A Day in the life of a "Professional" Sandwich Designer.

Hello fellow NACUFS interners! The weekend of my 6th week here at the University of New Hampshire is coming to a close and to say the least I am getting a little sad that my time here is soon ending.
As I reflect on some of my experiences here, one that I think of in particular is the opportunity I had to design sandwiches with the dining staff for the Union Court. In order to keep menus creative and business thriving it is always important to make sure to give your customers specials and unique menu items that will keep them coming back to your establishment. This summer, I helped the design team come up with recipes for four seasonal sandwiches and two new menu items for the sandwich shop, Artisan Fresh, and salad concept, Creative Greens. One thing that I find really neat about UNH is their dedication to using locally grown and made produce as well as their keenness for making sure that seasonal produce are the highlights of their food service. This not only allows for them to expose their customers to a variety of foods, but teaches them about the increased quality of food when it is eaten seasonally. For those interested in the restaurant and food business much like myself, it allows me to learn more about what foods are available depending the time of year and how from a cost perspective it can be beneficial to implement specific foods during their peak times.
With this knowledge, the team and I came up with 4 seasonal sandwiches that would not only reflect items grown during their perspective times of the year but also give consumers a meal that would reflect food ideas thought of during those times.

For the fall we came up with an Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad with cheddar cheese and apples on a toasted Cinnamon Raisin Ciabatta. During the fall, while it is still kind of warm, but the days are chilled by the cool breeze we thought it a nice idea to have the refreshing taste of a cool chicken salad with sweet cranberries and crunchy walnuts, along with the crispness of a tart fall green granny smith apple. The toasted Cinnamon Raisin Ciabatta would reflect that spicy warmth in a meal that you are looking for on cool fall day. While designing this sandwich we teamed up with the staff of chefs on campus to debate the idea of using an apple butter instead of an apple because some felt that the apple butter might give more of that apple taste, but all in all whether we used the apple or the butter, the butter would be sourced locally so that UNH could still stay true to its motto of supporting local businesses.

Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad Sandwich

 

 

 

For November- December,  the team and I decided on a much more savory sandwich encompassing all the ideas of a hearty thanksgiving meal with the family. With that in mind, we came up with the Turkey and Stuffing Thanksgiving Sandwich. On a toasted Cranberry Sunrise ciabatta, we layered delicious slices of roasted turkey and then added a warm decadent heaping of stuffing on top. The cranberries in the ciabatta serves as the cranberry sauce that accompanies every Thanksgiving meal we all know and love. Throughout the season of giving, with this sandwich the teams hope to give each student a little reminder of home away from home.

Turkey and Stuffing Thanksgiving Sandwich

As the winter continues, but the weather progressively continues to warm nothing better comes to mind than a slow roasted bbq pull pork to warm the soul. During January- March we decided that a BBQ pulled pork and Cole Slaw sandwich was only right. The sweet and savory flavors of the BBQ pulled pork would give consumers something hearty to make it through those cold winter days, while the Cole Slaw would serve as that cool tangy crunch to remind them that spring is only around the corner. As much fun as it was designing this sandwich it also came with a number of technical aspects. Learning how to determine the correct proportion of BBQ sauce to pulled pork or the perfect recipe for homemade Cole Slaw and how to convert that into recipe that anyone could follow, happen to be much more complicated than I had ever anticipated. As a dietetics major you are always thinking about the nutritional aspects of a meal, but as a culinary enthusiast your main focus is taste. I worked closely with both Rochelle (the nutritionist) and the chefs to come up with recipes that would take both of these aspects into careful consideration. In the end, despite all the hard work it took, it was probably one of the most fun and rewarding parts of the whole project.

BBQ Pulled Pork and Cole Slaw Sandwich

In the spring months of April and May the grass is getting greener and the weather is breezy as the ice melts and the flowers began to bloom. During this time of year, asparagus is perfectly in season. Thus, the creation of the Asparagus and Roasted Red Pepper Grilled Cheese sandwich. On a toasted Rosemary foccacia there is layers of crunchy bright green asparagus with beautiful sweet roasted red peppers. On the the slices of bread there is gooey fresh mozzarella and cheddar cheese oozing out the sandwich to make this one something wonderful for the taste buds. The asparagus is as green as the grass, while the roasted red peppers gives you that sweet charred taste that reminds you of grilling during the summer. The cheese....well there's no specific explanation for that, except for, "Who doesn't LOVE a grilled cheese sandwich?"

Asparagus and Roasted Red Pepper Grilled Cheese

Well now that I have talked about all of them, I have made myself kind of hungry...and I hope I have made you hungry too. I look forward to using all the tools and knowledge that I learned throughout this whole experience in my future culinary endeavors! Go UNH!