Unit 2: Building Flavor (Blocks 9–14)
The goal of this unit: Move beyond technique into taste. Learn how salt, acid, fat, and heat interact to build layered flavor — then apply that understanding to one of the most satisfying skill sets in the kitchen: fresh pasta, handmade grains, and a confident vegetable repertoire.
By the end of Block 14, your palate should be a tool as reliable as your knife.
Blocks in This Unit
| Blocks | Topic | Full Guide | Quick Ref | Shopping List |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9–10 | Seasoning & Flavor Building | → Guide | → Quick Ref | → Shopping |
| 11–12 | Vegetables & Plant-Forward Cooking | → Guide | → Quick Ref | → Shopping |
| 13–14 | Unit 2 Capstone: Pasta & Grains from Scratch | → Guide | → Quick Ref | → Shopping |
Core Skills Covered
- Seasoning — salting at the right moment, finishing acids, building depth with fat; tasting analytically
- Flavor layering — aromatics, fond, deglazing, reduction; how flavor compounds develop and stack
- Vegetables — blanching and shocking; high-heat roasting; charring; purée method; quick-pickling and fermentation
- Fresh pasta — dough by hand, lamination, rolling to thickness, cutting tagliatelle, pappardelle, and filled shapes
- Grains — pilaf method, risotto technique, polenta ratios, tahdig; the difference between toasting and not
Equipment Introduced in This Unit
| Item | First Used |
|---|---|
| Mandoline slicer | Block 11 |
| Fine-mesh sieve | Block 11 |
| Potato ricer | Block 13 |
| Pasta machine (or rolling pin) | Block 13 |
| Large pasta pot (8+ qt) | Block 13 |
Previous: Unit 1 — Foundational Skills (Blocks 1–8) Next: Unit 3 — The Proteins (Blocks 15–26)