Category: Guides

7 Ways to Set up an Eco-Friendly Green Kitchen

: There are a few small changes that home chefs can do to set up an eco-friendly green kitchen.

Did you know that by simply cutting your meat consumption in half, you can save approximately two trees per year? By carrying a reusable spork with you to school or work, you could save nearly 500 single use plastic utensils from the landfill per year. And that’s nothing compared to how much plastic waste you can prevent by using only reusable dishes in your home kitchen.

Those who love to cook (and to eat) have so many reasons to be grateful to Mother Earth. Our vegetables, fruits, grains, and even meat depends on air, water, and dirt. Unfortunately, producing these items has become a major driver of climate change, pollution, and deforestation. The Amazon and other forests are under threat due to land being cleared for agriculture or to pasture animals. Single use plastics, that don’t degrade in landfills, end up in the ocean. And, unfortunately, a lot of edible food ends up rotting away in landfills as well.

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Tips on Throwing A Crowd-Pleasing Super Bowl Party

How to thrown an exciting Super Bowl party with decor, drinks, and food.The Super Bowl is one of the most watched televised programs annually, and the 2023 season is gearing up to be an exciting one. Whether you are there to cheer on your team, watch the halftime show, enjoy the commercials, or pass the night with friends, food, and alcohol, throwing a Super Bowl shindig is a foolproof way to make game day even more fun. You can throw a party at home or, if you manage a food establishment, turn it into a sports bar for the night.

There’s a lot that goes into planning a Super Bowl party: the decor, the viewing experience, the set-up, and most importantly, the food. Hosting a successful Super Bowl party can take some creative thinking and organizing. Here are some tips to make this season a memorable one.
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Essential Kitchen Tools For Serious Home Chefs

Essential kitchen tools for commercial kitchensWhat are the common elements found in a dinner party with friends, Thanksgiving dinner, and Sunday brunch with the family?

Bonding and camaraderie feature in all of the above situations, as does food. Long before people coined the phrase breaking bread, food was synonymous with companionship. Turns out that humans are not only social creatures, they are also social eaters.

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in the next level of the food-friendship paradigm. Families under lockdown found themselves with more time on their hands – plenty of extra time to explore a new hobby. And, many fell in love with cooking with their kids, spouses, partners, friends, or even on their own. In fact, a survey by Premier Foods, showed that 73% of British people enjoyed the opportunity to invest time in home cooking and 91% hope to continue to hone their home cooking skills.
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One-Pot Cooking and Meals Reign in Restaurants in 2022

Part I: Slow Cookers and Crock Pots

Restaurants feature one-pot dishes, often made in a slow cooker or crock pot.

If you’re looking for a business forecast for the 2022 restaurant industry, the recipe to success may lie in one-pot cooking. As restaurateurs and caterers struggle to get back on their feet in the aftermath of COVID-19, many are turning to the food and beverages that became best-sellers during the corona crisis and which have remained popular among consumers ever since.

Front-and-center on restaurant menus for the New Year, expect to see wholesome one-pot dishes where all the ingredients cook together in a single pot, skillet, or cooker. These one-dish meals tend to contain all the elements of a healthy breakfast, lunch, or dinner – and then some. Combine your choice of protein, starch, vegetables, sauces, syrups, salt and pepper, then add herbs and spices, for a dish that takes the taste buds over the top. While these recipes were once geared primarily for family dining, single-serving one-pot creations for individual diners are now also rising in the rankings.

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Shining the Limelight on Lemons

Cater to lemon-lovers with lemon-flavored dishes and desserts that steal the show

Attention lemon lovers around the world: If lemon is your favorite flavor, you have come to the right place! Similarly, if you are a seasoned chef, professional baker, budding culinary student, or restaurant owner, this Comprehensive Guide to Cooking and Baking with Lemons is the perfect recipe for success to keep your customers coming back for more.

So pucker up and prepare to learn all about lemons, one of Mother Nature’s most underestimated flavorful ingredients…

Tapping into the Taste of Lemon

Lemons are best known for their slightly sour or tart taste. Typically used to enhance the flavor of other foods (rather than be consumed alone), their pungent quality becomes citrusy, light, and refreshing when added to sweet and savory recipes alike. During the cooking or baking process, all parts of a lemon can be used: the juice, the pulp, and the peel/rind. Note: In recipes, grated lemon rind is often referred to as ‘lemon zest’. Continue reading Shining the Limelight on Lemons

How French Cuisine Has Permeated More Than Our Palates

French cuisine favorites boost restaurant revenues

From à la carte and à la mode to au gratin, crème brûlée, café au lait, soupe du jour, maître d, bon appétit, cuisine, and more, did you ever notice how many French culinary terms proliferate the American lexicon? Likewise, some of the world’s favorite restaurant dishes include recipes for French crepes, soufflés, baguettes, croissants, petit fours, vinaigrette, quiche, and more.

So why is it that professional chefs ‘sauté’ rather than cook in oil, ‘purée’ rather than blend, and compete so that customers choose their catering services to host the next grand ‘soirée’? Furthermore, given the widespread popularity of French haute cuisine, what secret tricks of the trade can help your restaurant’s chefs and bakers create mouth-watering, traffic-attracting pièces de résistance?

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Coffee Menu Newcomers Debut in 2021

Add international coffee flavors to your 2021 menu.

The New Year has arrived and so have forecasts for the upcoming coffee trends. The good news is that pandemic or no pandemic, restaurant goers continue to clamor for coffee! If you work in foodservice and are looking for a way to stay ahead of the competitive pack, it’s time for a coffee menu update.

What’s Brewing in the World of Java

In the era of COVID-19, coffee shops may no longer be crowded, but java sales remain high thanks to a host of new options. Continue reading Coffee Menu Newcomers Debut in 2021

How to Spice Up Your Restaurant Menu with Spices!

Chefs maximize the use of spices and herbs in the wake of the coronavirus.

If you are looking for ways to enhance your restaurant menu look no further than using everyday spices and herbs. We all know that seasonings add ‘the spice of life’ to cooking and baking and can transform any dish from bland and boring to flavor-filled, fabulous, and unforgettable. They are also a great way to make food taste better without the addition of fat, salt, or sugar, and are compatible with almost every type of diet (vegetarian, vegan, Paleo, Keto, gluten-free, dairy-free, salt-free, and more). Continue reading How to Spice Up Your Restaurant Menu with Spices!

How to Show Your Customers You Care During the Corona Crisis

Get tips on how to provide customer service despite the corona crisis.

The restaurant industry as we know it has come to unprecedented stand still due to the global crisis of the coronavirus. Otherwise known as COVID-19 or ‘corona,’ it will surely be infamously recorded in the annuls of time as one of the most epic and devastating pandemics the world has ever experienced. Yet, although it is affecting every continent, country, and industry, everyone is doing their best to not only survive but to thrive in spite of the odds with the hope and prayer that the crisis will soon end and that order and prosperity will be restored.

Cater to Your Customers

So, what can you do, as a foodservice professional, to keep your business alive despite corona? And more importantly: Is there a way to continue to connect with your customers and even foster relationships while your brick-and-mortar eatery is shut down? The answer, fortunately, is a resounding YES.

Ironically, during this very time of imposed isolation that restricts the public from traveling, interacting, and eating out, there has never been a more opportune time to show customers that you care by making concerted efforts to connect with them and even cater to their needs. You were granted time now, time you never thought you would have, to tap into your creative juices and take your restaurant’s customer service level to new heights and earn some major, long-lasting loyalty points in return.

Read on as we share some of our suggestions to help you stir your own creative culinary juices.

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What’s New in Food Trucks

New in food truck trends

If you work in foodservice and thought food trucks were a thing of the past or a fading trend… think again! Not only is the food truck industry still booming, but according to some experts, it is growing faster than traditional restaurants. From entrepreneurs to seasoned restauranteurs, food business owners continue to use mobile truck services to expand their businesses.

Upscale Food Truck Offerings on the Rise

While traditional fanfare is still on the menu (think sandwiches, salads, pizza and fast food), rising in the popularity charts are upscale food trucks featuring gourmet burgers, seafood, sushi, and even all-lobster menus. And while yesterday’s mobile beverage offerings treated customers to freshly squeezed juices, smoothies, tea, coffee, and fruit salads, making the rounds today are cocktail bars, appearing at classy shindigs in posh vehicles such as limousines and one-of-a-kind vintage cars. These bars-on-wheels are in demand at weddings, rehearsal dinners, graduations, birthday parties, corporate events, fundraisers, and more.

The win-win business paradigm is hard to beat, catering to demand and pleasing customers’ palates while serving as an exciting talking point that garners attention and valuable marketing points for restaurant owners.

Dessert Trucks Take Decadence to the Streets

If you have ever dreamed of starting a bakery business or of offering consumers new ways to satisfy their sweet tooth, dessert food trucks may be right up your alley. One of the hottest trends in the ‘biz, mobile bakeries are proliferating, providing melt-in-your-mouth offerings that range from ice cream, cupcakes, cookies, and cakes to crepes, pancakes, waffles, scones, beignets, brownies, cheesecakes, tarts, pies, donuts, and other to-die-for delights.

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