By: Sammy Koterwas & Josh Naumann
With food service as our final internship rotation, we were
extremely excited to plan our theme meal. While other partner pairs were given
the ability to choose their theme, we were given the task to bring Italian cuisine
to Riderwood. This worked to the advantage of both sides of production; interns
were able to spend more time in the kitchen practicing our culinary skills,
while kitchen staff felt more confident aiding in the preparation of familiar
recipes.
Although we were given our Italian recipes, through
“taste-testing” we were able to adjust ingredient amounts, as well as put our
signature on dishes. While testing our lemon and chive risotto, we decided to
put a spin on the original recipe. We first formed our finished risotto into
cake patties. We then fried half them on the griddle, and baked the other half
the oven. All cooks were then given a chance to taste both versions of our
risotto cakes. The fried version on the griddle won unanimously, and the new
recipe was then incorporated into our final menu.
Other adjustments came with each recipe we tried; vegetables
were cut uniformly in the ratatouille for aesthetic appeal, fresh eggplant was
used instead of frozen to easily roll our rollatinis, and mascarpone cheese was
made from scratch instead of ordering it premade.
Spending less time on menu planning also allowed us to spend
more time with marketing materials. Our commercial was recorded week 2 of our
rotation, allowing the filming crew to add extra editing and effects to our
finished product. Our commercial was able to air more than a week prior to our
theme meal attracting more Residents to our event.
Our theme meal was a hit with residents with almost 100 in
attendance! Authentic music played softly while residents enjoyed our Italian dishes.
We were able to make our rounds with tables, thanking them for attending our
meal while obtaining feedback and suggestions. It was a rewarding experience to
hear first-hand how much the residents appreciated our hard work.
With the guidance of the Riderwood cooks and staff, we were
able to make our final project in our final rotation a success! We enter the
world of dietetics with a new appreciation for food service industry.
