Daddy Would You Like Some Sausage?

Pt I - Nutrition
So it looks like as boring as Hospitality Supervision is going to be, Nutrition will be equally as interesting (does that even make sense?). Yesterday we covered "Reasons we eat the way we do". ie religion, health concerns, culture, convenience, etc. We also hit some of the sciency stuff - macro and micronutrients, metabolism, calories vs kcals, etc.

I think I'm really going to enjoy this class, and I really hope that it teaches me to change my eating habits. Although, most of my crappy eating is a result of poor planning/laziness. The fact that I realize that is first step, I think. I just need to force myself to go to the grocery store and provide myself with healthy alternatives here at home.

Fun Facts From Day 1:
-You have 10,000 tastebuds on your tongue that are completely regenerated every 3 days. This is why you can teach yourself to like new things. Which brings us to....
-ALLEGEDLY, if you make yourself eat something 18 days in a row, you'll eventually like it. Let's all try this. Post the food you hate, then eat it 18 days in a row and see if you like it. I think I'm going to try olives.
-You have 12 million "smell patches" in your nose.

Pt II - Mulberry
So. Much. Fun. I show up to Mulberry about 20 minutes early to find Chef Zack Northcutt enjoying a Freebirds burrito - we're gonna get along just fine. We shoot the breeze for a few minutes. He tells me that there's not a lot of prep to do, but he'll try to find me some work for the night. The first thing I did (this is day 1 people) was break down a beef top round into 2 inch cubes, grind it, season it, and rest it in the fridge until I later made burger patties out of it. First day. Then, I broke down a pork butt into 2 in cubes, ground it, and made Oaxacan picadillo out of it. Chilled that, and later stuffed it into dried Ancho chilis. They would bake those for about 5/10 minutes, tempura batter them, and fry them as a chili relleno special. Day one. I also portioned out some meatballs that had been braised the day before. Then I pureed the braising liquid and poured it over said meatballs. Those would get warmed for service. I diced a quart of tomatoes. Hmmm.... what else did I do on my first day? Oh. That's right. I broke down 10 more pounds of pork and beef, mixed them with a blend of spices and made breakfast sausage. Yea. I cut the meat, mixed it with the spices that I had ground, ground all that together and packed it up. They will use it this weekend for sausage patties for their brunch.

What a fun night. Obviously, I LOVE working at Uchi. I've learned more than I can even list, but to actually get in there and work with and cook some MEAT, was a welcome change of pace. It sounded like they were planning on having my back, so we'll see what happens. I'll keep you posted!