Airplane food doesn't have the best reputation, but some airlines are trying to shake the stereotype.
The work of more and more prominent chefs are being featured on flights, according to a managing partner of the Ottawa cattering company Thyme & Again, Mike Moffatt.
"Back in the day, my thought in the front of my mind was to avoid it [airplane food] at all cost. There's something suspicious about food at 40,000 feet when you're in the middle of an ocean. Having said that, the industry has changed over the past few years," Moffatt told CBC Radio's All In A Day this week.
Thyme & Again started partnering with First Air last year, and right now the airline is serving Thyme & Again meals on flights between Iqaluit and Ottawa.
For First Air's Dan Valin, the partnership was a no-brainer. "Tasting the food was love at first sight. You taste the food, you feel where we fly."
'Palate acts different' on flights
Thyme and Again recently opened a second location on Carling Avenue, in addition to their original spot on Wellington Street West, in part to keep up with catering jobs.
But making quality meals for mile-high customers presented some challenges.
"Your palate acts different in the air, and that's something to take into consideration," Valin said.
For the team at Thyme & Again, coming up with recipes for First Air took some trial and error.
"We played with a variety of different recipes to ensure that when the food was frozen and then reheated, it was exactly the way we wanted it to taste," said Thyme & Again owner Sheila Whyte.
Here's the recipe for their duck cassoulet.
Duck cassoulet
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw white navy beans, soaked in water for 12 hours.
- 1 medium yellow onion, small diced.
- 1 large celery stick, small diced.
- 1 large carrot, small diced.
- 2 tsp. dried thyme.
- 1 bunch chopped parsley.
- 1/4 lb. medium bacon.
- 1 duck leg.
- 50 g Seed to Sausage sausage, medium diced.
- 500 ml chicken stock.
Instructions
- Cook the navy beans until they reach desired firmness.
- Braise duck legs in white wine and chicken stock for three hours, or until the meat falls off the bone. Pull into large pieces. Do not shred.
- Cook the sausage with caramelized onions and some red wine. Slice the sausage on a bias about 1/4-inch thick and sauté in a sauté pan on medium heat with one tbsp. of olive oil. Cook for five to six minutes, stirring often, until sausage is cooked through.
- Vegetables are processed and par cooked.
- Combine all ingredients and bake at 300 F for three hours.