Sweet Salt Lake

With vast swaths of the Wasatch mountain range in view at almost all times during the Art of Catering Food in Salt Lake City, one might think the breathtaking distraction could prove too alluring for even the most serious of attendees. But instead, this rugged backdrop was patently neglected as hundreds of AOCF attendees networked, sampled, learned, and then reluctantly departed—but with the best of parting gifts: (no, not just bacon)—knowledge! Sponsored by Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, All Seated, American Metalcraft, Inc., Bamboo Studio, Bottles & Wood, Cambro, Chef Rubber, Edibles by Jack, EMI Yoshi, Fresh Origins, Mercer Culinary, SternoCandleLamp, and Total Party Planner, this conference was one for the record books. Here are some highlights of this very action-packed conference.

A full day intensive

Prior to the start of the full conference, Catersource and the ICA offered a mini taste of things to come: the Culinary Hands-on full day intensive, a first for the Art of Catering Food. Bringing over 75 rapt students to the Utah Valley University Culinary Arts Institute for four classes: Butchery & Charcuterie; Technology in the Kitchen; Wow Desserts that Work for Caterers; and Vegan, Vegetarian & Gluten-free Menu Items, the intensive was presented round robin-style with students split into four groups.

Myriad topics were discussed and displayed, from new techniques in sous vide cooking (which Catersource predicted in January 2015 to become more important…and yes, it is) to compiling mini desserts with a seemingly endless combination of flavors, textures, and colors; watching a butchery demonstration, and having a hand at bacon curing; and being up to the elbows in mushrooms, tres leches cake, and Thai coconut quinoa for a class that pretty much ensured Meatless Mondays are thing of the past. Welcome, Meatless Months!

Chefs from all over the US mingled and discussed various concepts and ideas over the lunch hour, featuring a delicious buffet made by UVU students, then got back to business for the remainder of the afternoon. A very full day.

It’s not enough to create recipes that are “great” for vegetarians, vegans, and those who eat gluten-free, said Chef Stuart Stein, CEC. “We as chefs need to create great recipes that just happen to be vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free.” Leaving out meat protein or the gluten is a crucial parameter in developing these recipes, but the defining factors should be taste and flavor, said the chef.

Class participants garnish the vegan and gluten-free Black Bean-Yuca Cakes with Mango-Habanero Mustard, Charred Tomato Salsa, and Baby Arugula in Chef Stein’s class.

Chef Meghan Roddy, CEPC, discussed considerations when planning dessert verrines, including possible components, textures, custards, garnishes, and benefits in her “Wow Desserts” seminar. Here, attendees experimented with various and delicious dessert combinations.

One of the scrumptous concoctions developed in Chef Roddy’s seminar.

Innovative cooking solutions to speed up work in the kitchen, allow faster plating, and keep waste to a minimum (such as freeze dried broccoli) were some of the terrific ideas discussed by Chef Todd Leonard, CEC, in the Technology seminar.

Freeze dried foods make it easy to enhance flavor, texture and color—but also cut waste, labor, and storage. Here, Marriott Hotel’s Jackie Dodart works with freeze dried coconut, mango, tomatoes, and strawberries.

You could smell this class before you saw it: Chef Peter Sproul discussed cold smoked salmon, confit, and rillette, and even “cure your own bacon” for participants to take home after the end of the conference.

Chef Sproul sliced a variety of smoked meat samples (bacon, duck, chicken) for the class.

Bright & early

Monday morning marked the beginning of the official AOCF2015 conference, with remarks from Catersource Ambassador Bill Pannhoff, Education Director Linda West, and Catersource Brand Director Ron Bigley, among others. Then, the seminars began on floors four and six, focusing on a variety of topics. Here’s a look:

The ever-delightful Bill Pannhoff greeted the attendees on the fourth floor and commended everyone on their choice to continue their educations at AOCF.

Innovation Chef Jenna Johansen and Executive Chef Rachanee Keovorabouth opened the conference with Out of the Box Salad Ideas on the culinary stage, while upstairs on the learning stage Sandy Hammer, CMO, discussed Developing Your Social Media Brand. Her advice: “Your industry cries out for photos. Take a photo of the raw space, then two hours later show it set, then take a final photo during the party, Show a story to your clientele.”

“If your menu item has a lot of fat in it, pickled mustard seeds are a perfect complement, add a nice crunch, and are a great looking garnish,” said Chef Cade Nagy, while discussing new menu ideas using mustard.

Executive Chef Jeff Snow of Catering Creations, with his sous chef, David Rooney, deconstructed the Premonition party presented at CSES2015. Rooney prepared the Baja Tuna Street Taco served at the event, while Snow, left, discussed the importance of early site visits.

Backstage, Chef Ashley Santo Domingo prepped samples of the dish.

Finally, while Rooney was creating the taco dish onstage, attendees were served a sample.

“Panera Bread has over 1,900 locations. Whenever you see a truck—they’re delivering. That could be you—that should be you,” said Michael Rosman, right, during the Fresh Ideas for Drop-off Catering seminar. Also shown: Jim Israel

Afternoon excursions

On Monday afternoon, participants could select from three options: Taste of Utah, to learn about local honey, cheese, and charcuterie; a cultural walking tour of Salt Lake City that included both cultural and culinary offerings; or to hit the road for a culinary tour including the new Culinary Crafts facility, as well as to the Timpanogos Harley Davidson retail facility to tour Utah Food Service mobile kitchens, plus the Marley’s Gourmet Sliders food trucks.

Utah Food Service food trucks and employees greeted attendees in the expansive Harley Davidson parking lot with mini cocktails (who says Utah doesn’t serve alcohol?!), s’mores poppers, reuben puffs, and mini Chicago dogs.

Cambro’s Cathy Vu toured the inside of one of the larger trucks, which can accommodate serving up to 2,000 when working at full capacity.

Attendees sampled from the Marley’s Gourmet Sliders food trucks, the brainchild of Chef Marco Niccoli, who also talked to the group in detail about his new venture.

Executive chef David Robinson (back, right) discussed the many fresh and local ingredients used at Culinary Crafts, before offering guests of the facility tastes of the bounty.

Heidi Brice of Puff ‘n Stuff toured the new storage area at Culinary Crafts.

Even in the blistering Utah heat, hardly anyone could resist the siren song of fresh cronuts being prepared on the spot in the back lot of Culinary Crafts.

Tuesday: a full day!

The next morning, attendees hit the learning hard with a full day of seminars on both the learning and culinary stages, along with the premier lunch event: The Great Plate Up Race.

Chef Ashley Santo Domingo showed a unique idea for a chef action station.

During seminar breaks, attendees gathered around sponsor tables to learn about the various available products.

Backstage, the production line for seminar food sampling was always busy.

The team at Daniel et Daniel, Bonnie Kravitz (left) and Hillary Brown (right), discussed Beyond Crème Brulee, a fascinating discussion regarding how “old desserts are new again,” and how to update these desserts for a new clientele.

The Great Plate Up Race began with a crude drawing scribbled and taped to a concrete pillar inside the open air second floor of Rice Eccles Stadium.

Sea bass, broccolini, roasted potatoes, and a lovely fresh garnish were on tap for the lunch with Roy Porter and Elgin Woodman as team captains.

The plates began to stack up.

Giddy-Yap!: Boots, Buckles & BBQ party

This Is The Place was definitely the place to be on Tuesday night when close to 300 people rocked their best western wear at Boots, Buckles & BBQ, an ace-high hoedown that started out a little wet, but cleared in a most magnificent way to reveal a crystal clear night sky and rain-kissed mountain air.

Guests began their high west journey at the thatched roof Bowery, where astounding entrées kept everyone well fed. While the Ugly Valley Boys entertained the crowd, additional options, such as bucking bronco riding and lasso twirling—even a shoot out—kept things lively.

As the night began to soften, guests moseyed down to The Garden Place on the property for dessert, a photo booth, line dancing, and great conversation.

Culinary Crafts staff greeted arriving guests with a selection of Utah craft beers, such as Polygamy Porter from Wasatch Brewery and Uinta Cutthroat Pale Ale. Mountain Manhattans, Sugar House Mule and other spirited (and non-spirited) beverages were also an option.

Signage was propped up against bright cowboy boots placed atop bandanna-style tablecloths.

Chef torched and ancho rubbed grassfed Utah beef tri-tip with herb, pine nut, and onion relish along with farro, arugula, and dried Utah cherries with a buttermilk and Utah applewood smoked bacon dressing

Charcoal grilled Rocky Mountain trout with Utah green apple relish, roasted Utah summer squash and zucchini, shaved beehive cheddar, and brown sage butter

Spectacle on the spit. Guests were able to enjoy the spectacle of meat being hand turned and torched on a spit before being sliced for service.

Pulled Snake River pork shoulder with blood orange BBQ sauce was served with house-made cornbread muffins and Utah honey butter. A fresh salad with local greens, Utah apricots, plums, pistachios, and goat feta was served with ginger chili pepper dressing.

Ride ‘em cowgirl! Mary Crafts shows everyone how bronco riding is done in Utah, before offering up the saddle for others to try their luck.

ICA members Ken Barrett, Paul Larson, Karen O’Connor, and Melissa Chickerneo

Later in the evening, line dancing lessons.

Wednesday wrap up

The conference began a bit later in the morning to give all of the attendee cowpokes a little bit of sleep-in time after the party the night before. The day began with a Food Trend Round Robin that kept groups on the go, rotating every 30 minutes through four varied presentations.

At midday, a buffet lunch was served and then all attendees combined for the final three large group sessions and a day ending cocktail party with near panoramic views of the mountain range from the sixth floor of Rice Eccles Stadium. Yes, finally, everyone had time to enjoy the scenery as they networked, sipped, and nibbled on a variety of pub-style snacks and libations and said their goodbyes.

The picnic lunch buffet had something for everyone, including tasty watermelon, tri color slaw, kale potato salad, BBQ brisket with tomato chutney, grilled chicken with house BBQ sauce, and black bean, corn, and jicama salad.

Moderated by Jack Milan, chefs Todd Annis (Georgia), Melissa Tibben (Nebraska), and Jack Jacobs (Florida) discussed a variety of food trends seen in their areas of the country.

Closing speaker Chef Peter Sproul talked about how to take a plate presentation from ordinary to award-winning with WOW Presentations for Plating and Profit, exhibiting before and after platings.

The after conference cocktail party brought everyone together for one last networking connection.

Geri Allred, The Picnic Basket; Rachel LaPorte, A Thyme to Cook; Stewart Lane, Lon Lane’s Inspired Occasions at the cocktail reception

Brett and Sue Carlisle, Straight to the Plate Catering

Thank you to all of our sponsors