Week 2
Monday, 8th
We started off the week finishing our last assignment. It took until nearly the end of the day to collect the list of Brands and Manufacturers missing from Eatec, but we did it. No fun on this day, just good ol' fashioned hard work.
Tuesday, 9th
Tuesday is when the fun began. We got to begin a week of recipe testing. We arrived early at Calhoun Dining Hall, and the cooks let us help by breading the chicken.
There were 6 kinds of marinade (from the top: Tijuana {cant see well}, Pesto, Thai chili, Smoked BBQ, Honey Siracha, and Buffalo) and they all had the same panko breading. The following task of tasting while comparing took effort.
We made this sheet and printed out enough for the few people coming down to do the testing, maybe 10 or 12 people. There was some light joking and fun, but it was abundantly clear that these guys were here working, they knew what they were looking for.
When all was said and done, the clear winner was the Buffalo marinaded Tenders.
What I did not expect today was shortly after these pictures were taken on my phone, the manager of the DH (Jeff) handed me a very expensive looking camera and told me to take lots of pictures. And I did. I may have had too much fun with this part, but I know I got some good shots and it may lead me to consider getting my own.
There were 6 kinds of marinade (from the top: Tijuana {cant see well}, Pesto, Thai chili, Smoked BBQ, Honey Siracha, and Buffalo) and they all had the same panko breading. The following task of tasting while comparing took effort.
We made this sheet and printed out enough for the few people coming down to do the testing, maybe 10 or 12 people. There was some light joking and fun, but it was abundantly clear that these guys were here working, they knew what they were looking for.
When all was said and done, the clear winner was the Buffalo marinaded Tenders.
What I did not expect today was shortly after these pictures were taken on my phone, the manager of the DH (Jeff) handed me a very expensive looking camera and told me to take lots of pictures. And I did. I may have had too much fun with this part, but I know I got some good shots and it may lead me to consider getting my own.
Wednesday, 10th
Wednesday led us back to Calhoun for day 2 of recipe testing. Today was some of their stir fried recipes, with many Asian inspired food dishes.
This day was more calm, with maybe 5 or 6 people showing up for recipe testing.
Thursday, 11th
The last day in Calhoun, but certainly not the least: Burger Day!
There were a few experiments done, including a commonly used techique of adding mushroom Duxelle to burgers to add to the mass in a healthier way than extra meat. The pureed Duxelle looked a bit odd and it was crumbly, but the true Duxelle was the masterpiece of a burger; it held its moisture and it still had good flavor. The newly crowned "Yale Burgers" are going to be an instant hit!
There were also tests on raw vs. cooked garlic for their steak fries and grilled/baked salmon.
Friday, 12th
Friday there was a special office party for all the people in our building (Administration, Registrar, etc) and catering blew our minds!
The dessert display was especially amazing. If Riley wasn't there to watch me, I'd have made a pig of myself. And that's a lot coming from a guy with a Bachelors in Nutrition
Simply Gorgeous.
In the end, I just wanted to try a little bit of everything, so my tasting plate looked a bit much. It was a good day spent in the sun.
Week 3
Monday and Tuesday, 15th and 16th
On Monday and Tuesday, we spent the entirety of the day at ESM Dining Complex (Ezra Stiles and Morse Colleges combined their dining facilities. We stuck with the General Manager, Marie, and it was very informative. I've worked in Dining Halls for years, but to see how everything was ran and how different things were was an amazing experience. My Cohort I'm sure also learned tons from working in the facility.
Unfortunately, most of the pictures I took from these days were boring, just notes on their Gluten Free Setup and their shelving which may be a future project for me and Mr. Maynard.
One of my favorite things about Morse College is that their mascot is a Walrus.
Beautiful and strong, especially with the Axe.
Wednesday, 17th
Wednesday we started a different task in the office: The Equipment Manual. We've been sorting and organizing the things that they use at the CSC (Culinary Support Center) and this upcoming week we'll be there with sleeves rolled up actually working with this equipment.
These two salads are examples of the composed salads that the produce at the CSC for all the Dining Halls throughout the year. The idea being a centralized location for all the cold-prep foods would save on time and resources. As this is still a very new building (about a year old), we have been given the task to organize the equipment into a manual containing its manufacturing and cleaning info. At the suggestion of one of the many brilliant minds here at Yale Dining, we will be sorting into two categories, cleaning and manufacturing info, for our final draft.
Thursday, 18th
On Thursday, we celebrated 2 birthdays in the office! The rest of the day was spent working on the Equipment Manual as well as starting a new task.
Friday, 19th
Friday was the first of our UnCommon Market days! (The Commons being one of the largest, most Hogwarts-ish Dining Halls I've ever been to). The marketplace was held outside the dining hall and had fresh, local produce only to be sold to Yale employees.
The pre-setup
As the Interns, we are the ones that are going to be helping run this for the remaining Fridays we're here. According to past visitors, this was a very problematic setup where the line would be 30 minutes long and people weren't happy. This year, we set up a sort of walk-in-receipt system where Riley and I would hand all who entered a slip of paper with all the products on it and people would write what they brought. It was environmentally conscious with people bringing their own reusable bags, although we did hear complaints about the waste of paper as well as the size of the font that will hopefully improve next time.
After the Market, we finished the task of going through and updating the previous weeks' manufacturer's spreadsheet to include our revisions to Eatec. The past few weeks have blown by, as evidenced by this blogpost being uploaded a week late. I will attempt to get next weeks up in time, with the added bonus that I will be taking more pictures and notes for the sole purpose of this blog.
Thank you, again, all who managed to read through this. My name is Taylor McNair.
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