Archives for category: Culinary
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Between the Summer Job and the Sophomore Year

August 26, 2012 //
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My 19 year-old son finished his first year at Johnson and Wales University on May 24 this year. On May 25, he reported to Cornerstone Christian Conference Center as their summer Sous Chef. He proceeded to work 14 hours a day for five or six days at a time. He returned home a week or so ago, begins his sophomore year on September 10. It’s been interesting to note the changes in our house just during this brief interim period:

  • We are eating more, and better, meals at home
  • The number of dirty pots and pans has increased exponentially for said meals
  • Consequently, we find ourselves running the dishwasher every day at least once, in addition to hand-washing several items
  • Therefore, our water bill is undergoing steep inflation
  • We don’t have a good kitchen to work in (according to the chef-in-training)
  • A remedy to that starts with a little reorganization
  • Fresh is always best
  • It’s amazing what wine does to enrich ordinary sauces and dishes
  • The proper knife and technique make preparing fresh foods fun
  • If he had a proper mixer, we could be having fresh breads, pizza, and other pastry items on a regular basis
  • His explanation of culinary terms is straining my two years of French (that, and the last French I spoke/heard/wrote was over 36 years ago)
  • When we eat out, we now have an instant food and service critic with us
  • He’s pretty good at what he does, and he’s eager to learn more

Looking at the list above, and thinking of about a dozen more, a new periodic series has just been born: Tales of an Aspiring Chef. I hope you enjoy these little interludes in my normal postings, but be careful – you might just learn something here as well!

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Categories Culinary, Family Matters

It All Begins with Hospitality

August 23, 2012 //
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Church leaders need to understand the fact that our competition is not other churches; it’s places that provide WOW! Experiences and to which guests compare our churches.

While that may seem a negative, it can also be turned into a positive by LEARNING from those top-notch places and their leaders.

Take for instance Danny Meyer, the founder and co-owner of eleven New York restaurants. He wrote a book entitled “Setting the Table.” Subtitled “The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business,” Meyer shares the lessons he’s learned while developing the winning recipe for doing the business he calls “enlightened hospitality.” They are lessons that the church can learn from. Here’s a sample:

Hospitality is the foundation of my business philosophy. Virtually nothing else is as important as how one is made to feel in any business transaction. Hospitality exists when you believe the other person is on your side. Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you. Those two prepositions – for and to – express it all.

Understanding the distinction between service and hospitality has been at the foundation of our success. Service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how the delivery of that product makes it recipient feel. Service is a monologue – we decide how we wan to do thins and set our own standards for service. Hospitality, on the other hand, is a dialogue. To be on a guest’s side requires listening to that person with every sense, and following up with a thoughtful, gracious, appropriate response. It takes both great service and great hospitality to rise to the top.

People duck as a natural reflex when something is hurled at them. Similarly, the excellence reflex is a natural reaction to fix something that isn’t right, or to improve something that could be better. The excellence reflex is rooted in instinct and upbringing, and then constantly honed through awareness, caring, and practice. The overarching concern to do the right thing well is there or it isn’t.

What a great learning environment for churches wanting to improve their Guest Services team!

Earlier this year, I posted a series on hospitality based on Le Bernardin, the famous restaurant in NYC owned by Chef Eric Ripert. If this post resonated with you, click on the links below for more.

Creating experiences of hospitality allow for positive, uplifting outcomes for human experiences and human relationships. They will help you connect to people coming in your door week in and week out.

How will you practice hospitality this weekend?

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Categories BookNotes, Culinary, Guest Services

Valentine’s Day in the Future

February 14, 2012 //
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Well, at least what scientists are telling us how chocolate will change in the future…

2014 – Melt-Proof Wrappers. Candy companies are developing wrappers that prevent chocolate from melting in temperatures up to 104 degrees.

2016 – 3D Chocolate Printer. Using edible purees in place of ink, engineers have created a printer that creates totally edible forms.

2018 – Low-Fat Chocolate. Through selective breeding of cacao trees, scientists hope to grow beans with less fat.

2021 – Cookie-Baking Robot. Scientists have created a robot that can mix up a batch of cookies and pop them in the oven; it takes 2 1/2 hours currently.

2032 – $20 Candy Bars. Some industry experts say the world is running out of affordable chocolate, primarily because of declining production.

The delicious (except for the final one) tidbits above came from the Food Network Magazine March 2012 issue.

I hope you have enjoyed these enticing chocolate posts (start here to see the whole series) on Valentine’s Day 2012!

Now, it’s off for a late dessert date with my Valentine!

 

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Categories Culinary, Family Matters

Beware of Bite Size Chocolate Bars

February 14, 2012 //
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During a three-year study by researchers in Canada, people showed more restraint when eating regular-size candy bars than when eating mini ones. Bite-size snackers tended to eat four or five treats – about 50 percent more than the full-sized candy bar eaters consumed.

That’s why I only eat regular sized candy bars!

Okay, so I define regular size a little different from most people…

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Categories Culinary

I’m Only Trying to be Generous

February 14, 2012 //
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People with a sweet tooth are sweeter.

According to a study by Gettysburg College psychology professor Brian Meier, if you treat yourself to chocolate, you’re probably a more generous person. In his study, researchers gave subjects either a piece of chocolate, a cracker, or no food at all and then asked the subjects to volunteer for something and estimate how much time they could give.

The chocolate eaters offered 42 percent more time than the cracker group and almost 68 percent more than the subjects who ate nothing, During another part of the study, subjects prejudged others based on whether they liked sweets; those who did were ranked more agreeable.

According to Meier, “It’s hard to imagine people fighting while eating chocolate.”

I agree; pass me a Hershey’s bar, please.

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Categories Culinary

On Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2012 //
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Facing a combination of waiting in airports and hospital rooms for a couple of days, I picked this up heading out of Charlotte.

Being Valentine’s Day, which in my book equates to chocolate, I’m offering you treats throughout the day…

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Categories Culinary, Uncategorized

What’s Your Chocolate IQ?

February 14, 2012 //
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That would be “Super Sweet,” according to Food Network Magazine’s Chocolate IQ Test in the March 2012 issue.

To earn that dubious honor, I scored a 16 out of 20. Willy Wonka would be proud.

Grab a copy of the magazine to take your own Chocolate IQ test.

And there’s also…

 

…50 brownie recipes

…secrets to make different types of chocolate chip cookies

…how to cover anything in chocolate

…a chance to win chocolate for a year

…dozens of recipes and tips involving all things chocolate

Now that I’ve proven my IQ, I think it’s time to pursue a PhD in Chocolate!

Study materials…

 

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Categories Culinary

Chocolate Can Help Your Workout

February 14, 2012 //
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Give yourself a reward before you hit the gym: Dark chocolate might increase your exercise performance.

University of California researchers gave mice a dose of epicatechin, a purified form of cacao’s most prevalent flavonoid and had them hit the treadmill. The mice ran 50 percent farther and faster than the control mice who received water. The experts predict similar results in humans, but don’t go celebrating with a king-size candy bar.

You need only five grams (about the size of one Hershey’s Kiss) to reap the benefit.

Don’t you just hate the fine print?

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Categories Culinary

Bring the Heat

February 8, 2012 //
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The ability to control the temperature of food involves a set of kitchen skills and food knowledge that, more than anything else, defines the excellence of the cook. An expertise in temperature control won’t turn poor ingredients into good ones, but it will determine much of what follows once the ingredients are in your house.

The Elements of Cooking, by Michael Ruhlman

 In other words, it’s all about heat.

 Bill Hybels, writing in axiom, has exactly this process in mind when he writes:

Anytime you see God-honoring values being lived out genuinely and consistently, it’s fair to assume that a leader decided to identify a handful of values and turn up the burner under them.

When you heat up a value, you help people change states.

Want to jolt people out of business as usual? Heat up innovation.

Want to untangle confusion? Heat up clarity.

Want to eradicate miserliness? Heat up generosity.

New “states” elicit new attitudes, new aptitudes, and new actions. It’s not rocket science – it’s just plain chemistry. Which is a lot about heat.

Leaders must figure out what values they believe should be manifested in their organizations. And then put them over the flame of a burner by teaching on those values, underscoring them with Scripture, enforcing them, and making heroes out of the people who are living them out.

Over time, sufficiently hot values will utterly define your culture.

It’s time to bring the heat.

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Categories Culinary, Leadership, Personal Development, Vision

Emulate Chefs

February 7, 2012 //
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With the culinary art/leadership connection going on, and the fact that I’ve been rereading Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson’s great book “Rework“, I thought the following post from last year would be appropriate again.

You’ve probably heard of Emeril Lagasse, Mario Batali, Rachel Ray, Paula Deen, Bobby Flay, Jacque Pepin, or Julia Child. They’re great chefs, but there are a lot of great chefs out there. So why do you know these few better than others?

Because they share everything they know.

They put their recipes in cookbooks and show their techniques on cooking shows. They want you to take what they have developed and make it your own.

Great organizations should share everything they know, too. Don’t be paranoid and secretive, but be open and generous.

A recipe is much easier to copy than a business idea. Shouldn’t that scare someone like Mario Batali? Why would he go on TV and show you how he does what he does? Why would he put all his recipes in cookbooks where anyone can buy and replicate them? Because he knows those recipes and techniques aren’t enough to beat him at his own game. No one’s going to buy his cookbook, open a restaurant next door, and put him out of business. It doesn’t work like that, but many organizations think that’s what will happen if others learn how they do things.

Emulate famous chefs. They cook, so they write cookbooks.

What do you do? What are your “recipes”? What’s your “cookbook”? What can you tell the world about how you operate that’s informative, educational, and promotional?

What’s cooking in your “kitchen” that you should share?

 

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Categories Culinary, Leadership, Personal Development
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