Monday, December 12, 2005

More Salmon in the Pickle




More Salmon down in the Pickle!


 



Well seems the salmon is getting so popular that we have to continually
produce the stuff. In to plunk a mess of it down this weekend and then
set it to smoke on Sunday. Stopped in to taste it today. I love this
product. So easy, so much value added it is incredible. Not so much for
the salmon taste (which is excellent) but for the fact that our
competitors have to match our offer of including cured smoked salmon in
their quotes against us. I know what I make it for and I know what they
have to buy it for from a purveyor! And it just tickles me to death to
arrange for them to make a lot less money then us on a catering. We are
not large enough to cover all the caterings in the area, but we are
smart enough to make sure our competitors are working their collective
butts off for a lot less money.



Was in early this morning and Al (Big Dog Chef) was doing his master
finish to the cured hams. He pulls the hide and cross hatches the fat
layer. Then paints on a glaze and braise it to a caramel. Unfreakin
believable how damn good he has made these hams. I always thought they
we great just carved but this adds another dimension. (Al is also stingy
about his glaze recipe, even to me.) plus our competitors come to C2C to
have a look at what we are up to so we can not post it. Anyway this is
another example of the value added focus that gives us the edge on a
competitor.



Received a nice cookbook from Moselle, what a nice thing to do, I really
really appreciate it!



I really want to point out that I added a Maytag blue cheese to my
cheese cave! For the price it is very nice and you can make money with
it.





I am ordering in a crown roast or two, I have an idea for a new dinner
menu, I want to cure one crown roast into ham, then do the second one as
roast pork. Then I would like to plate a ham chop and pork chop
together. But the pork chop will be finish in Fennel and the other
spices that make up my hot Ike sausage. I think with mashers and roaster
carrots maybe diced roasted butternut squash this would play for a
corporate event. I don't know, I will order the stuff and make it for
the crew for lunch see what the reaction is like. More on this as the
recipe development continues!



Had to go in Sunday for a while to put my own shoulders and hams into
the pickle. I had a pig butchered in August and did the freeze trig kill
thing to them. So they are pumped and in the pickle. I am going to ham
steak these for the house. I like a real good ham steak for dinner.



I will not be on the prowl again until this Friday and Saturday. Friday
is the standard 6 caterings so no big deal just a lot of prep and
cooking. Then Saturday a 300 plus serve for Dinner, I also think there
is a couple lunches and another dinner Saturday. So a relatively easy
weekend compared to this past weekend. Be nice to be in under more mild
stress conditions.



We have a problem in that our Wedding dates are mostly gone for the
summer. I don't know what we are going to book at the wedding show. Most
people know they need to book us almost a year out for summer weddings.
It may be time to raise prices again to slow it down a little.



About all from here, son's jazz band concert tonight, so that will be
nice.



Talk at you later!


Chef Bob Ballantyne

The Cowboy and The Rose Catering

Grand Junction, Colorado, USA

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