Chefs Up the Creativeness to Keep Down the Costs.
Posted: December 13, 2012 at 11:31 am
With Christmas on the horizon – we all know how time flies, many chefs are using their imaginations with Christmas menus in order to remain profitable this year without compromising on the quality.
According to the Office of National Statistics, ingredients used in a traditional Christmas dinner have risen by an average of seven percent on last year. Turkey, cauliflower and peas are all up more than three percent, whilst gammon and back bacon up by six-teen percent.
So what can you do if you are worried about price increases impacting on profit margins but do not want to compromise the quality of the food you are cooking? You can still use key Christmas ingredients, but why not try adding a twist?!
You can maximize portions of expensive meat, such as goose by making it into a terrine starter rather than serving it as a main. Up your in-house capabilities and cure your own bacon as this will certainly help to cut costs. You could even create ‘bite size Christmas dinners’ and serve four miniature meals, adding to the traditional dishes salmon and steak & kidney pie.
As a chef, whilst this is a hurdle to overcome, I look at it as an opportunity to search for under-used and more interesting ingredients and to cut wastage in everyway I can.
