Do You Still Serve Breakfast?

These are the very words many of us have used, when travelling on business, or on vacation or when just eating out during the night, but cannot seem to find anything on the menu that we either like or can afford. As our wallets become tighter, so do our customers wallets. A trend developing right now is quick-serve foodservice facilities like Deli’s and cafe’s such as Starbucks, which are now introducing all-day breakfast options at a low price point. Starbucks now says that breakfast options account for 25% of all sales in their cafes (Bush, 2009).

Delis and cafes have been able to adapt to this change with the technological aid of speed-cook ovens and induction ranges that are easily incorporated into a small deli area. With these small changes, a deli counter can focus its revenue potential during hard times to target a whole new market segment. In a recent article from Quick Service restaurant magazine (Bush, 2009) they gave four basic tips on to how to start your own breakfast revolution in your café:

LED Vs. Incandescent

   
Consider this, if you had two different lamps with similar lighting characteristics, but one costs USD 40, but the other costs USD 4, which would you choose? Before you jump at the ostensibly obvious answer, consider this as well: What if the USD 4 lamp uses USD 1.50 worth of electricity per month, but the USD 40 lamp uses USD 0.25 worth of electricity per month? What if the USD 4 lamp has to be replaced every 6 months, but the USD 40 lamp needs only to be replaced every 10 years? And from an air-conditioning point of view, what if the USD 4 lamp heats to a couple of hundred degrees but the USD 4 heats at 0 degrees? And in eco-friendly terms, what if the USD 40 lamp’s equivalent CO2 emission is one-third of USD 4 lamp, and a building’s carbon footprint can be reduced by 68% by using the USD 40 lamp instead of the USD 4 lamp?

The debate between LED lighting versus the more conventional incandescent and fluorescent lighting is an omnipresent one. This article, discerning reader, aims to bring its advantages and disadvantages ‘to light’.

Advantages of LED light: It has a very long life, around 30,000 to 50,000 hours. It consumes significantly less power. It does not need colour filters. It can be very small, suitable for fitting into discreet nooks in display cases. It radiates very little infrared heat that can cause damage to sensitive objects or fabrics or types of food and drink. It lights up very quickly and can achieve full brightness in microseconds. It can be very easily dimmed either by using pulse-width modulation or lowering the forward current. When it fails it dims gradually rather than with an abrupt burn-out. Its solid package can be designed to focus its light (Incandescent and fluorescent sources often require an external reflector to collect light and direct it in a usable manner). It does not contain the toxic element mercury, unlike fluorescent lamps.

Disadvantages of LED light: It is very much more expensive, price per lumen, on an initial capital cost basis, than most conventional lighting technologies. It is dependant on the ambient temperature of the operating environment and high temperatures cause over-heating of the LED package, leading to failure (LED lights are not suitable to be installed within exhaust hoods). It must be supplied with a voltage above the threshold and a current below the rating (This can involve series resistors or current regulated power supplies). It gives off directional light, which is very blue in colour, which limits its’ usefulness.

The debate rages on, but perhaps you’re better prepared for it now. And, by the way, the LED light was invented by a Russian in the 1920s. So the next time you enjoy a glass of vodka in an LED-lit lounge, spare a toast to him.

Dining Stone.

Hot food is often served from food warmers to diners in a warm plate. Cold food is served on chilled plates. In most instances, the food does not retain its temperature long enough for the diner to enjoy the meal to its last bite. Now, natural granite stones with wooden holders are available to keep the plate warmed or chilled, which come in various natural colors and sizes to suit even the most eclectic of dining needs. In ancient times, granite was used as a cooking surface.
The compressed density of granite allows heat or cold to dissipate slowly, which makes it an excellent retainer of heat and cold. These stones have to be heated in an oven for fifteen minutes at 350°C which will be hot enough to warm your plates. The surface temperature of the plate will drop to 220°C after 45 minutes and stays warm throughout the meal. The heat is warm enough for you to see a puff of steam when you turn over your chicken breast but not hot enough to continue cooking your food. Similarly, freezing the granite for one hour will keep salads, sliced food and drinks chilled. These granite stones are interchangeable between cold and hot.

In-house artisan cured meat, especially salami (Italian-styled cured meat) and charcuterie (French-style cured meat), has become a trend, and in some countries, a craze, in restaurants. Because the meat themselves are delicate, skill, know-how and meticulous attention to detail, along with the incorporation of the finest ingredients are required to properly cure meat in-house. The process starts from the farm. The “Ossabaw“ breed and organic hogs are preferred. The hogs are reared to a specific requirement such as a diet of apples supplemented with cream and have a live weight of 400 pounds instead of the usual 250 pounds. Some dry cured sausages are fermented with pre-made bacterial start-cultures to add final flavor to enhance the quality of meat.

To become a great cure master is a long learning process whereby a lot of meat will be ruined and there is a lot of inconsistency in the product. The beginner often starts with simple small cuts like the loin or shoulder. These cuts are good for the beginner because they don’t involve grinding, stuffing, or fermenting and their small size means they age relatively quickly. The shorter your cure times at the beginning, the faster you learn. Some curing processes take three years to mature. Salt and nitrites are the main functioning ingredients with seasoning and salt used sparingly. Farm-raised hogs that have exposure to wild animals like rodents are used by many cure-masters.

Some experts recommend deep-freezing meat prior to curing according to USDA standards. This process kills any trichinae that might be present. One has to also be cautious about natural dangers of cured meat pathogens such as C.botulinum and listeria monocytogenes that are not always apparent to the senses.

 
Source: Food Arts October 2005
www.salumicuredmeats.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curing (food_preservation)