Courtesy of McCormick & Company, Inc.

Ever-evolving mindsets drive new flavor pairings for foodservice professionals now and for years to come.

McCormick & Company, Inc., a global flavor company based in Hunt Valley, Md., enters its 11^th year of bringing together its flavor experts, top chefs, food bloggers and mixologists to define leading trends and assemble top 10 flavor pairings. McCormick’s 2011 Flavor Forecast® is focused on how foodservice professionals and consumers can reclaim the joy of eating. Spice consumption in this country is at an all-time high—growing more than three times as fast as the population¹ and currently exceeds 1 billion pounds per year².

Key influences shaping McCormick’s 2011 Flavor Forecast® include need for customization, reframed ideas about health and wellness, desire for ease and simplicity, love of culinary adventure and craving for taste experiences. All are represented in McCormick’s five trend-watch categories:

Courtesy of the United States Potato Board

A recent study confirms that potatoes do not contribute to weight gain.

Pressure from legislators and consumers is growing for restaurant operators to place nutrition information on their menus. At the same time, while everyone is talking about healthier eating, they still want flavor. This pressure to create culinary delights that please the label as well as the palate makes the job of the foodservice professional far more challenging.

Fortunately, there are foundational foods, such as potatoes, that consumers love and associate with comfort and great taste. And when prepared healthfully, they maintain a low-calorie, low-fat, nutrient-dense profile. In fact, research recently released by the University of California, Davis, and the National Center for Food Safety and Technology, Illinois Institute of Technology, demonstrated people can include potatoes in their diet and still lose weight.

By Renee Zonka, RD, CEC, CHE, MBA

Just when we finally had our mouths wrapped around the fifth taste sense of umami, a newly discovered sixth taste, kokumi, emerges. How will this affect our teaching of flavor development?

After several years, umami has been firmly acknowledged as the fifth flavor profile, joining salt, sweet, sour and bitter. It has been described as the overall sensation of “savory meatiness” and is present in foods high in glutamic acid or the once-forbidden monosodium glutamate (MSG).

By Brian Campbell, CEC, CCE

Restaurants need students who can not only create and reproduce quality independent sauces (cold and hot), but also know how to use them properly.

I have taught several different classes over the years: Classical French, International, Stocks and Sauces, Traditional European, New World (Cuisine of the Americas) and, most recently, Garde Manger. It is in the latter that I have found myself settling for an extended stay. At our school, Garde Manger is a sophomore-level class that, more often than not, follows an externship in the industry that lasts a full term (about 12 weeks). I mention this only to put into perspective the experience level of the students when they enter my class. They have a year of freshman-level skill-based classes and at least some work experience (externship) that ideally placed them in a full rotation in the kitchen where they were able to put these skills into practice.

Courtesy of FoodChannel.com

Pie, sausage, nutmeg and moonshine top the list.

In the food business, everyone’s looking for the “next” this, or the “new” that. Here are the foods and flavors we see making noise in the new year.

1. Small Pies. Pie, of course, has been around forever, but 2011 could be the Year of the Pie. Some are already calling it the “next cupcake.” We say, yes, pies will be hot in the coming year, but look for smaller pies to make it big—in both sweet and savory varieties.