Monday, September 14, 2015

cookin' at work...

... a pretty easy recipe that seems to be a roaring success with customers. I made it five times yesterday. And will make it another five times today. Plus three more on Tuesday afternoon.

I never did taste it: a cow is involved. Not much interested in eating beef, though I will scarf down a Wendy burger after I give a pint of blood every eight weeks - only time I even remotely have a craving for red meat.

This one also has 'fried rice', after a fashion. Using the quick/minute version of brown rice, cooked in chicken stock with soy sauce and diced garlic added. When it gets about half-done, you add diced red bell pepper, diced green/spring onion and a cup of frozen green peas. The texture, due to the instant-ness of the par-boiled rice is a bit different, but under the meat and sauce is a passable version of what you would get in an oriental/asian eatery. Plus it's ready in about ten minutes. Hard to beat!

The meat 'stir fry' starts off with bite size pieces of beef, sauteed in oil with garlic and ginger. Then you add some flavorings, mixed with chicken stock and cornstarch to make a sauce.  You will have to look up the ingredients and amounts, as I forgot to bring the recipe home. Serve over the rice that was sitting absorbing the liquid while you were getting the beef part ready. I did taste the rice: pretty good. But though it smelled wonderful, and lured customers in with a delightful aroma as soon as they walked in the door, following their noses to the cooking demo., I could not make myself put the cow in my mouth.

According to instructions, the entire prep time is 25 minutes. I have probably written here that the premise for the cooking demo is 'bring your family back to the table'. And nearly all of the recipes I've seen are things you can have ready to serve in half an hour.

In talking to a customer recently, I found that this idea of recipe/demonstration/sampling was happening years ago at a grocery chain in FL. I'd been wondering about the origin. And think that the corporation I work for bought some of those other stores and converted them. So apparently adapted the idea of developing and sampling a full meal. It is a great marketing idea/strategy: everything you need to make a complete meal,right there in one convenient place. Home made rather than take out/fast food. Or hotdogs again. Or frozen pizza again. For a harried, stressed, frazzled parent to feed the family, have it ready to sit at the table and eat in about thirty minutes.

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