LAYING FOUNDATION FOR GLOBAL DINING EXPERIENCES

At Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, students weren’t the only ones getting an education recently. The Yale Hospitality team, which nourishes thousands of students, faculty and staff each day in 14 different dining halls, put aside a few days to immerse themselves in global cuisines. Yale Hospitality takes a holistic approach in leading the food and culture conversation on campus, intertwining the two whenever possible. Exploring international flavors, the American Egg Board (AEB) worked with Hospitality’s culinary team to prepare a wide range of global-inspired egg recipes.

This was combined with interactive ‘train the trainer’ sessions conducted in five different dining halls. Over three days, Yale Hospitality chefs were coached on the implementation and service of new recipes during meal service in five pop-ups, while students got to take a global culinary adventure through Mexico, Malaysia, India, Turkey, Thailand and Greece. All-in-all, nearly one thousand eggcentric meals were served.

EGGS AROUND THE WORLD

Here’s a peek at that menu of global recipes trialed on the Yale campus.

Mexican Street Corn & Egg Bake

Charred corn, jicama, roasted green chilies, Cotija cheese and lime are married with the richness of baked eggs.

Vietnamese Egg Curry

A ginger-scented, coconut curry, centered upon a hard-boiled egg, red onion, eggplant, tomatoes and crispy shallots.

Malaysian Walking Omelet aka Roti John

An Asian-style hoagie, this sandwich starts with an egg encrusted bun and is stuffed with roasted root veggies, raw beet-orange relish and toasted sesames.

Egg Wrapped Pad Thai

In this version of the rice noodle dish, a thin omelet wraps the noodles, tamarind-chili sauce, bean sprouts, garlic chives and peanuts.

Egg, Tomato & Basil Naan

The addictive Indian flatbread – naan – is the base for this pizza-inspired dish topped with a sunny-side egg, sun-roasted tomatoes, caramelized shallots and fresh arugula.

Turkish-Style Poached Eggs

Poached eggs paired with rich, creamy yogurt and a peppery, brown butter sauce, served with grilled flatbread.

Greek Avgolemono Soup

This egg-enriched soup has been Greek tradition for centuries. In this hearty version, the lemony soup is fortified with roasted squash, kale and brown rice.

ROLLING INTO NATIONAL EGG MONTH

The University of Southern California got a head start celebrating National Egg month, which is May, with a self-declared, ‘Egg Week’ in April. Festivities included a farmer’s market (serving EggPops), a midnight breakfast, egg-a-ways and more. These special events during Egg Week were supported by AEB’s Eggin’UOn! program.

ROLLED & READY

This story begins with a chance meeting between Corporate Executive Chef Kurt Kwiatkowski, Michigan State University and Chef Robert Danhi, the American Egg Board, at NACUFS National in 2018. The two got talking about the pain points involved with staffing and running an omelet station during service. Eventually their conversation evolved into a brainstorming session about how to increase speed of service and improve operational efficiency when offering omelets on campus, while at the same time, engaging students with craveable, delicious meals.

After NACUFS, the two continued talking over the summer, ideating, planning and researching a method to serve omelets on campus during high traffic times without sacrificing taste or slowing service. Their collaboration ultimately led to a trial of Rolled Omelets (a new delivery style for the beloved menu item) on the MSU campus the following autumn. A few days before the trial began, the chefs worked together in the MSU R&D kitchen, perfecting the recipe and cooking method. Once the chefs were satisfied with the finished omelets, they trained the MSU staff for service with the Rolled Omelets.

The Rolled Omelet pop-up debuted on campus at MSU Southpoint in the Case Dining Hall to the delight of hundreds of students. Chef Kurt said they got a terrific response from their guests and staff. The team was able to increase throughput with a minimum of training and deliver excellence in flavor and service. A top priority for the culinary team at MSU is to maintain high-quality engagement with students. They were able to do this with the Rolled Omelet Station while at the same time improving operational efficiency.

Following the initial debut of the Rolled Omelet at MSU, the chefs used student feedback to tweak the recipe and service method for even better results. Get more details on how serving Rolled Omelets can benefit your operations.

CONTINUING EGGUCATION

Chef-to-chef culinary coaching was on the menu at North Carolina State University during an on-site training session provided by the American Egg Board. It was an opportunity for members of the university’s culinary staff to step away from their day-to-day regimen and get creative. On the first afternoon, the AEB culinary team presented trends and recipe concepts as a prelude to the next day’s cook-off in which NC State chefs were challenged to create eggciting new egg menu items.

The gauntlet was thrown down and the chefs picked it up—egged on by the AEB culinary team and bragging rights.

As the session concluded, the NC State staff told AEB they hadn’t realized all the great recipes they could create with eggs as the hero protein of a meal. And they’re looking forward to putting these recipes on the menu for the next school year.

CLOUD SCAPING

Harvard University is known for its academic prowess, but the American Egg Board got a taste of their culinary expertise during a campus visit. AEB was invited to participate in Harvard University Dining Services’ (HUDS) Brilliant Bites program, which highlights the nutritional benefits of a single ingredient along with inventive ways to prepare it in recipes created by the university’s culinary staff. This activity gives students a fun way to sample new foods and gives the culinary team an opportunity to strut their creativity. HUDS serves about 25,000 meals per day in 13 dining halls. Each dining hall has its own culinary staff.

During the egg-focused Brilliant Bites event, the culinary staff showcased eggs in a variety of recipes from whimsical Cloud Eggs to Coffee-Poached Eggs on Pumpkin Puree and Green Goddess EggPops to Roasted Vegetable Frittatas with Herbed Sour Cream. As part of the event, signage touted the many nutritional benefits of eggs from satiety to cognition and physical performance.

The Instagram-ready, Cloud Eggs were a huge hit with students, and the HUDS staff said the students enjoyed the event and love eggs. In fact, responding to popular demand, HUDS added an egg option for burger toppings on its pre-order food app.