Exploring the Alchemy of Taste and Smell

Guests may first eat with their eyes, but their satisfaction with what goes into their mouths is directly correlated to what they smell as the aromas from their first bite or sip wafts up to their nose.

How are you considering the impact that smell has on taste, memory, culture and nature as you think through each dish? Do you consider the importance of aroma and its impact on your guest’s food and drink experiences?

Do you want to learn more about how to create that elevated guest experience that brings them back again and again? You can this weekend at The Alchemy of Taste and Smell – a seminar dedicated to the exploration of creativity in cooking, the composite nature of flavors with a crucial focus on scents.

Event creator, Daniel Patterson says, “The reality is, that what we smell comprises at least 80% of taste and flavor. We’re looking to provide people with a better understanding of that.”

The understanding culminates on Saturday night with an experimental seven course meal that illuminates the explicit connection between what we smell and what we taste. Expect each of the seven chefs presenting their course to wow you with some culinary sleight of hand tricks.

Join Mandy Aftel (Owner, Aftelier Perfumes; Author), Dave Arnold (Director of Culinary Technology, FCI), David Chang (Chef/Owner, Momofuku, ** Michelin Stars for Ko, World’s 50 Best Restaurants #26 for Ssam Bar), Bill Corbett (Pastry Chef, Coi), Wylie Dufresne (Chef/Owner WD-50, * Michelin Star, World’s 50 Best Restaurants #45), Johnny Iuzzini (Pastry Chef, Jean-Georges, *** Michelin Stars), Harold McGee (Author and NY Times Columnist), George Mendes (Chef/Owner, Aldea), Nils Noren (Vice President of Culinary and Pastry Arts at The International Culinary Center), Daniel Patterson (Chef/Owner Coi, ** Michelin Stars), Audrey Saunders (Mixologist, Owner Pegu Club), Alexander Talbot and Aki Kamozawa (Chefs and Authors, Ideas In Food) for two days as chefs and mixologists gather to dine, investigate, and explore together the importance of aromatics and how it integrates into the food & beverage experience.

Below is the program, with pricing. Tickets are available at: www.astorcenternyc.com/shopping-cart.ac

Friday Evening

5:00 p.m:
Dave Arnold and Audrey Saunders
Demonstration: Using Aroma in Cocktails (The Study, up to 36 people) $55

Dave Arnold and Audrey Saunders will demonstrate how they use aroma in cocktails, including distillations, essential oils and infusions.

7:00 – 10:00 p.m:
Opening Party (The Lounge and The Gallery, up to 250 people) $95
Creative cocktails by Dave Arnold and Audrey Saunders
Participating Chefs: David Chang, Alexander Talbot and Aki Kamozawa, Daniel Patterson, Nils Noren, Bill Corbett

The party will feature stations spread throughout the two rooms, with chefs and mixologists on display, making food and cocktails. There will be some passed food as well, and white and red wines will also be served.

Saturday Day

11:30 a.m:
David Chang, Wylie Dufresne
Demonstration: New Flavor Combinations (The Study, up to 36 people) $55

Chang and Dufresne will demonstrate some of the dishes that illustrate the strikingly original approach for which they have become famous.

1:00 p.m:
Harold McGee
Lecture: Thinking about Flavor (The Gallery, up to 100 people) $45

McGee will outline the chemical and biological nature of flavor. He will describe the molecules that stimulate our senses of taste and smell, how taste and smell work together to create the perception of flavor, and how that perception is influenced by past experience and by context.

2:30 p.m:
Daniel Patterson and Johnny Iuzzini
Demonstration: Flavor and Aroma (The Study, up to 36 people) $55

Patterson and Iuzzini will demonstrate dishes that focus on the interaction between taste and smell. They will each make dishes starting from the same flavor combinations, demonstrating a range of styles and techniques.

3:45 p.m:
Panel Discussion: Creativity and Flavor (The Gallery, up to 100 people) $35

Five leading chefs will discuss the process by which they create new dishes. The discussion will include the role of ingredients and technique, and how childhood memories and historical and cultural contexts influence the chefs. Moderated by Harold McGee.

5:00 p.m
Mandy Aftel
Demonstration: Creating with Aromas (The Study, up to 36 people) $35

Aftel will demonstrate the process of how she creates with scent — showing you how
to orchestrate the interactions between pure and natural essences when blending
a flavor or fragrance. The design concepts include register (top, middle, base),
relative intensity, evolution, locking, and burying. This architecture of aroma
will be illustrated graphically by smelling some unexpected combinations, over
a range of concentration ratios. The goal is to produce beautiful and innovative
aromas.

Saturday Evening

7:00PM
Dinner. The Lounge (40 people) $300

David Chang, Wylie Dufresne, George Mendes, Alexander Talbot and Aki Kamozawa, Nils Noren, Daniel Patterson, Bill Corbett. The chefs will each make one dish. Some of the dishes are in collaboration with perfumer Mandy Aftel using her essential oils. The price includes beverage and service.