PDF on their website that outlines the functions of the different additives and gives recipes, the experimentalkitchen will have some information, the El Bulli cookbook will also give some ideas. All this research will be useful when it comes to writing your report.

Try and think about introducing some novel flavours and flavour combinations into your recipes (again khymos.org has some good suggestions), and try and bring a variety of textures into your dishes. You will also be awarded marks for risk taken - so be ambitious!

Try and also think of some novel applications of the equipment - for example, what else can the cream whipper be used for except just mousses?

When I next see you in week 2, I will ask each group to give a 5 minute presentation to myself and the group on your proposed menu, and how you will be using each of the innovations. This will not be assessed, and you will not need to prepare a PowerPoint, but it will be a good opportunity to show me what you have decided to work on, so that I can give you direct feedback early on in the process.

If you have any questions, please ask. Maurice is very close to this module (having co-run it with me last year) so should be able to help you with any queries or concerns. He can meet you all in the canteen at 6pm if needed to go through the assignment. Please agree this with him (I imagine you will see him on Tuesday for sensory properties).