kitchen confidential

Posted by Lynsie Watkins Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:18:00 GMT

"We make our ice cream completely from scratch. We bake our pastries fresh every morning. Everything that comes out of this kitchen is homemade. I crack 200 eggs for each full batch of ice cream."

These are the phrases that I use every day at Perfect Flavor to describe to customers just how authentic our product is. What do I get in return? Sometimes a knowing nod (thank god!), but most of the time a glazed been-there-done-that seen-it-all-before nod. It's taken me awhile to realize that the reason most people don't kiss the ground that I walk on when I tell them this bit of information is because they hear it ALL THE TIME. It's all around them. It's on the jam packaging in the grocery store, it's on the organic box of crackers from Whole Foods, and it's even popping up in new McDonald's commercials.

Fresh. From Scratch. Homemade. Prepared just for you!

You can understand why I get so bothered once you accept the fact that none of these words are regulated by the government, and they are so overused that they have no real meaning anymore. Anyone can print these claims on their packaging! In fact, they know it's to their benefit to do so. Velveeta Cheese can print "all-natural" on it's pretty little box and everyone oohs and ahhhs over it. But when I say, with honesty and much integrity, that yes, the ice cream you're eating is made from scratch, and YES, it took me two years to get the point where I feel good saying that, all I get in return (from most) is a..."and your point is?"

Unfortunately, as some of you may have already guessed, I've come to this point in my food life, with the great amount of integrity that I have toward the food I serve people, because I've witnessed first-hand what NOT to do. What does it look like on the other side? I'd like to share...

I've worked for big family-dining corporations, small chains, and mom and pop establishments. I'd like to say that I've seen it all-but that would sadly not be true. I'm sure there's plenty more out there, here are just some examples to whet the appetite.

My first job was working for the big family-dining corporation. We served mainly burgers, fries, salads; American cuisine-right?? I remember once we were offering a promotion for BBQ ribs. The picture on the promo card that sat on the table looked decadent. Rich BBQ sauce, juicy and tender ribs. The copy (or written description) on the brochure, or table tent as we called it, used attractive language like "Hot off the grill," "Succulent honey BBQ sauce made fresh" and "Choice cut grade A meat." The truth, if you dare to know, is that these ribs actually came to us frozen in a prepackaged plastic bag. The "ribs" were sealed in their own "juices" and when an order came up, the bag was microwaved and then thrown haphazardly on the plate. I remember the cooks cursing as they burned their fingers on the hot, melty plastic. I also remember lying straight to a customer because I didn't know what else to do. I was 16, naive, and following the "codes" of my corporation. For some odd reason I had a great amount of allegiance to a company that could barely keep my name straight.

My customer asked me how we cooked our ribs, and I hesitantly replied that we grilled them slowly over an open fire-just what I was told to say by my managers. Impressive, huh? I've never forgotten the experience.

Next was a job I took in desperation after having recently moved to Charlottesville, broke and in need of anything anywhere. I took a job as a "baker" for a coffee shop in town. My job was to "bake" the items that were to be sold in our bakery case each day. While I was fully capable of making everything from scratch...really...instead, my job was to in all reality thaw and warm the products that were sold as "freshly baked" and "from scratch." I literally took frozen tubes of muffin batter, thawed it in the refrigerator overnight, and squirted it into a muffin tin, which I then baked for the required amount of time, and served. Many times I was asked for the recipe, which of course I could not give away since I did not HAVE it. Since having learned from my mistake at job #1, I began simply telling people the truth. "What's your secret for the cinnamon scones?" a customer would ask. "Oh, they come from Sysco in frozen blocks and I merely cut them up and bake them!" I would respond. This was never met with much favor, but at least it was the truth. I constantly offered my baking services to the owners, who constantly denied them. In the end, the bottom line mattered most. They could have cared less for the health of the customers. All they wanted was money, and they weren't afraid to break all hope of keeping their integrity to get there. I learned a lot from them.

And finally, my favorite of all: I waited a long time for this job. It was, according to many, the place to learn about gourmet food and get the true training and experience I needed to become a professional in my field. I was hired as a pastry chef, but I did very little pastry. It started out rather innocent. Cheap commercial yeast, flour and sugar from Sam's Club. I even tried to dismiss the fact that the owner thought it was a genius idea of hers to substitute what she called her "secret ingredient" for the real deal. One day while making soup, she needed to thicken it. But instead of doing what would be instinctive (making a roux-a simple mixture of butter and flour), she began to gleefully add dried potato flakes from a cardboard box. I noticed and said, "Oh, potato soup, huh?" It was French Onion. Oh, but wait...there's more. Her "fresh baked artisanal rolls" on the menu were actually frozen loaves that came to us half-baked. She would simply "bake them off" for 5 minutes in the oven before serving. No one ever questioned it because their sandwich arrived piping hot. Her "avocado-crema" was frozen guacamole from Sam's mixed with sour cream. (She served this along with Pace salsa, canned beans, and pre-shredded cheddar cheese as a catering party dish. The going rate was $60.)

My favorite tale to tell was the time she went to a well-known Charlottesville food festival. Normally, behind closed doors of course, we used pre-made pesto that came to us frozen (fresh from the manufacturer, as I like to say). But for the festival, five minutes before leaving, she asked me to quickly spoon all of the slushy pesto from its labeled container into a clear, unlabeled container, so that no one else would know that she didn't make it from scratch. When someone came up to me at the table where I was dishing it out and asked me what was in our pesto, I told them I didn't know because I hadn't made it. I quit my job shortly thereafter.

When I say that what I make, all that I make is handmade, it's a loaded statement. I am so lucky to finally be in charge, from beginning to end, of what goes into the food that I make. Why aren't others like this? The answers are endless. But I think mainly it's because they've been getting away with it for so long due to the fact that the customer has not held any vendor accountable.

Feel empowered to ask what is in the food that is served to you. When you don't get a response, you've got plenty more than the answer you were looking for. It is our right to not only know what goes into our bodies, but to be in charge of it.

For more information regarding what we put into the food we make, check my blog or just ask me. I'm always happy to share every recipe I use. If you stop by, you might just catch me in action through the huge window that peers into my bakery!