Focus on Culinary

What it means to have eight ACF certified chef’s at a university…

In a word, “awesome.” Rice University currently has four ACF Certified Executive Chef’s, a Certified Sous Chef, a Certified Chef de Cuisine, and two Certified Working Pastry Chefs who have all certified while working here. Education for the students is our primary mission, but the ability to grow our staff professionally should not be ignored. This model has provided us with extraordinary food, training, safety, and sustainable growth initiatives. It does not stop there however… We currently have three candidates who will try to certify as Executive Chef’s this year as well as three more candidates who are vying to become Sous Chef’s concurrently.

Additionally, two of our Executive Chef’s are Practical Examiners (ACE) which means they certify chef’s from our region. Rice University is an ACF accredited examination site as well. The opportunity to work with this kind of talent ensures that culinary excellence will be achieved continuously. It is the driving force behind a 90% scratch made operation including the bakery. We are narrowing down on that 10% gap as well.

In essence, we have moved away from the traditional model of FOH and BOH combined to a primarily BOH driven operation. This does come with some challenges though. There is always a matter of administration and chefs usually do not take too kindly to this kind of work. It makes it necessary for a strong administration and analytical team to support them. It is worth it!

With health and nutrition at the forefront of our challenges, I believe in this model and encourage other universities to strive for this operation as well. The satisfaction that chef’s get to continue their culinary education and the benefits that the students receive from it pays off ten-fold.

David

Loving Lentils

I will tell you right now that I love Lentils. As a matter of fact there are 13 varieties of lentils that are available and are adored in India the same as we adore a hamburger. Lentils go with just about anything or just plain. They have high fiber, protein and vitamins. We have been using lentils pretty regularly here at Rice University as a supplement to other grains, beans and pastas for quite some time. They are well received by our students.

So… Did you know that 78% of all the lentils grown in the US are exported? That it is a cash crop worth 87 million annually? The reason is that we do not use them much compared with other countries; hence the high export ratio. I read an interesting development today by researchers in Washington State that developed the 14th variety of lentil that was just approved for market. The Essex was developed by a plant geneticist to improve crop sustainability and increase harvest amounts. I find it very interesting that we dedicate our time to develop a better product just to export it. Come on people, go buy some lentils and make a quick and easy stew. These little gems will put a smile on yours and your kid’s faces.

With all the market driven forces to bestow more whole grain and multi-grain pastas to our clientele, I say give them more lentils instead of pasta whenever you can. Grains are becoming more popular than I have seen in a decade with the likes of quinoa as well as barleys. I implore more universities to start easing up on the pasta and try something a little different. Have fun with the lentil.

David

Juice Is It!

Several years ago, the debate began as to the nutritional and sustainable aspects of corn and corn syrup. The tide has waned some and I have not heard much about it lately. However, when it was in the forefront, I began experimenting with colas that had sugar cane instead of corn syrup. I found that the products were similar in taste, but that the name recognition doomed the project. Coke and Pepsi are so prevalent in our life that market forces prevent a visionary change on a large scale.

What I learned though is that using an alternate product with high visibility can lessen the dependence on colas. Several years ago, we implemented a juice program with Vitality/Sunkist and placed shiny new dispensers next to the soda fountains. What we found is that our overall cost increased by thousands per year due to the 100% juice products, but soda consumption decreased by 6%. There was not a net break-even or savings, but I can sleep better at night knowing that fewer students are drinking soda.

Where we go from here depends on the name brands… I have seen some throw-back introductions in the cola market recently that are using sugar cane instead of fructose. They are probably researching the feasibility in order to be prepared for a market driven force to rid fructose. I say they are on the right track and should make this change. To be clear, I am not sure if the caloric and diabetic properties change much, but in our “all-natural” product world, it seems this is the wave of the future and I support it completely.

David

Please use my Shopper Card!

There was a recent article about the FDA and CDC using consumer’s shopper’s cards from grocers to help track and locate the source of food borne illness. Great! Please use my data so that my family and I can avoid being poisoned! I am in no way an advocate of the government prying into my consumer habits, but we are talking about food purchases here. Does anybody really care if the government knows what you eat? Are you feeling guilty about something?

Let me put this into perspective… The fact that McDonald’s is having a record-breaking year and fast-food chains in general are outpacing the market is all the information one needs to know where and what people are eating these days. The only people I believe should fret about their shopping habits being recorded are those who are receiving assistance from the state. (I.e. food stamps) I was at my local grocer about a month ago and witnessed the customer in front of me buying four boxes of cookies, ice cream, candy, and two cases of soda. I know, we have all made this strange purchase at one time or another, but she paid with the state issued food assistance card. I thought to myself that is an interesting diet… I wonder if the person has kids. Anyway I think you can see where I am going with this and I will leave it at that.

Those complaining in the article about their shopping habits being recorded seem to be suffering from a strange case of paranoia in my opinion. Obviously those people have never had food poisoning or had to deal with a large scale outbreak at a university or restaurant. I hope no one ever has to experience this because it is frightening and debilitating not to mention the PR nightmare that ensues will humble the most experience politico.

So… Go ahead and use my data and find the source of potential poisoning within the greatest food chain to have ever graced this planet!

David

FDA Update - Salmonella Montevideo Outbreak

Just passing this information along today... The FDA sums-up the finding pretty well...

As part of the Salmonella Montevideo investigation, the Food and Drug Administration has been actively investigating the supply chain of black and red pepper supplied to Daniele International Inc., Pascoag, R.I.

David

Salty Dog’s

New York is at it again with legislation aimed at restaurants; trying to ban salt from prepared foods and not having it available on tables. This is starting to get a little ridiculous. Are they going to ban colas too? They have a high amount of sodium content. It reminds when they passed a law banning trans-fat. Well guess what? Most restaurants had already rid the trans-fat well before the law took effect because it was market driven to do so. This is capitalism.

The government simply should not legislate about something they simply do not understand. It is not like chef’s are adding large amounts of salt to foods, but rather the foods we buy often have salt in them that we prepare. Butter for example or solution added chicken breast. Please stop looking for ridiculous ways to increase your coffers by fining restaurants for serving salt! I can just see the Salty Dog Police Force now! Please…

I would like to play devil’s advocate for a moment however. What makes a good chef better is how well they extract flavor from protein, spices, or legumes. I can see the possibility of a salt-free restaurant popping up in the near future just to prove that you can cook without salt added. Good chef’s can cook this way, but they have to change their paradigm and possibly become better chefs in the process. The irony is that they could use MSG as a salt substitute, but the market drove this out as well. Almost… Read that story here…

David

Houston Recycling News

According to the Houston Business Journal on March 8th, the City of Houston will expand its RecycleBank program to include 54,000 more containers. This is great news and a good start. I believe the recycling in Houston and the surrounding areas is woefully inadequate and is a combination of a lack of resources and apathy.

I believe the apathy could be thwarted by availing more resources and a “pay you to recycle” program that will start the process. If people are willing to recycle for a monetary gain and it is in place for years to come, I believe people will be less apathetic in the future to recycle even without a monetary reward. It is really a matter of getting people interested and then sustaining the process through education, publicity, and plenty of resources to make it convenient.

Landfills in Houston should be modified to recycle as well. I remember in California that a landfill near my house was setup to dump anything. In the last 10 years, it has been modified to separate general waste, green waste, tires, and appliances. Even better, they burn the green waste for energy. That is a definition of sustainability in case you were wondering. I hope to see Houston take the lead in this endeavor in the future. The people and nature will thank you.

David