In the News / Recipe Yield / Interviewing

A quiet Filipino kid who hasn't said 10 words in class lead the In the News segment this morning. Newsday had a silly article about the supposedly newness of the villainy of salt, and how NYC gov is trying to restrict it -- despite the fact that most people are not sensitive to salt. The flagship Armani store on 5th Ave just opened a restaurant within its own doors, which means you can eat while you shop for $500 jeans. The NY Post is predicting an explosion of cart food now that our economy is a limp fish. Pizza Hut just hired a celebrity chef to foof up their salads, and a main impersonating a waiter grabbed a whole mess of cash in NJ -- guess a uniform is also a safety measure.

Next up was recipe yield, working formulas involving AP (as purchased), EP (edible portion) and PP (portion of product) A side of meat may be $100 for 20 lbs, but cut away the inedible stuff and you may have half the material, but it's still $20, so the AP is $5/lb., but the Edible Portion is $10/lb. Yield Percent is Edible Portion / As Purchased Portion. We played around a lot more with this formula, but I was falling asleep. We also did mock interviews with each other, forcing us to think about how we would hire -- to make a decision based on 15 minutes of chatting is pretty difficult -- in the food industry, throwing people in for a day or two to shake out who is and who ain't is more appropriate.