conception

When you are a young cook you look forward to at work is to learn something new and create. I used to receive what we called a "black box" basically an assortment of proteins and vegetables etc to create menu items. You would go write down your menus and start creating and the most important thing is to keep these over your career. I constantly go back to my old menus to see how I have evolved as a cook through the creation and presentation of the food. Last week was the first photo shoot for the company and though due to finances we didn’t get a chance to really get in depth with the concepts the food did look pretty good and felt that it did match up.

With the pictures about to hit the editing room I have had a chance now to really be critical of the items and their presentations to switch things up the next time. It is what keeps chefs ahead of the curve. You really have to do the development not only to keep your staff interested but to keep you wanting to go to work everyday.

Check out ArtisanalPalate.com as the company’s profile and website progress.

Slainte,

Shawn Murphy

New Territory

The restaurants for many years have been my home and practically where I have slept. Working for various bars and catering companies it is very hard to recreate the romance of the kitchen. Its just beautifully chaotic and if your good it looks like a dance with just more yelling. Now two weeks into the new venture of running a high school cafeteria it is apparent that this is another animal and still far from the restaurant.

Trying to create healthier and better food options for students is not a nightmare but it definitely is a challenge. Artisanal Palate took over the contract September 1st and has been working on the way students eat. Jean Vanier L'Ecole Secondaire is an all french school located in Welland and from what I have learned so far they are much more of a challenge then if it were my old high school Governor Simcoe. The first few days were obviously full of cries of not having any deep fried foods. Slowly I am able to work in food that is healthier such as fajitas and stir fry's with items like fresh pizza and burgers that are of much better quality then what they would normally eat. The costing has been a challenge with few kids coming to the cafeteria at the time but we are optimistic that things will turn around shortly as more and more students try the food and we start companing for them to see what is going on. So far all the feed back from the students has been great except for the odd "what no fries!" comments.


The company is now employing one part-timer and has two apprentices so hopefully business on all fronts will pick up and I can use the assets more. A student approached me today about the possibility of adding in some lessons for kids so starting September 30th there will be an after school culinary program starting that will involve not only how to cook but how to cook and purchase smart. This will teach kids that you can actually eat healthy and well for little money as I had to learn as well in college. I may turn this into another initiative in the future running a 3 week culinary course in august for kids about to go off to school.

There is a lot happening behind the scenes right now with many proposals being made up and the website is going through its last phases. It's almost time to start making some noise and bring the whole company profile to the public.

all the best and regular updates will be coming very shortly,

Slainte,

Shawn Murphy