Sign of the times...

Everyone is getting cheap nowadays. Foodservice is no exception. Prices and packages are getting changed with no forewarning...and probably in hopes that YOU TOO will not catch it right away!

Take for instance last week. Last Friday I was calculating costs on a particular meal and realized HEY! I am losing some money on this! How did that happen? Well I guess it's my own fault for not seeing it on my invoice but a particular item went up by $.50 and I didn't even realize it! Or did I? The delivery person said the price changed 2 months ago...REALLY? I am going to pull some invoices!!! But in the meantime I had no professional courtesy of even being told about the increase!

NEXT. Last food order I received plastic spoons like I usually order and no, the price didn't change, product number was the same, but the product was made much cheaper and smaller than before?!?!? Again, no warning or explanation. Did they think I wasn't going to catch this!!!

SIGH!

Pecan Crusted Chicken

Two ways to do pecan crusted chicken that have worked out rather well for me that do not include using flour or breadcrumbs. Can easily be Paleo and gluten free! The chicken can be crusted just on top or completely...some prefer to coat just the top as pecans definitely are not cheap.

First, a long time ago in East Texas I was part of a catering company (Exclusively Yours Catering Company) that specialized in giving people exactly what they wanted when they requested. Sure we did everything from fine dining to back yard BBQ but we also replicated family recipes and created new dishes from scratch based off of our customers wants and needs. One particular time we had a party that wanted pecan crusted chicken and I was so tired of other recipes calling for flour, breadcrumbs, or some other 'gummy' substance that didn't really help the overall taste of the pecan crusted chicken which led me to my first recipe. This is scaled down to a 'family of four' scenario:

4 - 4 to 6 oz boneless skinless chicken breast
1 - cup of honey slightly heated
1 - cup of pecans chopped by hand or food processor
2 - tablespoons brown sugar (optional)
1 - tablespoon Emeril's Essence (optional, can use your favorite spice mix that is similar we had one we used to sell online called Secret Seasoning #2)

Salt to taste in dry mix before using chicken. For consistency of chopped pecans see pictures below.

**Preheat oven to 400F. If using commercial convection oven then use 350F.
Rinse and pat dry chicken breasts. Mix dry ingredients including pecans in shallow bowl or pan. Put honey on plate or in bowl and place chicken in it, flip to other side coating evenly then letting excess honey drip off. Now place chicken in dry mix with pecans pressing the chicken down, shaking bowl slightly then flip breast over and repeat. Chicken should be well coated by now. Put in baking dish or sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Repeat this process till all the chicken is done and on sheet tray. Cook in oven for 20 minutes and check temperature. 165F to 170F internal temperature is what we are looking for...let chicken rest 5 to 10 minutes then serve with honey mustard sauce. ~~

Next recipe called for a little different take on the sweet part of the chicken instead of using honey. Why? Because the honey gave the pecan crusted chicken a taste not everyone liked and the chicken coating came out a little stickier...I am not saying that is a bad thing at all, just different. I think the honey results came out more 'caramel-y' (if that's a word). This time around I used egg whites as the binder:

4 - 4 to 6 oz boneless skinless chicken breast
4 - egg white slightly beaten
1 - cup of pecans chopped by hand or food processor
2 - tablespoons brown sugar
2 - tablespoons Montreal Chicken Seasoning
1 - pinch of cayenne pepper, Cajun seasoning, chipotle, red pepper flake, or whatever form of 'heat' you like! Or none! (This is optional)

**repeat cooking instructions above substituting the egg whites for the honey. ~~

What kind of honey mustard sauce you say?

1 cup preferably local honey (more flavor)
1 cup stone ground or spicy mustard
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup of mayo

Mix together in bowl, adjust as you feel needed to your taste buds.

~~ Special shout out to Gary Hoag who I worked with when developing the first recipe! That party was a blast! Second recipe I developed and used in my current kitchen at the academy. Which also was met with excellent reviews.

Teres Major Steak

I remember back in the day (2006-2007) catering in East Texas finding out about this muscle in the cow between the shoulders or shoulder blades called terse major. It is a seldom used muscle second only to the tenderloin filet in tenderness. It is also referred to as a shoulder tender. If sliced into medallions, they are appropriately named petite tender medallions. Also known as (AKA) petite beef tender, beef filet, chuck tender steak...the list goes on. But with great beef flavor, a good chew/bite that's tender, and a fraction of the cost of tenderloin you can't lose on price and flavor!

Back then we bought it for $2.80 a pound. And it was a hit! It's said you can cook it all kinds of ways but the most successful way we found to do it was to rub it down (whatever rub mix or seasoning you want to use) and sear it on the grill or in a pan, finishing it in the oven to a medium rare. At that time a major meat company (and family) that we knew told us the price was about to go up! Apparently two nationally know restaurants were about to make very large purchases of the meat for their fajitas and other beef dishes. ~ fast forward to today.

I recently started doing some beef dishes and now that I am in Alabama it's a harder 'sell' for beef than chicken or pork. Remembering the teres major I asked my local meat supplier what the going rate was for it and it was $3.90 a pound un-trimmed or $5.40-65 a pound trimmed. Although you have to buy at least 65 pounds if the un-trimmed or 25 pounds of the trimmed for those prices. Still not bad at all considering the popularity of it has died back down and it's 7 years later! Not to mention the current price of beef tenderloin!

You can currently buy this meat at Sam's Club under the name petite tender beef filet, 2 in a package, already marinated in different flavors at $5.48 a pound. Which runs around $20 a package.

After serving this at a banquet hot (with a separate mushroom gravy) I served the leftovers cold as part of a sandwich platter at a luncheon. A few people were at both events and though they raved about it at the banquet, they later said it was even better cold with a horseradish sauce I had prepared!


I prepared the meat by searing it in a pan with a garlic herb mixture rubbed into it, then in the oven for 20 minutes at 350. After that it stayed in a warmer for 30. It was in a chafing dish for another 20 minutes. Which brings me to my last advantage of this meat, it stayed a nice medium-rare, to medium pink inside the meat thru this whole process. The picture on the bottom of this post is of the slices I used on a platter.

There doesn't seem to be a down side to the teres major!

Sweet Potato Fries, Pan Fried Tilapia...

Wasn't really going for Paleo diet but I didn't have buns to make black bean burgers! - fried sweet potato fries, pan fried tilapia with almond meal, Parmesan, and a homemade aoli sauce (was going to make tarter but no mayo, so had to make my own). Yeah, I know...first world problems!

Great Turkey

[Cooking in a commercial kitchen...]

Jenny-O has Turkey breasts in bulk usually coming in foil wrap at 8 to 12 pounds a piece. 2 in a case. Best bet is to defrost them in the fridge 3 to 4 days in advance.

After defrosting I would NOT cook them as recommended inside the foil. Cut the plastic and unwrap the foil to find two large turkey breasts that you can separate and lay flat on a sheet tray. You can fit a whole case on one full size sheet tray this way.

I use sea salt (although any will do) and a garlic and herb seasoning that has no salt added. I cover the top of them heavily with the garlic and herb mix.[I think I discussed this in the past but I prefer to control the salt AND you waste money buying pre-mixed seasoning and herbs because the first ingredient is salt, which is dirt cheap. Sometimes you want to heavily season but you can't because the salt in the mix will overpower it.]

Cooking the turkey in a convection oven on 350 to 375 (depends on which way your oven 'leans' toward on keeping good heat when the door is opened) for almost 2 hours or internal temp is 160. The weight of the Turkey will make the internal temp rise at least 5 more degrees when you put in on the rack to rest. AND YES, please let this meat rest!!! Easier cutting/slicing and less juices will run out.

Some juice will still escape when you cut it but If you use a little trick, like slicing the turkey on a cutting board that is laying inside a sheet tray, then you can pour the juice back over the meat.

5 Point infraction

Once again the health department has descended upon us...actually she is really quite a nice lady. I guess I was trying to make it sound dramatic. She talked to me about a few things we needed to work on and I asked questions to see how I could make some areas better. Our space is small and odd both for the kitchen and pantry/storage (our rooms are not perfectly square/rectangle) so I really try to have good questions for her in able to help us utilize our space while staying within the boundaries of inspection.

This inspection my Sous Chef Roberto decided he would buy a can drink from the machine out in the main dining area...but unfortunately for us he had placed it on top of the ice machine. 5 points for open drink stored on top of ice machine! Drinks must be in 'to-go' style containers with lids and a straw, BUT also be in a designated area away from food products...like maybe a shelf over the dish sink area.

Last inspection we scored a 98, 2 points for textured ceiling in storage area. Its supposed to be smooth and non-porous. We got that fixed. This inspection I suppose we have to settle for a 95!

Once again our 100 score has eluded us! ~

[Sous Chef Roberto has adequately been given a hard time and the inspection was a few weeks ago, but in keeping with our relentless jokes and hard times I waited till now to post this so we can get another few weeks of ribbing out of it]

Bread-Less Cajun Pork Sandwich!

From time to time I get to enjoy samples that are brought to me from food purveyors. THANK YOU HALSEY FOOD SERVICE! (Yes it's a shameless plug for my local, notice I said LOCAL, Food Service provider) - for those 2, 4oz center cut boneless pork chops!!!

(Note: sorry Sous Chef Roberto and PW, you weren't working at the time or I would have shared! LOL!)

As the kitchen director for a private academy these things do happen, and when they happen its my duty to try out the quality of a food product before I go letting anybody else eat it! Or let my students be subject to a possible menu item without testing it first!

Since I have been on this 'eat foods styles from other diets' food kick in order to further educate myself in eating patterns, trends, and fads I chose to apply this concept to my free samples!

Looking around I found a partial onion and a few slices of provolone cheese hanging out in the fridge. Before caramelizing the onions I rubbed down the chops with some Cajun seasonings (very similar to blackening seasoning). After the onions were done I quickly pan seared and cooked the chops. They were very thin and lean meat. While they were still hot I put a piece of cheese on each chop. Going back to the pan i swirled a thin pat of butter around till it melted all the way and picked up the remaining flavor of the onions and seasoning, then pouring it over the onions.

Taking one cheese topped chop I piled it high with caramelized onions flipping the other chop with cheese over on top of it! I waited just long enough to be able to handle it without burning myself and let the juices run down my arm while I happily munched it down.

Cajun rubbed, pan-seared center cut pork chop sandwich with provolone and caramelized onions:

The Man's Meat Paleo Pizza Crust!

But seriously it can be for women too if they like this much meat! I suggest using ground pork of some form, whether it be Italian sausage, breakfast sausage, or just ground pork. I suppose hamburger may work but sometimes it doesn't seem to be as cohesive as pork.

Flatten ground pork down with hand or parchment paper and rolling pin. I would suggest a half inch thickness, some will melt away. Make sure you at least have parchment paper, silpat, or something nonstick underneath.

Bake the meat in a sheet tray or pan. My meat crust was baked in 350 degree (F) oven for about 15 minutes. You need to make sure and use a sheet tray or pan to catch the grease and juice that will cook out so you can drain it off. And just like the cauliflower crust in my previous post, you would then top it with sauce, cheese, and whatever else you desire! Then put back in oven till the toppings are done or cheese is melted.

This should easily be Paleo, Keto, and Atkins friendly! LOL!

Cauliflower Crust

I am not on the Paleo diet. But as we go thru different fads and diets I like the creative thinking that inspire people to do different things with food. And wanting to be versatile in my technique for self education and my clients, I tend to try the new recipes that start circulating. Maybe even putting my own spin on it! ~ Lets start with the Cauliflower Pizza Crust.

If you want a cauliflower crust that works start with this link: http://detoxinista.com/2012/01/the-secret-to-perfect-cauliflower-pizza-crust/  It has great pictures and instructions! I am not trying to re-invent the wheel but maybe discuss what happened when I used the same recipe and pics/illustrationsand give you some insight.

Pulse the cauliflower down. I have a full size processor but it was still better to do one head of cauliflower in two batches.

If you stop a little bit before this stage they say you can use the cauliflower as a 'rice' for stir-fried rice! (I will try that out in the future also and give you a report whether or not its worth it)

The recipe was correct, you basically get 4 to 5 cups of 'rice size pieces of cauliflower.

Boiling water. Salt goes in the recipe so I did not 'salt' the water.

Cooking/simmering.

Strainer.

Flour sack cloth or cheesecloth liner.

And drain.

Pull together.

Now here is where I deviated just a little, people were talking about how hot and wet the cauliflower was and whether they needed to wait a bit for it to cool down? NO! Just get out a rubber spatula or small pot and mash that baby down until you can't get any more out...no need for handling it with your hands!!!

Dry crumb clumpy texture, ready for mixing.

Add ingredients. Here is where the recipe called for goat cheese, I substituted with cream cheese with great  results. In the future I think adding real shredded Parmesan would help in taste and structure in addition to cream cheese.

Mix. I like to use my hands.

This technique I actually use on my pizza dough because I hate cleaning up and dealing with flour. Use two pieces of nonstick sprayed parchment paper with mixture in between. You don't actually even need to 'roll' the dough out, use it to smooth the dough out. I push down on rolling pin and smash outward feeling the thickness and watching it spread even.

Hand contour (spray your hand with nonstick spray so it doesn't stick) your crust so it looks like what you want.

Bake it according to recipe. I have some dark spots because I let it get a bit thin in these areas.

I started basic because I wanted to really taste and observe the crust. So sauce and cheese.

Throw back in the oven on the stone. (still re-using the same parchment paper under it). Looks good! Looks like a boring old cheese pizza! LOL

Crusts holds together like a real bread or dough. Some parts even crunchy with a bit of chew. Will it ever replace a real pizza crust or fake somebody out? Nah, I don't think so...maybe small kids! But the taste is neutral enough and recipe technique ingenious enough to be a great idea! (and great Carb replacement)

Not to shabby!

Next Time: 

THE MAN'S ALL MEAT PALEO PIZZA CRUST!!!

Mercy Ships on 60 Minutes!

The organization I worked with for over 8 years, running the kitchens/galleys on 3 different ships (one at a time, LOL) and also at the IOC (base) in East Texas, is on 60 Minutes this Sunday at 6pm Central time! This was shot on the Africa Mercy (the ship where my wife and I served our last year with Mercy Ships in Liberia West Africa) on location in Togo. 

Friends, family, & fellow food service people if you ever wanted to know a little bit more about what I did, how we lived, and the kinds of services Mercy Ships provides to developing nations...this would be the show to watch.

I can't wait to see people I know on national television working with Mercy Ships! Oh, how I miss them so much! And the job!!!

This Sunday, February 17th, 60 Minutes will air a 12 minute segment on Mercy Ships, with Scott Pelley reporting. Filmed on board the Africa Mercy in Togo! 

If you're in the United States/Canada, we hope you'll tune in and watch. Check your local CBS station for times.

If you are outside of North America you may watch it here on line from Monday, February 18th: http://www.cbsnews.com/60-minutes/

ipad/iphone download app is here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/60-minutes-for-ipad/id403426652?mt=8

~ Tyrone

True Portions

I use 2oz portion cups a lot. From SAMs (Club) they average about 1 cent for the lid and the same for the cup. Total investment costs 2 cents. - Also known as condiment cups.

Quite a few people in the 'business' make the mistake of not measuring, or weighing for accuracy. I always go by weight unless something is pre-packaged and portioned for me. Some of you will say this is a no brainer, but I can't count the times I have seen this miscalculated in costs and portion control. Different products can physically take up the same amount of space but not weigh the same.

Below I illustrated with a simple video of shredded cheese. If you buy a 5lb bag of finely shredded cheese it's 80oz. If you have 2oz portion cups you would assume it would make 40 2oz condiment cups, no? No. It will make 80, and possibly 90. Yes, if the cheese were solid this could be argued. But that is part of the point I am making.

Getting your scale-out and weighing a few things as you do your daily prep can help you 'tighten up' those costs, orders, and preparation time which makes a smoother running kitchen and saves time & money.

*On a personal note, the 1oz condiment cups usually cost the same. I don't use them at all. If you are going to use just part of the 2oz cup it still looks like more and gives room for dipping in the case of a sauce.

A few more examples of using the cups and weight.

Sour Cream

Real Bacon Bits