The Menu Puzzle

by | Mar 25, 2016

David Thornton, Chef of the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter at the University of Arkansas, shares with us what it’s like to create a menu for a group of individuals with varying tastes, wants, needs, and of course, opinions!  Think about your own menu planning and how it is challenging to cook for yourself or a small family.  Now, throw in another 50-plus young man and think about what each meal means.  Here is a little bit into his world from “The Chef’s Eye View: The Menu Puzzle.”

Chef’s Eye View:  The Menu Puzzle

We, chefs and unit managers, want to give our clients the food they love while giving serious thought to both health and variety. Making sure the house members love the food is my number one priority. However, adding in the cultivation of palates, introducing new flavors, and designing a menu can get complicated. Creating a weekly menu is a lot like putting together a puzzle.

Luckily, we have The Crave Sheet. This single piece of paper posted outside the kitchen has been invaluable to me as a chef. The guys list out all those home-cooked favorites they’re missing, and I use them as the base of my menu puzzle. Lasagna on Monday very effortlessly segues into a fried chicken breast sandwich on Tuesday, leading easily to a pulled pork dinner Tuesday night. I can very easily find enough meals from one crave sheet to put together a week’s menu, and it always makes me smile when I get to work, check the crave sheet, and someone has already posted that they want “More Chicken Alfredo. It was dank!”

However, while I could pile on all the comforting favorites from home, I still like to mix things up. After all, there are only so many times we can have barbecue pulled pork. So, to help me find new pieces of the puzzle, I look around at the restaurants around campus. The Hawaiian restaurant down the street might offer a fresh take on the famous pulled pork. A favorite Italian eatery might offer a pasta dish that has yet to be posted on the crave sheet, and I haven’t thought about it.

Sometimes, I throw in one of my favorites and hope the guys like it as much as I do. My jambalaya was one of those items I gave a shot at, and it paid off big time. Jambalaya has even opened the door for the Spanish classic dish Paella. I like to make these little bridges to new cuisine as often as possible. It can be as simple as introducing an unusual cheese to the salad bar or a unique style of cuisine for a nightly dinner. Educating the palates of my guys is an integral part of their college career. So, I gladly keep putting together my weekly puzzle of meals full of the comforts of home and new favorites.

Sometimes, I even try new dishes I’ve never had before. Recently, one of my house members posted a web link to a recipe. It was a simple casserole dish that he was craving, and I couldn’t resist putting it on my following menu. The house gained a new favorite home-cooked meal, and I got a new recipe to add to my collection—what a great way to work, teach and learn with the guys.

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