Michigan State Week 6

Tuesday, July 5 

Today was dedicated all to testing commissary products with our recipes. We divided and conquered 4 of the 5 recipes left from our tentative list. A lot of the recipes have an international kick to them, which is also a part of the requirements to the project. I appreciate Asian, Indian, and Spanish cuisine, so finding recipes that taste good was the easy part. The more troubling part becomes an issue when we make a gorgeous sesame chicken salad, but are worried about how well it will keep in the refrigerator. Alternatively, we discussed grilling or baking instead of breading the chicken with flour and sesame seeds. On a positive note, the spinach pear salad, chicken satay, and Mediterranean orzo salad were a hit! Dana spent her time perfecting the cauliflower rice since we were missing a couple of key ingredients from Friday. It turned out as the best dish! My favorite part of recipe development was tasting and hearing the critique from Chef Kurt and his interns. They are so experienced and I am so happy to be working with them!

Sesame chicken salad

Wednesday, July 6

Today we piled into the van and headed north for Ferris State University in Big Rapids, MI. We were greeted by our NACUFS friends, Brenda, Rachel and Annabella. They took us on a tour of the Quad, Starbucks, the athletic facilities, and optometry school. In between a fabulous tour, we stopped to eat lunch at the Rock Cafe where most of the action took place. It sat in the midst of residence halls making it convenient to eat for students. My favorite part of the day was watching the hockey team run a camp for grade school kids. They looked so small compared to the big college players, but could definitely keep up with their drills. The best view of the arena was from the top of the president's box. You didn't even need to turn your head!  

Hockey camp

 Ferris State impressed us a lot. Their dining facilities in the Quad had a joint all you can eat buffet and retail dining court. It was split down the middle by birch trees and the entire design was inspired by the beauties of Northern Michigan. Lori our tour guide was the one who made decisions on all the decor, dishware, and overall atmosphere.

Lunches on display

As a parting gift, Ferris State gave us an amazing goodie bag filled with granola bars, water, a stuffed bulldog mascot, and dining brochures. It was so sweet of them to put those together for us! I loved having snacks for the car ride home! 

Thoughtful goodie bag

 Thursday, July 7

Today was an exciting day at the MSU Dairy Store! We suited up in white lab coats and blue hairnets and entered the raw room where all the milk and cream were stored. There were a myriad of pipes and silver vats that controlled the temperature of the dairy products. We moved into the production hall where we watched students bag sour cream and fill ice cream tubs. We were able to try the fresh ice cream straight from the nozzle! It was toffee flavored, my favorite!

Fresh ice cream

Around lunchtime, we headed back to Akers for a hall cooking competition. 7 teams competed to make the best tasting dish. Dana and I were lucky to judge many of the meals. My favorite was the stuffed pizza 3 ways and that team won! Dana enjoyed the Mediterranean feta salad; it was also very tasty. All of the dishes were plated so nicely, it was hard to judge on presentation. I certainly was full after trying all the creations.

Latin burgers

 

Dill bread sanwiches

After lunch, we joined the chef inters at McDonel to put the finishing touches on our project. Little did we know that the last dish would end in complete failure. For anyone’s future cooking endeavors, do not attempt to steam sweet potatoes and then cook them into a hash. It turns to unhappy baby food. To our surprise, Chef Kurt loved the concept and created his version of a sweet potato salad. I’m glad we could add inspiration to many of the new meals!

Friday, July 8

Oh boy, this was a busy day! We began the morning at food stores where we saw all the food that enters MSU’s campus. They were in operation when we arrived so we had to pay attention and be alert to moving palates. We saw the dry storage, cooler and freezer. We were spared the wind tunnel tour since it was the coldest part of the facility. Food stores is responsible for all the food that makes it to the dining halls and even smaller accounts that need bulk orders. It was pretty cool to hear that their success rate in assembling correct orders was nearly perfect.

Dry storage

The bakery was attached to food stores so our next stop was to tour the sweetest place on campus. I enjoyed learning about the fluidity of production. Ingredients were stored at the very beginning of the line and packaging took place closest to the loading docks. In between were mixers, cookie and bagel machines, preparation stations, and ovens. We moved into the decorating room where we met a highly valued employee. The decorators have to make sure all of the decorated cakes, cookies, and pies turn out identical. Customers as important as the president of the university have ordered and expect perfection. That puts a lot of pressure to do well!

 

Bagel roller

Spirit cookies

After the tours, we scooted over to the student organic farm. The best part was seeing the chicks and pigs. We had to click and whistle at them to get their attention if we wanted to pet them, of course! Some of the students offered for us to try the spicy arugula that they were harvesting. I am a huge arugula fan!

 

Student Organic Farm

Towards the end of the day, we met with the culinary sustainability team and they showed us the Surplus store, recycling, and the Bailey greenhouse. The Surplus store reminded me of a Goodwill where students could pick up affordable gems! The Bailey greenhouse was another highlight because they have a minor on campus called RISE that manages the growth. RISE also offers residents to grab a bucket of red worms so they can decompose waste in their dorm rooms! We met the student head and she sold us some herbal tea. It felt so good knowing where our product lives! Bailey hall sits in the Brody complex. It was renovated 6 years ago and had all environmental issues solved to a T. They added as many windows as possible for natural lighting, the carpet was cut into squares so it’s easy to replace, and the building exposed its structure so that unnecessary materials were saved. I hope that more and more universities jump onboard with environmental solutions so we do not create unwanted waste. I have learned that there is a use for just about everything and it is interesting to find the material’s place.

Bailey greenhouse