Category Archives: food

December 28, 2012 · 11:00 am

Most Read Posts Of The Year – 3

Since it’s Foodie Friday I thought I’d add the most read food-related post to our list.  This one comes from the Friday before the Super Bowl and it’s not surprising that like most things Super Bowl it was widely viewed.  I’m not sure too many other writers put together food, business, and football but this was my take last February.

Many of you will be cooking something for Sunday’s big game and so this Foodie Friday we’ll think a little bit about what recipes to follow.  Actually, it’s more about how one follows any recipe, and what that has in common with business.

An example recipe, printed from the Wikibooks ...

Image via Wikipedia

As I think you might know, my feeling about cooking is that it’s more like jazz while baking is more Baroque music– far more structured and precise.  Given that, the way I see recipes might differ from how you see them and how that perspective carries into business.  Let’s see.

A recipe is a guide, not an edict.  I look at them as outlines of the dish, but it’s up to me as the cook to insert the flavors I want to present.  For example, if I’m making chili for Sunday’s game, I know that most of the folks who will be at the party enjoy fairly hot food so I might change the spice mix accordingly.  Cooking veal cutlets for 20 can be expensive but turkey cutlets in the same recipe can be just as tasty.  With a vegan and a vegetarian as members of the household here, I often modify recipes to accommodate their eating styles too.  I have a sense of the destination and the recipe is the map, but there are often many routes to get to where I’m trying to go.

Business is the same.  There are some basic road maps – take in more than you spend, treat customers and employees well – but every business is different.  Sticking to the recipe isn’t always possible, and sometimes the road we wish to take is closed, but with a good understanding of fundamental techniques and enough knowledge of the building blocks (ingredients), one can cope with changing market conditions and take advantage of opportunities (I was going to make snapper but look at the fresh grouper on sale!) that might arise.

So as you’re whipping up that pot of gumbo, maybe try thickening it with okra instead of your usual file powder.  If you’re not having much luck using SEM for online commerce, maybe social media can be more efficient.  It’s jazz – learn to improvise – oh, and Go Big Blue!

 

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December 14, 2012 · 10:10 am

Simple Isn’t

For our Foodie Friday Fun this week, let me ask you to put on your food critic hat.

English: Roasted chicken Español: Pollo asado

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When you try out a new restaurant, and assuming it’s not an unusual cuisine, what dish do you look for on the menu to test the kitchen’s cooking skills?  For me the answer is always a roasted chicken.  That’s right – plain, roasted chicken, the simpler the better.  My thinking is this:  nothing simple is ever easy.  If you’ve ever done roasted chicken, it’s tremendously difficult to present a perfect dish.  The breast meat moist, the thigh properly cooked, the skin crisp.  There are different densities and cooking times for all of them.  Overcooking the bird can ruin it; undercooking it can ruin you for several days.

One of the most simple foods in terms of preparation has to be sushi.  It’s just sliced fish and rice.  Why, then, does it take years to train a sushi chef?  Candidates will do nothing but make rice for years to start their training.  Simple – not easy. Yakitori is grilled meat on a stick but perfection is elusive.  Try to turn out perfect soft-boiled eggs.  The yolk cooks before the white yet we want the opposite to occur to get them perfectly soft-boiled.  Simple, not easy.  Which is the business point as well.

It’s incredibly difficult to do some of the most simple tasks well.  Deliver a succinct talk that leaves the audience feeling as if they’ve really learned something completely.  Explain your business in under a minute – a great elevator pitch.  Run an efficient meeting with exactly the right people in the room, no more, no less.  When hiring, many great chefs ask the candidate to make them something very simple – an omelet or scrambled eggs – that is often very difficult to get just right.  We should steal that notion – ask candidates to do something “simple” like having them explain their current job to you completely, and briefly.

Thoreau challenged us to simplify because we’re too caught up in detail.  As we do, just as with the roasted chicken, there are no places littered with detail in which to hide (read that a fancy sauces, seasonings, stuffings, etc. for the chicken!).   Simple isn’t simple.  It’s often complicated, and more often than not that complexity is hard.  The great cooks – and business  people – just make it seem simple and great at the same time.

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December 7, 2012 · 10:55 am

Eating In Silence

It’s Foodie Friday time, and since it’s also Pearl Harbor Day I have Japan on my mind.

Tonkotsu ramen

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s interesting how in the 71 years since that infamous day so many things Japanese have become a part of our American culture.  One of these is ramen, the diet staple of so many college students and budding entrepreneurs   We’re used to pre-packaged noodles and overly salty broth.  In Japan, it’s another food altogether  and ramen culture is a big deal.  There are festivals to celebrate the various styles of ramen and if you ever have the opportunity to visit a restaurant where fresh ramen of various types is served, go.  I’d recommend finding a place that specializes in the dish and not just a Japanese place that serves ramen along with other types of Japanese food.

There is a place outside of Tokyo called 69 ‘N Roll One that specializes in the dish.  What makes it an interesting subject today is that the owner has a few rules, the biggest of which is that you must eat in total silence.  Don’t talk to someone you’re with (you probably won’t be sitting next to them anyway – it’s first come first served at counter seating).  Don’t use your phone. Don’t even read.  You’ll be eating ramen in total silence.  According to people who’ve eaten there, what is at first an extremely weird experience becomes contemplative as you become intensely focused on every bite.  Which is the business point today.

How often do we clear our mind of distractions and really focus on something?  We’re always wondering if there’s new email.  Our other projects are dancing around in the back of our minds.  Maybe we have music on as we work.  We’re all so used to multitasking that calming our minds – shutting down the other windows that are open on our mental desktops – is a rarity these days.  Maybe it’s something we need to try more often?  Just as with this bowl of ramen, the subtleties hidden by the distractions get a chance to come out.  The quick, often superficial thoughts we have on things give way to more complex impressions.  Can that be a bad thing?

Try it tonight while you’re eating.  Turn off the TV, turn down the music, and don’t speak.  How does the food taste?   Maybe it’s something you can try in the office too?  Then let us know your impressions.

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