Costco Chefs ~ What's In YOUR Chicken?

While participating in a fundraising event, I went into the kitchen to wash wine glasses and noticed a couple of Costco Rotisserie Chickens stacked next to the pass through window. I wasn't sure if the chicken was brought in by the workers there for their own consumption or if it is used regularly on the restaurant menu.  I later found out it was the latter.  Apparently, the chicken is used sans the skin with a few herbs applied to it.

This in itself was appalling to me, but I soon found out that all the desserts and the sauces were made of blended jams from Costco, and cornstarch.  Another chef used Costco's frozen (?) Oysters and held it under water and "served it fresh."   But, then I got to thinking about the use of processed pizza crusts or pastas or frozen veggies, and chefs just adding their toppings and cheese.  At what point of the production is it considered unethical to call it your own and serve it on table-clothed tables as fine dining? 

I emailed some of my friends to see what they thought, and a couple responded, "But I love the Costco Rotisserie Chicken!"  

"It's shot up with a brine that's why," I responded.  After Google-ing for info on the brine, they responded that it couldn't be that bad.  They found that the chicken was shot up to 3% its weight in brine while the pork loin was 20%.  They also used "carrageenan" to hold the brine in the chicken.  

If you're new to my newsletters, I had written a while back about an article in the New York Times reporting that carrageenan had been added to the "it's-all-right- to use in Certified Organic foods list" by the top fifteen big food businesses like Earthbound, Driscoll Strawberry Associates, Whole Foods and the Zirkle Fruit Company. Only one of them, Earthbound, has a fully organic business that have bought out the small mom and pop organic farms and labels; and now control the USDA's Certified Organic label.  Before there were only 75 ingredients on the "okay" list but now, there are over 275.  There was one organic farmer from Idaho who drove all the way to New York so he could vote "nay," and was instantly out-voted.  This is telling us that the Certified Organic label ain't what it used to be.  But, getting back to the subject, go ahead and Google about carrageenan.  Is Carrageenan Safe? - Ask Dr. Weil 

Am I setting the bar too high to expect that all restaurant foods should be made from scratch because you never know what others will use.  There was a vegan food producer who called, asking to meet with me just last week.   I explained that we make everything from scratch except for the bottled oils, vinegars, tamari and tahini.  She asked, "What about hot sauces?"  I repeated, "...everything's from scratch."  Don't you want to know what's in YOUR FOOD?    

1) Restaurant Week Menu still Available.  We made it our Prix Fixe Menu.

2) "Holiday Plates" still Available.  (bowls or baskets depending on availability).  Try to give us a day (though we can do it faster depending on availability of the various things in it).