Communicate with Food

Believe it or not, food is a form of communication. 

What do you think is communicated by serving:

Kraft Macoroni and Cheese
Either a fun meal for a 4 yr old or, "I'm really not in the mood to cook tonight"
Filet Mignon and Lobster tail with mushroom veal reduction sauce
"This restaurant is committed to good quality and great food" or "Whoever cooked this put a lot of effort and time into it"

Whatever your event may be, Savory communicates a high standard of professionalism, customers are valuable and appreciated, and high-quality food with every delicious mouthful.

Appreciation Luncheon

Recently, Nebo School District put on an appreciation dinner for their secretaries and office staff to celebrate "Administrative Professionals Day". This is an annual event recognizing the hard work done by each employee in keeping the school organized and running. In addition, they recognized the efforts in those who were retiring at the end of the school year.

What would have been communicated if the district had served limp and soggy ham and cheese sandwiches? Tasteless pasta salad? Limp and yellowing "green" salad with an overload of ranch dressing? Certainly not that every employee was appreciated and valued.

Good thing the district contacted us to cater their luncheon! We offered them a satisfying lunch option without breaking the budget! We served handmade focaccia bread sandwiches with turkey, muenster cheese, southwestern sauce and crunchy lettuce, a fresh green salad with crisp romaine and red leaf lettuce with mandarin oranges, bleu cheese and our original orange mango dressing, and our rich Rocky Road brownies. 

 

 Christine, the event planner of the luncheon, said, "We have had wonderful feedback about the food & it's freshness- it was just delightful! Thanks so much."

Communicate professionalism, fine cuisine, sincere appreciation, and a delicious meal catered by Savory!

10 Reasons to Choose Savory for Your Caterer... part 2

If you missed items 10-6 on this list, review them here: 10 Reasons to Choose Savory for Your Caterer...part 1  

5. Since we're a small company we treat you like our friend and not a number.

Trust us, we're not the DMV. Our Chef gets to know each person and create a relationship with every one of our customers. We give our customers our full attention and strive to make your event our best one yet.

4. You are not confined to a set menu   

Our Chef does not like to force you to choose between "option 1" or "option 2". We want this event to be full of foods YOU like. Sometimes we'll go through many revisions of your menu before we find the perfect combination. The possibilities are endless: s'mores bar, home-made root beer, entire roasted pig, mocktails, and so much more!

Our hand-made Kaiser knot sliders come in so many different varieties: sausage, turkey bacon avocado, beef tenderloin, pulled pork, turkey cranberry, etc.

We went out of the box and created this fun frothy blue raspberry mocktail for a baby shower. We love to find new and exciting ideas on pinterest!

 

3.  Our food is hand-made with fresh ingredients

Since we hand-make about 90% of all our food and only use the freshest ingredients, our food is better tasting. Our Chef makes the extra effort to ensure that you are served the best food. Cutting corners is NOT an option! Don't ever mention using "Cool Whip" as a quick replacement...

Hand-made chicken stock is worlds better than the flavored water in the grocery store they call "chicken stock".

2. Our customers love us

We have heard many times that this is the "best food I've tasted at a reception!" Food plays a major role in any event and we want to help make the event memorable and enjoyable. Here are what some of our other customers have said:

"[It] exceeded my expectations" -Daphni P.

"We wanted to thank you for being part of our special day - we could not have asked for a more lovely reception! You were such a huge part of our day and we are so pleased with how well the food turned out! Your set-up and presentation was absolutely gorgeous and worked so well with our theme! Thank you for your attention to detail and your eye for perfection and beauty! I can't even begin to tell you how many compliments we got on your food!" -Jenelle S.

"Thank you for your AMAZING food provided to our group while visiting Stewart Mountain lodging." -Dan W.

 

1. A classically trained Chef passionate about quality and having a "depth of flavor"  

Our Chef's mantra is "Life is too short or ordinary food." She has a passion for food that is unrivaled and as such she is adamant about quality and flavor. She regularly creates great flavor combinations; ones that reach your five tastes and spans a variety of textures and flavors so that it changes the way you experience food.

10 Reasons to Choose Savory for Your Caterer... part 1

10. Every dish is presented beautifully

 One of the three "P"'s of cooking is Presentation. How the food looks is just as important as how it tastes. At Savory, we plate and display our food so it looks appetizing. It also provides an entertainment factor for the guests- they are excited to try new things because it looks good.

Guava and Coconut parfaits. These single serving parfaits are always a hit at our events.

Even something as basic as fruit is artistically arranged

We love to stack our salads vertically- It makes it much more fun!

This fancy mocktail is served in a crystal martini glass with an edible glitter sugar rimmer

9. No regrets

One of the worst feelings is regret. We're here to help you never feel that after your event! That's why you hire professionals. Our Chef has been catering for 13 years, two of which have been at Savory. She knows the ins and outs of catering and how to make a wonderful event so you won't have any regrets afterwards.

8. Respectful and knowledgeable staff 

Our Savory catering "family" of employees is a great group. We strive to make every event a wonderful occasion for all- host, guests, and crew members. They are very friendly, willing to help and know how to enjoy the moment. We had a customer once remark to us that our "service [was] a 10+!"

7. Decorated buffet table, for free

Remember back on #10 what I said about the presentation of the food being important? Well, the table decorations is just as important. It's doing beautiful food a disservice when it's displayed on a drab and uninviting table. We bring all the necessary platters, risers, and cake stands to fit the style of your event. Best of all, it's included in our service!

This buffet's theme was rustic refined. We had a lot of natural details like tree leaves, burlap and many different kinds of seeds.

This was a silver winter themed table scape. The overriding motif was mirror and glitter. See how the candlelight reflects against the mirror? Beautiful

One of our favorite additions to a buffet is our light box. We have this semi-transparent tray on which we display all kinds of food and let soft lighting shine through. Light on the buffet is very important.

Our displays also include signage. It lets the guests know what we're serving and it helps tie in the theme. For this event it was a traditional rural-Irish theme.

6. Customized menus and flavors to fit your personality

 Our Chef loves to make new dishes that reflect your personality, especially for our brides. This makes the event special and a true celebration of that couple. One couple loves breakfast food so for their luncheon we served all their favorite breakfast foods. 

For this event the couple met in a music class. We incorporated that detail in the garnish for the chocolate creme brulee.

The second part to "10 Reasons to Choose Savory for Your Caterer" is coming soon!

Wonton Chips

Culinary fads are always changing. Our current trend is using Wontons.

Wontons are traditionally found in many Chinese cuisines and are very versatile- usually fried or boiled in many different ways. Now, we've taken this useful item and use it in many different ways. We've...

• fried strips for a crunchy addition to salad
• replaced tortilla chips and use fried wonton triangles to dip in our handmade hummus or other flavor dips
• molded wontons into a cone and filled with salad for an easy grab-and-go appetizer
• piled duck, sweet potato and mango salsa on a wonton cone for an elegant small bite.
• stuffed it, fried it and served it with a sweet hot chile dipping sauce

On one of our cooking class nights we folded our stuffed wontons into Bishop's hats and triangles

Our meal from our Asian cooking class night. We dipped the wontons in a dish of Mae Ploy, a sweet chile sauce

Advice from the Chef

Before frying your wontons, make sure to dry them out a little. Peel apart your stack (cut into desired shape) and lay out to dry. This keeps the wontons from forming big bubbles are you fry them. The wontons will stick better and will look better, too.


We like to think outside of the box and serve inventive, creative and lip-smacking food. Follow your taste buds and dream big for the food at your next event!

DIY: Asian Pasta Salad

This pasta salad is very easy to make with regular ingredients from your grocery store. After one bite this will become your new party go-to-recipe.


Asian Pasta Salad
Lou Crandall, Savory Catering
Makes 8-10 servings

Ingredients
 Salad:
2 cans (30 oz total) mandarin oranges, drained
2 cups chicken breasts
1 bag (16 oz) bowtie pasta
1 bag (6 oz) Craisins
1/2 cup fresh chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
1 bunch green onions, chopped on the diagonal
1/4 cup raw (untoasted) sesame seeds
6 oz honey roasted peanuts
1 1/2 bags (15 oz) fresh baby spinach OR cooked edamame

  Dressing:
3/4 cup teriyaki sauce
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
6 TBLS sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 cup sesame oil (not sesame-flavored oil)

Directions
Drain Mandarin oranges, set aside.
Put raw chicken breasts onto a sheet pan, uncovered, and roast in oven at 450 degrees until an internal temperature of 145 degrees in the thickest part of the meat. Remove from oven, cover tightly with foil and allow to rest for 15 mins.
Put ice and water in a large bowl and set aside. Cook pasta according to package until al dente. Immediately immerse pasta in the ice-water bath after cooking to stop the cooking process. Set aside.
In a blender or food processor, mix together the teriyaki sauce, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. With the blender running, slowly drizzle in the sesame oil to combine and emulsify with the other ingredients. Set aside.
When the chicken has finished resting, uncover and slice into large cubes. Cool to at least 40 degrees in the fridge.
Combine all ingredients except spinach (edamame can be combine at this time), peanuts, and dressing. Store in fridge until service, adding the other ingredients.

Tip
It is very important to immerse the bowtie pasta in cold water after cooking. This stops the cooking process. Bowtie pasta is quite fragile after being cooked.
If salad is not being served the same day, then refrigerate all ingredients until ready to use. This can be prepped up to 2 days if nothing is combined.
Add spinach last so it doesn't become limp and soggy.