So...November started out on a good note. By the 11th, I had posted four blogs for the month, a record since starting in August. I even promised to post Thanksgiving recipes over the next couple of weeks. But then something happened...I got busy in the kitchen cooking and not writing. But I did do another kind of writing - actually writing down some of the recipes I had made. You see, I am one of those cooks with the terrible habit of creating things in the kitchen and not keeping a record of it. The recipe is fresh in my mind while I am making it, and I am confident that I will remember and be able to recreate it a year later. This combination of laziness and overconfidence in my ability to recollect can create problems in a professional situation like a restaurant or food production facility where someone has to make something you made but didn't bother to write down. I know I have annoyed more than my share of sous chefs and bakers with this trait.
I have done worse things, however. I have promised and sold products that didn't quite exist (yet) to national grocery chains. The concept existed, but not the actual thing. Back in the days of Now and Zen, riding on the success of the UnTurkey, I came out with UnChicken and UnRibs. I had an idea for UnSteak as well, but hadn't gotten around to developing it. That didn't stop me from getting around to selling it to major natural food distributors and buyers of stores like Whole Foods. It was a whole line and they needed all three, I told them. And then the orders started coming. My staff was terrified. How were they going to produce something that hadn't actually been invented yet? Actually, I was getting pretty scared myself. I did have a rough idea of how I wanted to make it, and so I got cranking. My production supervisor followed me around the plant writing everything down to make sure that we would know how to make it the next time around. As I pulled out ingredients, measured, mixed and reveled in the alchemy of mass food production, I kept my fingers crossed that this first batch would turn out. After all, we had to ship out in a few days.
And somehow, it did turn out. Succulent and tender, marinated in red wine and garlic, the UnSteak actually became my favorite of the three products. Of course, I don't recommend this approach for anyone going into the food business. There are logistical nightmares involved, such as packaging, which requires not only nutritional labeling but actually knowing what ingredients are in it (we were only able to pull this off at the time because the initial orders were small and we were printing our own labels--we could not have done this later in our growth when we ordered packaging by the tens of thousands). And it doesn't make your staff love you. Trust me.
Chefs often imagine dishes they want to create, doing a virtual tasting in their minds, and then delve into their kitchen to test their theories. Menus are often designed that way; you see what's available and in season, come up with a concept, then hope it all works out. More often than not, with familiar ingredients, and in smaller quantities, it does. Just don't try it for 300 cases.
Well, this wasn't what I set out to write about at all. I'm not even sure how I got on a topic I hadn't thought about for years; somehow, the blog took an unforseen fork in the road right around the third sentence. I actually had meant to write about how much I ate over Thanksgiving. But I can do that tomorrow after I eat some more leftovers.
And this month...six blogs! And maybe even a few pictures...
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