Fully cooked, slow-smoked, braised and grilled proteins cut prep time and boost flavor innovation with global spices.
March 26, 2021
Sponsored by Hormel Foodservice
When COVID-19-related shutdowns began last March, restaurateurs trimmed kitchen staffs and menus in the hopes of offsetting looming revenue losses. The following May, Datassential research reported 63 percent of operators had reduced staff and repurposed the roles of the remnant still onboard.
Twenty-eight percent also had increased the number of ready-to-use food items in inventory, while 37 percent reduced total menu items. As chefs were gradually adding items such as fully cooked proteins to their inventory, it forced them to consider how much scratch cooking they could afford with lean staffs and soft sales, says Tony Finnestad, executive chef for Hormel Foodservice.
“I come from a fine-dining background, so I’m the type of chef who was taught the importance of cooking proteins from scratch,” says Finnestad. “But not only are a lot of protein-cooking methods super time-intensive, even when you can expend the resources on training people to do that correctly, you still risk the inconsistency of how one cook does it compared to another.”
Fully cooked proteins are the answer
An alternative Finnestad suggests is using fully cooked proteins that permit speed-scratch preparation. Since preparing most proteins requires a lot of time, skilled technique and experience, eliminating prep or errors born of cooking from raw improves product consistency, reduces waste and nearly eliminates employee training. The heat-and-serve ease of fully cooked proteins also allows their use across a broad range of menu categories and cuisines.
“You think about something like braising short ribs,” Finnestad says. “That’s a labor-intensive process in which you season them, dust them in flour, sear them on all sides, remove them and add vegetables, sweat those, add tomato paste, deglaze them and then put them into an oven. Doing just that alone means you spent an hour getting them ready.
“Why would you go through all that as opposed to dropping a bag of our HORMEL® FIRE BRAISED™ Beef Short Ribs into water to heat them and be ready to serve in just minutes?” he continues. “I would put our short ribs up against any done the hard way.”
Finnestad recommends chefs treat the Hormel Foodservice line of Premium Prepared Proteins as a nearly blank canvas onto which they can add their own flavor twists through custom sauces and seasonings. A good example is the HORMEL® FIRE BRAISED™ Turkey Breast, which he says can be sliced for a dish of turkey tetrazzini, sliced thickly for a Kentucky hot brown or thinly for cold sandwiches.
“These breasts are flame-seared for a deep, roasted flavor and they look great,” Finnestad says. “But say you don’t want that seared look for a particular dish—just trim that exterior away, and you’ve still got perfectly cooked, moist turkey breast to work with.”
The Premium Prepared Proteins line provides options that add flavor and variety to menus, while cutting prep time in the kitchen.
If you don’t have a smoker, the time or skills to smoke meat, but you want smoked menu items, try the AUSTIN BLUES® Brand of hardwood smoked ribs, pulled pork shoulder, beef brisket and chicken. No pit master or prep required.
Though not every kitchen has an open-flame grill or spit, HORMEL® FIRE BRAISED™ proteins ensure any restaurant can have flame-seared, slow-cooked proteins like chicken, turkey breast, flank steak, pork shoulder and beef short ribs. With the searing done for them, chefs are freed up to create signature dishes.
Creating globally inspired specials is a breeze using the CAFÉ H® Brand line. Below are just some of the many items available:
Korean beef
Chicken tikka masala
Chicken tinga
Kalua pork
Carnitas
Barbacoa
All Hormel Foodservice Premium Prepared Proteins are easily rethermalized in an oven, steamer, on a steam table or using sous vide. (See the complete lineup of Premium Prepared Proteins by clicking here.) With such easy preparation, hours of time spent checking ovens and temperatures and textures is virtually eliminated.
“Products like the seared beef short rib remove the difficult part of that job in our kitchen,” says Chip Herchert, co-owner of Sidebar at Whiskey Row in Louisville, Kentucky. “My partners and I wanted smoked meat options without the smoker. We get that with AUSTIN BLUES® Pulled Pork. No labor, high quality, totally easy. What’s not to like?”
Premium Prepared Proteins save labor, reduce food waste, increase product consistency and boost profitability. Pandemic or not, they’re a stress reliever for any foodservice operation.
