Archives for November 2015

A great combination of salty flavor and crumbly texture, blue cheese adds an extra dimension of flavor that’s a sure-fire hit with guests. If you’re looking to bring new life into your dishes and sides, it could be as simple as adding blue cheese.

We’ve found some of the hottest blue cheese recipes and brought them together:

Chocolate – Never underestimate the power of chocolate. With the combination of melted butter and dark chocolate topped with fried bacon, figs, and blue cheese between two slices of toast, this delightful recipe brings it all together.

Chili – Take a page out of Emeril’s cookbook and stew up this Chili Over Crispy Potatoes and Crumbled Blue Cheese for a hearty meal that’s garnished with a pleasant surprise.

Salads – You can’t go wrong by adding sweet accents with the savory cheese base like this Pear, Walnut and Blue Cheese Salad with Maple Dijon Dressing, Roasted Pear Salad (shown) or Grilled Kale Salad with Blue Cheese.

Burgers – At the beginning of the year, Wendy’s rolled out a limited-time burger to capitalize on the blue cheese trend. It’s Bacon and Blue on Brioche and it all the rage in new-age cuisine. You’re only a few crumbles away from the same recipe for success.

Sandwiches – There’s so much potential when it comes to incorporating blue cheese into a sandwich. Add in some contrasting sweet or meaty flavors to the salty bite of blue cheese with the Grilled Blue Cheese and Apple Sandwich or the Bacon-Blue Cheese Sandwich.

These are just some innovative ideas about how you can incorporate blue cheese into your menu. If you are looking for more culinary inspiration, check out our Blue Cheese +1 recipes!

People love French fries – from the pomme frites of the trendy locavore restaurant to the greasy, salt-covered variety served in buckets at the county fair. Simple and unassuming, the traditional fry will always be a favorite. However, the future of fries is expanding with creative toppings, bold flavors and international influence. At the most basic level, guests are looking for new and exciting tastes leading to a nearly industry-wide response.

Driven by millennial tastes, this convergence of trends is contributing to the proliferation of new fry offerings on menus ranging from trend-based eateries to fast food chains, such as Wendy’s Ghost Pepper Fries.

Fat, salt and potatoes are already a winning combination; it’s what you put on your fries that make them special. Fries are a fantastic way to expand menu options. “For operators, potatoes are an inexpensive blank canvas,” says Darren Tristano at food service research and consulting firm Technomic.

According to Nation’s Restaurant News, based on the percentage of menus featuring each ingredient, below are the top ten ingredients served with fries:

1. Cheese
2. Bacon
3. Cheddar
4. Garlic
5. Onion
6. Parmesan
7. Sour Cream
8. Truffle
9. Mozzarella
10. Gravy

Poutine is a meta-fry trend on the rise that is utilizing multiple of the top ten ingredients. Once virtually unknown outside of Canada, increasing numbers of Americans are discovering this cheese curd and gravy covered style of fries. One creative chef has made it even more international by creating Bahn Mi Poutine, bringing Quebecois, American and Vietnamese cuisine together for a truly unique flavor combination.

Two key ideas for creating your own fries:

1. Anything you can put on pasta, you can put on fries
2. Think of your custom fries like a sandwich, add protein and now they’re a meal.

Need more inspiration?

• French Fry Toppings of the World
• The 15 Best French Fries in America
• 23 Fries to Try Before You Die

There are many undiscovered toppings and combinations for fries, so use your imagination! If you’re not interested in French fries, surprise guests with this unexpected twist, by serving these delicious Baked Zucchini Fries (shown)! How can you top it and make this dish even more craveable?