Something I have envisioned for our industry for a very long time has happened. I love collaboration, I love passion and I especially love people who allow themselves to gain knowledge from others; mentors, peers and protégés alike.

The Culinary team at Custom Culinary has done just that. This group of well-seasoned, well-educated and well-traveled chefs started a Culinary Guild made up of fellow culnarians from their sales agency network. Unlike so many in the culinary field and certainly the food manufacturing environment Custom Culinary understands the foodservice sales environment. I just spent two days collaborating with Chef’s from all over the country who sell food to foodservice operators.

We met with the marketing team, the culinary team and the sales team; all of whom want to make sure their collective decisions about what and how to sell are in line with the foodservice industry. The collaboration of the chefs assembled was awe striking.  The ideas and innovation that came out of this inaugural meeting of the guild were plentiful, creative and very useful.

The culinary team of Custom Culinary is led by Scott Gilbert. Scott was engaged in guiding the conference in such a way that we could extract, learn and add to the collaboration of the guild. Scott is a CIA grad who had a great career in foodservice and then moved to the world of manufacturing. He has worked for Minors before they were purchased by Nestle and now the Custom Culinary team. Scott has been in the foodservice product sales game for a very long time. Although he is quite good at it; he has stayed true to some inalienable truths we all learned in culinary school or in our kitchen training. We can always learn something new about food and we will never know it all.

I applaud this bold, humble and ultimately fruitful exercise in sharing. The sale agency business has become very closed off and secretive with the advent of regional and national brokerage structures. The practice of sharing best practices amongst the brokerage community has become a thing of the past. In my humble opinion this is a shame. Maybe it will be forward thinking manufacturers like Custom Culinary that will implement this age old but worthwhile practice.

I left this meeting enriched and I will use what I leaned and put it into practice. This guild is a work in progress and can be added to by all of the people involved by continually contributing to the group. New ideas, trends, best practices, product feedback both good and bad and market knowledge. All the ideas and feedback can be shared in an open forum such as this (a blog).

Again, I applaud this bold effort and look forward to contributing to it and growing with it for years to come.

 

Chef Bryan Knox

Sodium Reduction

Sodium Reduction

So much is made of trends in our market place. Food service like clothing, décor and art are trend driven market places. Even in our present economic woes; certain trends will drive sales over economics. A great example of this is comfort food. Comfort food bucks many other market trends, economic, health and style. When it’s comfort food we want its comfort food we get. For me it’s a Grilled Rueben with kettle potato chips extra 1000 island dressing a huge dill pickle and beer. As a struggling Triathlete you can imagine that this meal can destroy my run times not to mention my calorie count, fat loss campaign and carbohydrate cycle; but on a cold November evening watching Monday night football this comfort meal is irreplaceable.

The latest trend working its way through our kitchens is healthy offerings and particularly Low, No or Reduced Sodium. We are being told that salt (or sodium to be more specific), is a killer and can lead to hypertension, stoke, heart disease, obesity and so on. Although some of us over season our food with the shaker at the table, the real issue is in the hidden salt in our prepared foods. Canned, frozen and shelf stable foods all require a preservative and the most effective, cheapest and common preservative is sodium. It can be called many different names, calcium propionate, potassium hydrogen sulfite or sodium benzoate to name a few but the health effect is the same. More and more our industry is being asked to make products that are, no, low or reduced sodium.

All this leaves us with quite a dilemma. After all SODIUM = FLAVOR right? At one time the world economy was influenced by salt (much like oil is today) biblically salt is referenced as a pillar of society, “salt of the earth”. So our dilemma is how to do with out or at least with less of something so revered and what we all live and die by, “Flavor”.


This causes me to ask some basic questions;
1) how do I replace salt and still keep flavor?
2) How are foods that are manufactured going to be affected? And
3) what now, do I have to take the salt shaker off the table?


1)How do I replace salt and still keep flavor?
The short answer is there are many ways to gain flavor without salt. Let’s remind ourselves about other ways to produce flavor. To name a few, carmalization, reduction or concentration, fats, smoke, herbs and spices. Foods that contain a lot of salt limit what we can add to a dish anyway. What’s the old adage? “You can always add but you can’t take away”, taught to me by every chef I trained under. This year Zatarains www.zatarains.com cut out more than half of the salt in their popular rice mixes. They are 200 to 400 grams less than their closest completion. Like all great Cajun cooks they went into their kitchens and cooked’em until they gott’em right! The rice mixes in my opinion are better than before and way better than their competitors. How were they able to do this? They adjusted the spices in the recipes and added other spices, proteins and flavors to enhance the overall flavor without adding as much salt. Now they have a great product that is healthier and meets all of today’s trends as well as the school and healthcare guidelines. Above all they taste terrific. They were able to maintain the integrity of the recipes and in some cases enhance products that were good and made them fantastic.

McCormick and Co. www.mccormickforchefs.com has developed a fantastic resource for all of us in the food industry www.mccormickforchefs.com. Here you will find recipes, new product ideas and the Flavor Forecast; a truly inspirational resource for creativity and development of menus, recipes and trends. The Flavor Forecast lists the latest flavor pairings that are hot and on trend for 2011. You can also go back and see classic pairings from the past 5 years. McCormick and Co. just retooled some spice blends under the Lawry’s label to make a line of Salt free, less sodium and touch of salt spice blends and rubs. This line represents some classic blends and some newer flavor pairings. They have developed a very well rounded line of spice blends. McCormick & Co a true innovator in flavor has recently released a line of roasted spices, roasted garlic, fennel, cumin and curry. With this line they have added the flavor of roasting to the already flavorful spices. The roasted products provide flavor layering and give the foods they season another dimension in flavor. At the end of it all we need to think more about the cooking process, flavor layering and other flavor enhancing ingredients and techniques. So don’t just grab for the salt shaker or the preserved pre-prepared product create flavor from the ground up and add a new dimension to your dishes.

2)How are foods that are manufactured going to be affected?
You can bet that many R&D teams are working on reduced sodium products. Manufacturers that compete in the school or healthcare market have already made these changes. Like McCormick & Co. many market conscious manufacturers have already begun developing some great reduced sodium products. Supherb Farms has a great selection of fresh frozen herbs and pestos. These products are very unique in that they are perfectly preserved in a frozen state. Because they are frozen the product is free of bacteria and other pathogens. It remains fresh longer. The natural oils in the herbs are preserved perfectly which add to the flavor being far superior to even two day old fresh product. Custom Culinary who operates in the very salt and preservative laden category of bases, sauces and gravies. Custom Culinary has created terrific line of reduced sodium products, see their website: http://www.customculinary.com/. Custom has been the category innovator with reduced sodium and has now taken healthy manufacturing to a new level with their new line of bases and gravies http://www.customculinary.com/samples.cfmThis new line addresses Sodium, Transfats, Non GMO, allergens and gluten. How do they do it? The answers is simple, they use all natural good old fashioned vegetables, protein, herbs and spices. And guess what, they produced a flavorful, healthy and cost effective product. The very attuned folks at Kikkoman have developed some terrific products as well. The Numami sauce (and yes this is a takeoff on the word Umami the 5th taste.) (See previous post from Jeff Rosen) Numami sauce is a great way to flavor foods without adding a lot of salt. Kikkoman through their own research and product innovation has developed several new items to combat sodium. They have the Low Sodium Soy sauce and Low Sodium Teriyaki sauce, Numami, Siracha, Lime Ponzu and Lemon Ponzu. I know, I know your thinking, they made add flavor but I cannot use them in non Asian cuisine. Au contraire my friend the Numami, Soy and Ponzu can be added to any dish needing a little Umami. I add plain soy sauce to sauces and soups that are non Asian all the time. I encourage you to play around with these. You will have customers or people trying to guess how you have made the other flavors in your recipes so bright and complementary. Experience the savoriness these products bring to your dish.

3)What now, do I have to take the salt shaker off the table?
Of course not, sea salt and kosher salt are fine to use in moderation.
McCormick & Co. has some excellent choices for your kitchen and tabletop.
You may want to add other choices for your guests:
Tabasco who now has 7 flavors, Traditional Red Tabasco, Green Tabasco, Garlic Tabasco, Chipotle Tabasco, Habanero Tabasco, Sweet and Spicy Tabasco and the NEW Buffalo Tabasco.
Kikkoman offers some great table top dispenser sized Low Sodium Soy sauce and Low Sodium Teriyaki sauce, Numami, Siracha, Lime Ponzu and Lemon Ponzu as well as packets.
Ken’s Foods has an extensive line of pour bottles as well as PC Packets and PC cups in their most popular sauces and dressings.

Chicken Pricing Article

Here is great article on Chicken Breast Pricing:

Chicken BREAST Cheaper than Chicken WINGS???


What has this world come to?

In this day and age I guess we have come to expect all things can happen. We have seen Pomace oil sell for more than some Extra Virgin oils. Grain prices control all commodities because it not only fuels the live stock but also fuels the trucks that transport them. Pork has become the cleanest meat in the industry?! What's that saying??? "When pigs fly?!"



I guess in this economy anything is possible, right?!


The economy affected the demand on chicken breast adversely. So much so explains the NY Times, that the chicken wing per pound is roughly $.27 per lb more than chicken breast on average. The advent of the boneless chicken wing has been a boon for most of the restaurants serving wings along with chicken breast, chicken nuggets and the ever popular popcorn chicken.


I got very curious about this phenomenon and did a little market research:

1) Of the restaurants I visited that sell both regular wings and boneless wings, the boneless wing was not priced for less on the menu. In fact most of them sold them for more.
2) In retail stores all of them were selling breast meat for at least 30% more than wings.
Now restaurants have a menu printing cost issue associated with changing the price and are probably counting of some pricing normalcy to take place sooner than later. The Retail sector however has absolutely no excuse other than taking advantage of naive consumers.

We in the food service business have a great opportunity to take advantage of a unique pricing opportunity, while it lasts and truly do some unique things with boneless wings, breast strips, popcorn chicken etc... These versatile items can be used in entrees, appetizers, mixed with sauces , tossed in spices, used as toppers for salads or Pasta. The sky is the limit. Opportunity can be the mother of invention. Boneless wings are adored by kids, adults that want a clean face and at the end of the day they are lower in fat.



Over the next few weeks CULINARY SPACE will be posting recipes and menuable comncepts utilizing these breast products. Until then who knows what will happen, maybe we will finally find out who is buried in Grants tomb????



Bryan Knox

Bay Brokerage Co.

WHAT IS UMAMI?

As Operators, Manufacturers and Vendors all look for the “next big thing” to give them an edge, we ask ourselves what is the path to success? Is it a trend we are looking for? Is it a sales incentive or gimmick? Perhaps it requires market research and feedback from focus groups. Is the bottom line the primary driver of all menuing decisions? The answers will vary according to your business needs but when it comes to success, it is really all about the reaction of the customer when they put that bite of food in their mouth. Perhaps the answer can also be found in one of the most ancient and unknown tastes, Umami. Can Umami be the “X” factor when it comes to giving your food that extra something? What it really comes down to when looking for success is the taste and flavor of our foods and our cooking processes and we are finding out that Umami plays a big part.
Umami was discovered by a Japanese researcher one hundred years ago. Dr. Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University recognized that certain foods like asparagus, tomatoes, meat and cheese all shared a common taste. It's a bit hard to put your finger on, though it's often described as "savory." I think it's easier to think of it as the taste that makes your mouth water. It also has a distinctive mouth feel, it lends a fullness or roundness. While taste and flavor are often used interchangeably, they are not the same thing. Flavor is determined by taste and smell. There are only five tastes--sweet, salt, sour, bitter and umami. Just as sweetness is imparted by sugar, umami is imparted by glutamate, a type of amino acid, and ribonucleotides, including inosinate and guanylate, which occur naturally in many foods. It is also manufactured in monosodium glutamate. It is added or occurs naturally in products with hydrolyzed soy protein and autolyzed yeast such as Marmite, Vegemite, Maggi, and Kewpie mayonnaise. It also exists in most cheese flavored snack foods. Of course, you will recognize that glutamates are also artificially manufactured as MSG. While MSG has a negative connotation, particularly in Chinese Cuisine, the idea in MSG is to re-produce this mysterious savory taste that does naturally occur. Soy Sauce, Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, dashi broth, fish sauce, bouillon, tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms and even potatoes are all sources of umami. Mixing and matching is fine. I sometimes add Asian fish sauce to chili and while not perceptible, I find it helps to round out the flavor. Scientists and chefs alike are interested in umami. While the isolated glutamate does not taste very good on it's own, research shows that it enhances the taste of many foods which is why umami was considered a "flavor enhancer" for so long before being recognized as a taste. It makes food taste better and can be used in making healthy foods more palatable for people who have a decrease in their ability to taste due to health or age.
Famous author and scientist Harold McGee mentioned that the chef Heston Blumenthal found the flavor of umami to be stronger in the seeds and surrounding juice of tomatoes than in the pulp. Coincidentally, he pointed out that Ferran Adria had created a dish using the seeds and surrounding liquid instead of the tomato flesh or pulp. The dish served at El Bulli was Blood Orange Foam with Tomato Seeds and Sorbet. Even if you aren't thinking about umami, you might be using it to make dishes taste good whether you realize it or not.

Jeff Rosen

Bay Brokerage Corporate Chef

WHAT IS UMAMI?

As Operators, Manufacturers and Vendors all look for the “next big thing” to give them an edge, we ask ourselves what is the path to success? Is it a trend we are looking for? Is it a sales incentive or gimmick? Perhaps it requires market research and feedback from focus groups. Is the bottom line the primary driver of all menuing decisions? The answers will vary according to your business needs but when it comes to success, it is really all about the reaction of the customer when they put that bite of food in their mouth. Perhaps the answer can also be found in one of the most ancient and unknown tastes, Umami. Can Umami be the “X” factor when it comes to giving your food that extra something? What it really comes down to when looking for success is the taste and flavor of our foods and our cooking processes and we are finding out that Umami plays a big part.
Umami was discovered by a Japanese researcher one hundred years ago. Dr. Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University recognized that certain foods like asparagus, tomatoes, meat and cheese all shared a common taste. It's a bit hard to put your finger on, though it's often described as "savory." I think it's easier to think of it as the taste that makes your mouth water. It also has a distinctive mouth feel, it lends a fullness or roundness. While taste and flavor are often used interchangeably, they are not the same thing. Flavor is determined by taste and smell. There are only five tastes--sweet, salt, sour, bitter and umami. Just as sweetness is imparted by sugar, umami is imparted by glutamate, a type of amino acid, and ribonucleotides, including inosinate and guanylate, which occur naturally in many foods. It is also manufactured in monosodium glutamate. It is added or occurs naturally in products with hydrolyzed soy protein and autolyzed yeast such as Marmite, Vegemite, Maggi, and Kewpie mayonnaise. It also exists in most cheese flavored snack foods. Of course, you will recognize that glutamates are also artificially manufactured as MSG. While MSG has a negative connotation, particularly in Chinese Cuisine, the idea in MSG is to re-produce this mysterious savory taste that does naturally occur. Soy Sauce, Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, dashi broth, fish sauce, bouillon, tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms and even potatoes are all sources of umami. Mixing and matching is fine. I sometimes add Asian fish sauce to chili and while not perceptible, I find it helps to round out the flavor. Scientists and chefs alike are interested in umami. While the isolated glutamate does not taste very good on it's own, research shows that it enhances the taste of many foods which is why umami was considered a "flavor enhancer" for so long before being recognized as a taste. It makes food taste better and can be used in making healthy foods more palatable for people who have a decrease in their ability to taste due to health or age.
Famous author and scientist Harold McGee mentioned that the chef Heston Blumenthal found the flavor of umami to be stronger in the seeds and surrounding juice of tomatoes than in the pulp. Coincidentally, he pointed out that Ferran Adria had created a dish using the seeds and surrounding liquid instead of the tomato flesh or pulp. The dish served at El Bulli was Blood Orange Foam with Tomato Seeds and Sorbet. Even if you aren't thinking about umami, you might be using it to make dishes taste good whether you realize it or not.

Jeff Rosen
Bay Brokerage Corporate Chef