Translating Cooking Techniques

Computer-controlled plant equipment makes industrial-scale cooking vastly more consistent than what could be accomplished with traditional cooking methods. “If you asked me to braise a million pounds of meat, I can guarantee that 80% of it would be right on the mark, but 20% would be less than that, for various reasons,” Giunta says. “But in the very controlled environment of our plant, we can get way north of 80% within specification.”

SAUCY SOLUTIONS

The sauces and gravies that accent meats can contain flavors that help bridge the gap between bench and plant.

Obviously, meat cooked in a bag doesn’t have pan drippings or mirepoix for making a gravy like a beef round roasted by the book. That’s where a mirepoix flavor comes into play, notes Dolf DeRovira, president and CEO, Flavor Dynamics, South Plainfield, NJ—or perhaps the flavor of a blonde or dark roux. “There are commercially available roux,” he says, “but they’re kind of expensive. And it’s difficult to make in a plant without special equipment. That’s why we developed roux flavors.”

Kokumi flavors—a Japanese-discovered concept that has followed umami into the flavoring lexicon—can also come into play. “Compared to umami, which creates that initial bright bite in food, kokumi is more of the middle and finish, that richness,” says Joseph Formanek, Ph.D, associate director, business development and application innovation, Ajinomoto Food Ingredients, LLC, Chicago. Kokumi flavors use ingredients like yeast extract and fermented wheat protein to add rich notes to foods.