A Chopbiscuit Road Trip - Fancy Food Show {San Francisco}

There is no food show in the country at the level of the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. Period. That's why I love starting out my year with this food event. There are many of other food shows in California that boast about record attendance, but to be honest, most of the other shows around the country lack the quality of the Fancy Food show. Most shows in our industry concentrate on the restaurant industry as a whole. They have row after row of equipment, cleaning supplies and ladies barely covering their "lovely lady parts" to get you to stop by their booth and try to sell you something you don't need. (restaurant supplies that is - get your mind out of the gutter)

What makes this trip even more special is that for the second time my son Paden is joining me. Since this is Paden's second trip to the FFS he is now a seasoned pro. If you were to ask him, he would probably tell you that the first time you go can be very overwhelming. So, now that he has his sea legs he can enjoy smooth sailing.

Another great thing about the FFS is the fact that they hold two shows a year.  The winter show is in San Francisco and the summer show is in New York, so if you miss one you can still catch a second showing. Now, what else could even make the FFS better? How about a huge section showcasing locally made food products from the home states. The Cali show puts an entire wing of the Moscone Center into full Cali mode with products from the great state of California.The New York has a huge local section as well from all over the state including maple syrup, cheese and so much more. Just check out this link for a huge list of NY products.

So, keep a close watch here for a special roadtrip series to California and the fancy food show.

Be Well, Eat Well and Live Well

~Mark

Chopbiscuit on the road - St. Louis {The Rome of the West with a side of Toasted Ravioli}

Toasted ravioli, or breaded deep-fried ravioli, is an appetizer created and popularized, in St. Louis, Missouri. Toasted ravioli can be found on the menus of many St. Louis restaurants including those of The Hill, a predominantly Italian neighborhood.

I travel down to St. Louis frequently for work and when I'm feeling like carb loading, I often eat local and ingest some nice deep fried raviolis. What spicy chicken wings are to Buffalo, toasted ravioli is to St. Louis.It's a local and cultural icon for many. I've made them a few times, and this is the recipe I've always chosen to use.

Please feel free to reach out if you have anyway recommendations or ways to "zing" it up.

Toasted Ravioli
Yield - 10 people
*I often cut the recipe exactly in half if I'm sharing with a group of people. 

1 - 9 1/2- or 10-ounce box bread crumbs, plain or seasoned
50 fresh uncooked ravioli, cheese- or meat-filled, or 1 can (3 pounds, 2 ounces) brine-packed ravioli.
Well drained 1 cup evaporated milk
Oil for deep-frying Parmesan cheese, grated.
2 cups tomato, meat or butter sauce for dipping, optional.

1.Sprinkle a thin layer of bread crumbs evenly over the bottom of a shallow tray or pan.
2.Dip ravioli into milk, and place close together on top of the crumbs. Cover completely with more bread crumbs. Pat down so the coating adheres. Repeat as necessary until all the ravioli is coated. (If you prefer, the ravioli can be dipped and breaded separately.)
3.Fry in oil heated to 375 degrees for 3 or 4 minutes, or until golden brown. Drain.
4.Place on heated plate. Sprinkle at once with Parmesan cheese and serve plain or dipped in a tomato, meat or butter sauce.

Chopbiscuit Interview - Meet AJ Bodden of Saratoga Festivals, LLC

Garth and AJ - Festival Gurus

Editor's note: This is a series of food related interviews with industry professionals, writers, bloggers, executives, farmers and folks who have made a positive impact on the food cosmos.

Founded in 2009 by lifelong friends A.J. Bodden and Garth Ellms, Saratoga Festivals has quickly established itself as the premier large scale event management company in the Capital Region. Saratoga Festivals is the owner and operator of Saratoga Beer Week, Saratoga Brewfest and Oktobeerfest NY. The festival company has quickly established itself as a premier outlet for beer enthusiasts in the Northeast. I had the chance to ask AJ some questions around the company, industry trends and of course...........Beer.

You've had some great luck with your festivals around supporting Craft Beer and smaller Boutique Breweries. Where do you see the Craft beer movement headed in the next few years?

 

I honestly feel that what we are experiencing locally, nationally and globally, is just the beginning of a movement that will continue to surprise people, including those of us directly involved.  Consumers are becoming increasingly more focused on “quality” over “quantity”.  They want to know a products origin; what is in it, where is it from, who made it, what is it “about”, etc.  It just helps the cause that the products taste great!  My prediction is that we will continue to see a growth in craft beer for many years to come considering beer is so complex and there is so much that can be done with it.  

 How has social media allowed you to expand your brand awareness?

Social media has played an incredibly large role in establishing and increasing brand awareness.  It is free and interactive-no brainer! Today’s consumer wants to interact with the businesses they are buying from…they crave and need that interaction.  People naturally want to feel important, special and “heard”, therefore why not give them a chance to. More important is the fact that social media is viral and our society LOVES that about it. We love to tell each other about what we are doing, where we are going and why they should do the same.

  

What's in the future for Saratoga Festivals? Are you heading in any other direction outside of Beer fest and your upcoming Saratoga Beer Week in February?

Our vision is to grow our business by continuing to provide unique, interesting and cutting edge events.  We are not married to craft beer and are always looking for new ideas, but are always thinking local.  However, we are not interested in trying to reinvent the wheel.  If something is being done we are not looking to try to do it better. But we may be interested in looking at how we can do it differently. 

We are also moving towards creating partnerships with other professionals which will allow us to continue to grow without compromising the quality of our product.  We look to partner with professionals whose expertise is different than ours.  We truly believe that success is achieved by getting the right people on your team and allowing them to do what they do best.  In the end we all win. 

There are a lot of beer festivals around the country. How do you differentiate yourselves from these other festivals?

This is a great question, and one we get often.  The truth is we do take into consideration what others are doing, (we have to) but we put the majority of our focus on looking at our event objectively and focusing on what key components we feel all festivals need to be successful.  These components include a variety of great beer (of course), rare beers that people can’t find elsewhere, live music, local vendors, a great setting and plenty of space.  Beyond that we focus on the little things like lines, bathrooms, etc.  The bottom line is we want people leaving thinking they had an awesome time, tried something new, didn’t spend all day in line and can’t wait for our next show! 

  

When AJ isn’t running a festival company, what type of beer is he drinking when he’s got some free time?

Many, many of them! HA-HA.  Not only is craft beer my business, it is a passion of mine and one that I share with my closest friends and family.  I always enjoy drinking new beers, especially the local brews when travelling. I love all kinds of brews and with it being winter I am looking for malty, nutty ales with plenty of hop character but nothing over powering.  I am loving the fact that more brewers are doing Porter, Imperial Stouts, Scottish Ales and German styles like Doppelbocks.  My favorite brewery is Peak Organic Brewing Co out of Portland, ME.  These guys are producing top tier brews while sourcing their ingredients locally, brewing organically and growing their business through grass roots efforts.  They represent what it means to be a craft brewery.  Source local, pure ingredients and brew great beer that you can stand behind. 

Chopbiscuit Interview - Meet Tom Gumpel {Panera Bread's Chief Baking Officer}

Editor's note: This is a series of food related interviews with industry professionals, writers, bloggers, executives, farmers and folks who have made a positive impact on the food cosmos.

Tom Gumpel is currently the Vice President of Bakery Development for Panera Bread.  I've worked with Tom for a few years now and for all my time spent in the food industry, Tom is one of the most passionate guys I've ever met. Recently Tom was recognized by Dessert Professional magazine as one of the country’s Top Ten Bread Bakers. Tom is a certified master baker and previously served as associate dean for curriculum and instruction for baking and pastry arts at the CIA. He also received international acclaim when he served as captain of the U.S. Baking Team that captured the grand prize at the prestigious Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie (World Cup of Baking). His success in the competition was featured in People, USA Today, The New York Times and on ABC’s World News Tonight.  He also was a member of the 1992 Culinary Olympic team that won a bronze medal at the International Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany.

Below are a few questions I asked Tom regarding our industry, food trends and the craft of baking.
  

As a highly visible leader in our industry, what are your thoughts on food trends and the yearly diatribe of articles promoting the next “big thing” in food and bakery, year after year?

This is a great question and my knee jerk answer is that chasing trends serves more of a distraction than it is a solid development model. But thinking through that deeper, I would tell you that trends are often a representation of societal growth and maturity (like a teenager needing to do a lot of crazy, irresponsible stuff in order to grow up into a mature adult). Trends can be defined as” continuations on a theme” and if the next big thing is something within your brand or competency, then have at it.

How difficult is it for someone who has mastered a craft to still be creative, but within constraints. You steward a large baking organization of folks with different skill sets and abilities, but your product is expected to be at consistently high level through out thousands of locations?

Mastering your craft requires discipline, focus and practice. As you may notice, creativity is not a critical component. Where creativity comes into play is in the application of your craft. How you sell yourself and your product takes creativity and passion. Having guidelines is actually more difficult and if you don’t recognize these as very positive challenges, you’re missing the biggest lessons in your career. I see these thousands of bakers as students of baking and eager learners. The goal is presenting them with opportunities to grow and reasons to stay with us. From there, nailing quality becomes more attainable. 

What excites you when you look out in the world of product innovation in our industry today?

Two things get me jazzed; first is observing how other business take a piece of Panera into their world. You can either look at this with disdain or consider the ultimate form of flattery for the brand. Secondly is the industry’s move towards cleaner labels and striving for more wholesome foods. This is a direct reflection on the public’s out cry for health and wellness in the food chain. Aside from that, I get excited about watching the growth of non-meat protein alternatives across the supermarket shelves. The things that are being done with soy are amazing!

Everyone has a food guilty pleasure that they may not like to share, what's yours?

Watermelon Sour Patch Gummies

What does the world of baking and bread look 10-15 years from now?

I think it will follow some of the trends we see in restaurants. Wheat flour that is grown regionally (where possible), organic and/or local fruit the norm, and I could see more mom and pop bakeries getting their foothold again.  Wherever we will see savory foods excelling and taking an area or region by storm, you will always be seeing passionate bakers, pastry chefs and chocolatiers .New technologies are always on the horizon. We will see chocolate companies use technology to deliver their products in ways never before seen. Flavor companies have only scraped the surface of their capabilities. Being able to extract flavors and colors from any plant will make “all natural” a no-brainer.

Saturday Grubbin' {my favorite sandwich}

Very few times do I plan meals. Or, I should say that very few meals are completely thought out until it's meal time, and this holds true more so for lunch than any other meal time. Now, the trick to satisfying your hunger is to leave yourself with plenty of options. If you pay attention to each ingredient, you can't help but create great food. This reminds me of a quote a friend of mine used to say.

"If eating a shit sandwich, don't complain about the bread."

I decided today was sandwich day. Now,  in order to keep your options open make, sure you have plenty of veggies, cheese, spreads and pickles. I love pickles and will be posting my favorite pickles very soon. 

Let's get to today's sandwich. I started with a sourdough made with scallions and walnuts. I picked up some roasted turkey and shaved ham for a weekend of sandwiches because it is a playoff football time!  I lightly toasted the Scallion & Walnut Sourdough in a pan using just a little olive oil. Next, I smeared a cranberry white Stilton cheese on the warm bread, piled the roasted turkey  and added some organic baby spinach. The most important ingredient of this sandwich was the organic Adriatic fig spread.  This stuff is crack. Period. 

The gist is that you need to begin to build a simple arsenal of great condiments and have some fun. Always be creative.

Be Well Eat Well and Live Well

The Hotel Food Quagmire - We can only hope for the better

* A Mark Mcdonough commentary

Usually, when we travel for work we are eatin' pretty well. Generally 80's Rockstarish well. But, then again some nights I'm pretty content to just to hang out in my hotel room eating great food from the local market or eatery.  Last night I decided to pick up a kick-ass Chicken Burger, still warm from the oven, on a sprouted grain roll coupled with Late July organic chips with Virgil's Root Beer. 

Let's just start with the chips. Late July, for me its all about flavor first and Late July is not short on flavor. The multi-grain dude ranch chips I ate had a great grain flavor without over powering  ranch seasoning, which I thought was really flavorful. Great find! They are made by a very giving family owned company that has strong roots and takes their organic products very serious. The company donates 10% of their profits to the American Camp Association to provide summer camp scholarships to kids in need. HOW COOL IS THAT!

Let's move to the chicken burger. My disclaimer is that I really only like beef burgers. Maybe lamb, and some great veggie options, but that's it.  There is something about poultry burgers that that just don't do it for me. But, that changed tonight when I ate the Coleman Natural Chicken burgers made by a subsidy of theirs called The Original Brat Hans. This patty had tons of flavor and I ate the fully cooked Uncured Bacon & Cheddar Burger, which was amazing. I'm glad that I grabbed my son Paden a few packs of these because they are top notch. Coleman claims to have been in the organic humanly raised meat industry since 1875. Guess that makes them one of the oldest of their kind, plus doing the right thing by treating their animals with respect makes it all the better. They really were great.

Now to the beverages. If you are a Root Beer lover and have tried Virgil's you can skip the rest of this paragraph. Virgil's is truly a root beer classic. They take making root beer very seriously. I've known good men that have died not taking their Root Beer seriously.

Last but not least for dessert I ate some of the Berkshire Bark chocolate. Dear Lord of all things sweet! I grabbed the white lightening bar from their product line and all I can say is that the rest of this chocolate will not make it on the drive home. These bars are hand made in the Berkshire Mountains with premium Belgian chocolate roasted cashews, fresh lemon zest and crystallized ginger. I tell you that this was one of the best pieces of cholocate I have ever eaten. Period.

Be Well Eat Well & Live Well

The every man "How to stay creative list"

I often spend time perusing online viewing  how other creative people use their time and what types of ways they organize their lives in an innovative fashion. You can find a lot of lists from folks claiming they know the most efficient ways to stimulate creative thinking. Most lists are always the same, with redundant "live life to the fullest" mombo-jumbo. I've never really been a big "Self Help - Motivation", Tony Robbins type of guy.

I've often noticed that balance and calmness, brings the most out of myself when I'm working on something creative. I'm a relaxed guy by nature, so insanity around me makes me cringe. You often have the Steve Jobs types, who are so insanely focused and obsessive to GET IT RIGHT, that their personal and non-work life are often in shambles. Obviously it's great to have those folks every generation - you wouldn't be able to play Angry Birds during your meetings right? Humor has often been my way of getting things done and dealing with stress. I'm okay with never being as laser focused,credulous and dogmatic as a Steve Jobs was. Could you imagine if you were in a bar full of Steve Jobs types? You'd want to bust a pint glass over every one's head for being such a douchebag.

The good thing about creative work is that you can find your own way to bring the imaginative side inside you. No book, lecture, TED Conference will do that. Find the place where you're able to think at a different level. For some that may be on a run through the country, on the ski slopes or even over a nice glass of wine. Don't depend on other people telling you how to find your creative side, you know where that is - and use it when it's applicable and appropriate.

2012 Food and dining trends #3 {Grow your own}

True Food Kitchen's onsite Herb Garden

Welcome to CB.com's 2012 food and dining predictions. I've always loved postulating about where food and food culture is headed. Sometimes I'm spot on, and other times I've failed miserably. We feel that we have a pretty good pulse on this industry and want to look into that crystal ball and lay out some educated guesses on what the food retail industry may look like like in 2012 without any of the Nicholas Cage Mayan calendar nonsense.

Let's continue with our educated guessing!

Can we be done with this list already? It might be 2013 before this is completed.  Coming in at number three on our trend list is the movement towards retailers farming their own food. As you can see in the picture above, True Food Kitchen, a concept based out of Arizona,  maximizes it's real estate.  The interior's open layout, high ceilings, large sliding glass doors, and citrus color scheme bring the outdoors in. An on-site herb garden and smoker lend to farm-fresh feel. The airiness of the place creates a unique sense of openness when we almost walk into the wall-less kitchen. The garden ultimately is what makes this place credible.

Coast to coast, more chefs and restaurant owners are adding pitchforks to their small ware repertoire as they create gardens to feed their culinary zest and their diners. Ambitious and environmentally conscious chefs on the West Coast (and everywhere in between), are growing their own veggies and herbs and bypassing the traditional procurement route.

Let's set the record straight. This isn't a new and novel idea. Restaurants across the country have been doing this for years. But.....the ROI is staring to surface in a unique and opportune way that many mainstream outlets are looking into this culture of cultivating. Whatever the scale of the agricultural endeavor, the benefits are clear, you can pick something during the day and incorporate it into a special that night. It creates a convenience and nimbleness that most restaurants aren't afforded otherwise. The trend has caught on with high-end, Michelin-starred restaurants in California such as The French Laundry in Napa and has trickled down to more casual friendly outlets as well.

Providing boutique vegetables for high-end diners has been proving it's worth as of late. Adding the ability to walk outside your back door and get the same high end quality, could provide a new way of menu engineering from a micro sense. I personally think we are just scratching the surface on this...Stay tuned.

2012 Food and Dining Predictions:

#10 - The inconvenience of Food 

#9 - Personal Investment and Ownership

#8 - Minimal is the new black

#7 - The fusion of family style meals and belittlement

#6 - Beer is King, not the King of Beer
#5 - Cloud Eating and Cooking
#4 - Grains, Grains. Grains and .....more Grains.

Eating Heat Map - I'm a Blue Stater

 

I was monkeying around the other day viewing all my favorite restaurants and where they are located. So, I figured I would graph them on a map to see where most of my favorite Canteens are within North America. Ironically if you were looking at this from a political landscape, you would say I'm an elitist, progressive liberal snob. Well, that's probably true otherwise, outside of being a snobby elitist.

Sadly, most of my favorite restaurants are just where I've spent most of my time living and traveling. I've never been to the Dakota's but I'm sure there's a few joints  that serve some nice petite sirloin? I've yet to visit Utah, but I've heard the Mormon Duck Confit is dripping with flavor. Wisconsin, cheese? I'm actually embarrassed I haven't visited the state of Wisconsin due to my inappropriate relationship with beer. Minnesota has Prince, but not the edible kind.

This map just make me realize that I need to continue to travel around the country finding people and places that serve the "Best of". I'm looking forward to my forthcoming food and beverage adventures and hopefully I will end up sitting at a campfire in Montana under the moonlight, wearing assless chaps and eating some nice Montana Elk. One could only hope.

New Year, Old Ways - Some commentary on Healthy options for the New Year

Editors note: This was an article our comrade Mark wrote for the Panera Bread internal media publication - The Baguette Gazette.

Against the Grain

If you are like millions of us who find ourselves really needing more energy and an overall healthier lifestyle now that the holidays are over, Then check out a few of our favorite recipes from the Bakery Development Team along with some useful tips to gain more energy after a long night or day of baking. Plus if you are looking for a New Year’s Resolution, what could be better that having better energy, better health and a more holistic approach to your life. This begins a new series in the Baguette Gazette to offer healthy eating tips and great recipes to help make it a little easier to balance a demanding career & healthy life style.

There are many options to choose from when it comes to boosting your energy. There are energy bars, energy drinks, soda, candy, and the list goes on. Have you ever thought about what exactly gives you that boost of energy? All of the things listed above contain simple carbohydrates which all equal incredibly easy to digest sugars and in return give you short lived energy which sometimes leaves you even more tired. There are also numerous health issues that can arise from consuming too much of these types of carbohydrates including heart disease, certain cancers & diabetes. And, if you drink a lot of caffeine this just adds the up and down roller coaster.

To start this new healthy series we are going take a holistic approach to life & health with how to gain a more sustained energy by introducing or re-introducing whole grains into your diet.

Whole Grains are complex carbohydrates which take much longer to digest and most importantly the heath benefits include better and a more sustained energy as well as antioxidants to help fight the free radicals in your body, but first a little history of grains and then the most simple ways to get this newly gained energy into your diet.

Grains have been cultivated for our eating pleasure and nourishment for over 10,000 years by humans in various places around the world or if you think like Michael Pollan,  the plants have actually been cultivating us. But either way we humans learned early on about the unique benefits from making a large portion of our diet whole grains. And a big thanks to the Romans who are credited with creating the grain milling industry as we know it today. And to Northern Europe and Russia for creating the porridges and hot breakfast cereals that a lot of us have come to dearly love and enjoy especially when it comes to starting out the day well balanced healthy hot meal.

Whole grains are a high energy food and the simplest way to introduce them into your diet is through breakfast cereals. According to the USDA we should consume at least 48 grams of whole grains a day and since breakfast cereals come in many different types of grains what are you waiting for?

Here is one of my all time favorite breakfast recipes using Red Quinoa, add peanut butter for extra protein, for a little sweetness top with agave syrup and for additional nutritional and protein for energy I sprinkle ground black chia seeds over the top.

Morning Red Quinoa

Yield: 2 portions (on most mornings)

Water -1/2 cup (near boiling)
Organic Red Quinoa - 1 cup (cooked)
All natural Peanut Butter - 1 1/2 tbsp
Ground Chia seeds - 1 tbsp
Agave Nectar - 1 1/2 tbsp

Place the peanut butter into a small bowl and pour in the hot water and stir until smooth. Fold in the cooked quinoa sprinkle the chia over the top and squeeze the desired amount of agave and enjoy.

Those of you not familiar with Quinoa or chia seeds, here is why I chose them for this powerhouse of breakfast cereals. Quinoa was once considered the “gold of the Inca’s” and is one of the few plant based foods that can provide a complete protein and equally important is the fact that it’s loaded with magnesium. Magnesium is super heart healthy and multiple studies have shown that a diet rich in magnesium lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease & Type 2 diabetes. That aside I really like the mild flavor and the fluffiness of quinoa and I love keeping old heirloom grains alive and in return that help me promote a healthy breakfast.

Chia seeds are what some call a superfood and offer you a rich source of vitamins and high Omega-3 acids. They are rich in fiber, protein, calcium, phosphorus and zinc. According to the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Chia is 16 percent protein, 31 percent fat and 44 percent carbohydrate in which 38 percent is fiber. They are also very beneficial in converting carbohydrates into sugars which is important in getting the best bang for your buck or in other words more nutrients per calorie. There is another added benefit that is most impressive to me and that is the appetite suppressant qualities of Chia. This happens mainly due to the fact that they swale 15 times their size and do not have to be ground like flax seeds in order to be absorbed.

The agave is the nectar of the agave plant, and yes the same one that tequila is derived from. But, the agave syrup is used here because of good flavor, very light and sweet but because your body process the sugar differently than cane sugars and most all forms of sweeteners. Agave as a lower glycemic index meaning that it tends not to shoot your blood sugar up which makes it a little more friendly to diabetics.

Please don’t let the unfamiliarity of the Quinoa and Chia change your mind about starting a new holistic approach to your mornings. Just start with grains that you are familiar with to begin your new High Energy breakfast regiment. I change it up all year and soon I will to more of an oatmeal regiment for the winter and usually wrapping up the winter with Bob’s Red Mill 10 grain hot cereal. Just do it! Here’s the big one for any of you reading this and think that the flavor of grains are like eating cardboard, keep eating your grains you will ,like all acquired taste foods and drinks, become more educated and development a sophisticated palette. Plus, the real goal in mind Less Processed Foods more whole foods and grains and this could not be truer than in the breakfast ritual. Here is one more recipe that might be a little more familiar but equally as delicious.

Good Ole Oatmeal

2 cups of cooked oats (not instant, real cooked oats, rolled or steel cut only)
1 cup of warmed milk
1 large apple cut into cubes
½ cup walnuts
2.5 Tablespoons of honey or maple syrup (REAL MAPLE SYRUP)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Equally distribute the oats into 2-4 bowls, them place the apples and walnuts on top of the oatmeal. Give it a little stir. Now pour the hot milk over the oatmeal and sprinkle the cinnamon over each bowl along with the syrup , enjoy.

Be well, eat well & live well