Some women like to wear heels, I like to wear a hair net. That may sound funny, but the reality is that when it comes to "work," I'm never happier than when I'm donning the finest sanitary minded garb in order to make great food with wonderful people in a well-run kitchen using accountably sourced ingredients. I've done this in the Natural Gourmet Institute culinary program in NYC, in high-end restaurants (Ariel's in Brookfield, VT and Gramercy Tavern in NYC), at a summer camp for kids, for private clients, and of course, for Evermore. Armed with the considerable culinary experience I have gained over the past 12 years, along with my ever-present (and to some, annoyingly) high standards, I truly believe that the care and quality that goes into making Evermore at least parallels, if not exceeds, my previous endeavors. Our latest batch of food surpasses them all.
While we began our company on the East coast, we've gradually moved our production west. Since the birth of my baby girl Leyna two years ago June, we have made our kitchen home a small, family-run, USDA-inspected “people food” kitchen in California. Not only is it a much easier commute for me, but the sourcing options are beyond compare. I have been able to build us strong relationships with the best vendors possible, like the ranchers responsible for our humanely raised meats—including grass-fed, pastured beef, 100% grass-fed New Zealand lamb, and free-range antibiotic-free chicken—and the rainbow of fresh organic produce (see below, taken from inside our kitchen)
Check out this awesome video below, where we combine the above-mentioned ingredients into a chicken batch. How cool that the kitchen foreman couldn't help but comment on how pretty the food looks! FYI, that was not planned.
On the left is the raw food, all mixed up and sealed airtight before being cooked. I think it's truly beautiful. The pouch on the right is fully cooked to a temperature of 159 for lamb and beef and 165 degrees F. for chicken.
This process is known as "sous-vide" ("under vacuum" in French). The advantage of this process for us is that nothing gets lost in the cooking—including moisture, nutrients, and flavor. You may have come across it on menus of fine dining establishments. Actually, back in the day, I turned down a job working the sous-vide station at Gramercy Tavern to start my own health-supportive personal chef business. And in case you are wondering, our pouches are free from BPA, pthalates and other plasticizers associated with estrogenic activity. We've even done independent lab testing to confirm this.
Finally, here's proof that the people who make our food using 100% high-quality, beyond human-grade ingredients have no qualms tasting it themselves. Go ahead, try it! We ate it for a month back in 2011 and found that a little salt and hot sauce go a long way. ;)
