Recipe Testing

This past week I had the opportunity to test recipes for the upcoming "Oktober Fest" in September. Ali - the other intern and I got to work directly with the executive chef with this project. The primary purpose of recipe testing is to first of all make the recipe and measure its quality and quantity. Each ingredient's volume and weight (emphasis added) must be recorded. This information will later be put into CBORD, ISU's computer system used for recording recipes, prices, purchasing orders, etc. The recipe is also taste tested for flavor, smell, texture, and overall appearance. Changes to the recipe and recommendations for changes to try during the next testing are also mentioned.

Working with the executive chef was an experience in and of itself. I learned so much about different food products and how to detect top quality. Listed below is a summary of a few of things he has shared with us.
- use kosher salt with cooking. Iodized salt is bitter, thus you need much more raising sodium content of the food
- To detect the true flavor of vinegar you can dip a sugar cube in the vingar- this binds the acid. then sucking on the sugar cube you can get the true flavor of the wine that is used to make the vinegar. Check to make sure your vinegar has the seal with a code on it - this seal means it is made from top quailty wine. The other stuff is made with the substance used in nail polish removal.
- Check the ingredients of your cream. Top quality cream should just have heavy cream listed for its ingredients. Avoid using products that have several ingredients and preservatives listed.
- Calcium is added to pickled products to give a crispness and crunch. Check for caclium in the ingredients to get a crispy product.
- Buy your sesame oil from Japan. Other countries extract the oil with heat which gives a very poor product.
- Cut your green onions on the bias. Makes a more appealing look on salads.
- A good salad dressing should have a front of the mouth sensation as well as a back of the mouth sensation. For more back of the mouth kick add more vinegar.

Despite the fact that I learned so much working with this experienced chef, there were some problems. A chef is very driven, he/she tries to get all recipes going at once. They are so capable of double, triple, or in our case quadruple tasking. We were working on four different recipes at once. What we were expecting for us to get done in a whole day's time took half that. Chef Tim was very efficient and it was so cool to see him smell or taste a product and know exactly of what it needed. The only problem with that is that recipe testing should be a very meticulous process. The weight and volume of each food is needed. Also any different method of cooking that is used should be recorded for future reference. With how fast things were going it was very difficult for us to get everything weighed, while trying to keep track of how Chef Tim was cooking it. We missed a few things, and we made a few mistakes, but we learned from those, so the next time we test recipes we will be prepared!

Ultimately, it was an amazing learning experience. I am still so intrigued by the skill and knowledge of chefs. The recipes we tested the majority of them turned out great and very tasty!