The increasingly sophisticated consumer palate has opened the door for chefs to experiment with new flavors and ingredients, and to infuse their menus with produce items in novel ways that delight consumers eager for exciting dining experiences.
That openness was evident in December at the New York Produce Show and Conference at the Jacob Javits Center in New York, where celebrity chefs took the stage to showcase produce-centric creations, and culinary students competed to concoct sophisticated dishes on the spot using only their imaginations and ingredients foraged from show exhibitors.
“Now more than ever, people are interested in new flavors and new experiences, and are excited about food,” says Heather Goldberg, who together with her sister Jenny Engel own Spork Foods, a Los Angeles-based company specializing in gourmet vegan food dishes.
The duo, who partnered for the first Celebrity Chef Demonstration, also run a cooking school, through which they teach about 10,000 people a year how to prepare healthy dishes.
“People are demanding healthier options, and produce is a great way to meet those demands,” says Goldberg. “We are encouraging people to think differently about produce, and get a lot of different textures in their diet using produce.”
Consumers have become much more attuned to the various flavor and texture possibilities that fruits and vegetables can offer, they say.
“People want to taste the produce, rather than covering it up with sauces,” says Engel.
The Spork Sisters, as they call themselves, say they increasingly find they are able to incorporate more ethnic produce items into their menus, such as jackfruit, which they source from local Thai or Indian markets.
“We like to use young jackfruit because you can use it like meat, because of the texture,” says Engel.
Dishes they make using jackfruit as a meat substitute include jackfruit carnitas and a vegan “pulled pork” product made with jackfruit.
Doug Stuchel, assistant professor at Johnson & Wales, Providence, RI, who was leading a student team from his school in the Culinary Innovation Station competition, noted that chefs now are “doing produce right.”
“Who would have thought that you could roast a cauliflower and slice it like a steak?” he says. “These days produce is much more than overcooked, army green broccoli and spinach. Now it is being cooked right, and seasoned right.”
He also noted that consumers no longer have to wait to try new produce dishes in restaurants, thanks to the proliferation of TV cooking shows and the volume of food-related activity on social media.
John Abels, department chair at Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago, whose student team was competing against Johnson & Wales, notes that the increasingly global consumer palate has freed chefs to let their imaginations run wild.
“There are no lines anymore,” he says. “Back in the ’90s, fusion cuisine was a new thing. Now, you put things together in your head, and try them out, and sometimes it works. Who would have thought barbecue sauce and cilantro would work together? But they do.
“It’s like throwing a noodle against the wall,” he says. “Sometimes it sticks.”
One of the chefs who demonstrated the versatility of vegetables — as well as the globally influenced nature of their preparation — was the Indian-born chef Jehangir Mehta, chef/owner of Graffiti, Mehtafor and You & Me in New York.
Taking the Celebrity Chef Stage on the show floor, Mehta encouraged chefs and home cooks alike to “do whatever works for you” when preparing recipes.
“If you don’t like cheese, leave it out,” he says.
Mehta demonstrated a vegetable taco made using thinly sliced watermelon radishes as the exterior “shell,” topped with diced avocado and shredded kale.
He later showed how some of the same ingredients could be combined into a salad, along with a variety of other vegetables mixed to the diner’s taste. Those included purple Brussels sprouts from his demonstration’s sponsor, Babé Farms, which he blanched and shredded.
“They are one of the best things I have tried in a long time,” Mehta says.
Other vegetables he prepared at the demo station included Romanesco, which he noted can be very versatile, and eaten raw or sautéed, among other options.
“Romanesco works fine by itself, and you can keep it as a base and serve a small amount of meat or fish with it,” he says.
Mehta also made a pickled fennel with a 50-50 mix of red wine vinegar and water, along with sugar and spices, chili and herbs, and he made a bell pepper dish with pea shoots.
For salad dressing, Mehta suggests saving the water that is squeezed out of fresh tomatoes and pouring it over your veggie mix.
“Think about how you can use food in different ways,” Mehta says.
Source: PerishableNews.com
