SugarCreek: Brandworthy Food Solutions

Sous vide cooking offers a greater level of control than chefs have ever enjoyed before when cooking. And, developing new sous vide recipes can be exciting for both you and your guests. But, in your enthusiasm, there are a few tasting tips to abide by to avoid ruining your new dish.

Perform a general search for "recipes" on the Internet and you are more than likely be inundated with many recipes using sous vide—a cooking technique that is rapidly changing the way Americans prepare and serve food both at home and in the restaurant kitchen.

If you're after smoky, savory, fall off the bone ribs, then sous vide cooking— slow cooking vacuum-packed foods under a heated water bath— is the way to go. The sous vide method will help you to achieve incredible texture and consistency throughout the meat and will reduce your prep costs by saving energy.

The potential advantages of sous-vide (a French term meaning "under vacuum") cooking are great: you get great flavor, better texture and can lower your energy consumption and reduce waster, all while you enjoy chef-prepared foods. And because sous-vide foods are prepackaged under vacuum seal, they enjoy a particularly long shelf life— as in canned foods, there's no oxygen in the package to catalyze an aerobic decay process.

Since 1994, the National Restaurant Association has set aside September to focus on food safety issues such as cross-contamination risks, time-temperature control and hygiene.

Are diners at your restaurant in San Diego enjoying the same delicious meals as the diners at the Boston-based location of your restaurant?

When you run a food brand that operates nationally, or internationally, it's critical that customers have the same experience from location to location. For a restaurateur, few things are as frustrating as having diners love your food at one place and then be disappointed by their experience at another– or, worse, have such a negative experience with a meal that they never visit any other locations again.

If the mainline of your brand is ready-to-eat meals, your food innovation team is likely always on the hunt for ways to bring fresher, faster food to your consumers without compromising taste or safety.

No conclusive evidence has been discovered that would link food served by a Minnesota Applebee’s restaurant franchise to an E. coli outbreak (specifically the E. coli 0111 strain). But after the Minnesota Department of Health discovered that a dozen of the infected individuals had eaten at the same location, the restaurant chain has decided to take action in anticipation of consumer fears over tainted food. 

Food service is all about the trends, but is the need to be creative getting in the way of the basics? 

For a dish to work, the eating experience must be well-rounded. The success of new trends in food service has as much to do with practical application, appearance and texture as it does with taste. Both your regular diners and veteran foodies looking for the next great meal want the total package not a wildly inventive dish that’s full of promise but fails to satisfy.

Consider the following scenarios.

Competition is fierce in the food service industry. To gain an edge over your rivals, you need to focus on fulfilling popular eating trends and finding ways to be faster, fresher, and more flavorful than the competition. One great option is cooking sous vide– an easy way to meet the needs of evolving American eating habits that demand fresher, faster food.

If you’re new to sous vide, it’s natural to wonder exactly what sous vide is and how it works.