TAAT is the tasting process from a professional culinary standpoint. The first T represents Taste, meaning that the food must be ingested, chewed, moved around the mouth and swallowed.
The first A is for Analyze, which refers to the conscious part of tasting. Critically thinking about food requires effort, experience and the development of a mental taste library.
The second A is for Adjust. This is the action step. Based on the analysis, the dish might require adjustments to make it as tasty as possible.
The last T is for Taste again—starting the whole process over until perfection is achieved.
What started as a simple idea has become a very useful teaching tool. Posters proclaiming “TAAT” are conspicuously placed in lab and production kitchens throughout the school. When chef instructors taste a student’s work, they will often ask the student if he or she employed TAAT, and if the dish is not successful, which part of TAAT was not performed. This continually reinforces the tasting process. Many students even write “TAAT” as the last step of a recipe, which acknowledges that the tasting process is the ultimate quality control in the culinary arts.
Christopher Koetke, CEC, CCE, HAAC is vice president of the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts and vice president of Laureate International Universities Center of Excellence in Culinary Arts. For more information, visit www.kendall.edu