Sense of Taste

Human beings have an average of ten thousand taste buds, mainly on the tongue, but also on the palate and even as far back in the throat in the larynx.  Cows have more than twice as many which seems a bit of a waste.

 

Our taste buds are a kind of modified skin cell, and in their general arrangement register sweet (on the surface of the tongue), and bitter (at the back of the tongue).  Some individuals have a more acute sense of taste than others, but all humans seem to be born with an inherent liking for the sweetness evident even in infants, while appreciated of spicy or sour flavors is learned.  Taste buds are replaced every ten days or so and less frequently with age; accounting for a diminishing sense of taste as people grow older.  The complex wiring of the brain incorporates smells into our sense of taste, which is why the taste of food becomes flat or even nonexistent when you have a head cold.

 

An excerpt from "Life Is Meals" by James & Kay Salter.

 

This really has nothing to do with my next recipe.  Well, maybe it does.  Because it was the hit of a dinner party and my friends inhaled every last bite.  The recipe "Chili Cheese Squares" has also gone by the name of the "John Wayne Casserole".  This came from the cookbook Sedona's (like in Sedona, AZ) Red Rock Recipes by Eloise Carleton.   Which can be found on my Amazon storefront www.amazon.com/stores/oneofakindcookbooks for $9.99. 

 

Chili Cheese Squares

 

1/2 cup flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

12 eggs, well beaten

1 pint cottage cheese

2 small cans diced green chilies

8 oz. jack cheese, grated

8 oz. cheddar cheese, grated

1 stick butter

 

Combine flour and baking powder.  Add eggs, cottage cheese and green chilies.  Combine jack and cheddar cheeses, reserving a third, and add the remainder to eggs.

 

Preheat oven to 400F. Put butter in a 9"x13"baking dish and place in oven.  After butter melts, pour mixture over butter and top with reserved cheese.  Place dish in oven, reducing heat to 350F.  Bake 30-35 minutes.  Dish is fully cooked when knife blade inserted in middle comes out clean.

 

If served as an entrée, cut into 4" squares and serve hot.  If served as a hor d'oeuvre, chill and cut into 1" squares.  Makes 6 main-dish servings or 12 hors d'oeuvres.

 

My thoughts on this recipe:  This must have been made at high elevation.  The cooking times didn't work for me.  With the temperature at 350F, first I cooked it for a total of 50 minutes and it was still wet in the middle.  Then I turned up the temperature to 400F and cooked it for another 10 minutes.  I was running out of time and needed to leave.  I took it out of the oven and tested with the knife.  It still looked wet, but the knife came out clean.  So I went with it and it continued cooking internally on its own.  It was ready by the time (20 minutes later) I got to my friends' home.  It was a major success!

 

Happy Cooking!