Oh, Chef Dan.
Technically, his title is Director of Culinary Innovation. But yeah, to me, he was just Chef Dan. I mean, he is the kind of guy who is an award-winning chef, but yet chooses to give up the world of fine dining for the world of fast food dining. He is the kind of guy who took us into his test kitchen and gave us a chance to get a taste (literally) of what goes on behind the scenes; what exactly goes into creating McDonald’s food and the years it can take for something to go from an idea on a white board to an item on a menu board. Sometimes it works – like the McGriddles, and sometimes it just doesn’t – like the Hula Burger.
He is the kind of guy who gave us a kitchen full of ingredients and let us make our own smoothies. The kitchen was our oyster. Everything. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and every other berry imaginable (snozzberries?). Mango, pineapple, papaya, banana and peach. Yogurt and honey were also on-hand along with sugar, milk, juice and coconut.
And since I have issues with fruit (don’t ask) and certainly with the mixing of fruit, I was all about the banana + yogurt + that’s it. But it was awesome to see that not only do the five of us look as different as possible, and come from five very different parts of Canada and do different things, but – unsurprisingly – we all like different ingredients in our smoothies. Heh.
But this, I guess, is what happens in real life. People with different likes and dislikes all come together to try to make something work; something that will appeal to the most people. McDonald’s is currently testing their smoothies in restaurants in the U.S. Chef Dan and his crew had to keep the same things in mind as we did – the smoothies needed to taste great and they needed to be made of only quality ingredients. And trust me on this one….they do!
Now it’s your turn!
If you had to create your own smoothie…what would you put in it? What would you avoid?
Despite the special fruit issues Ali as so lovingly shared with us over this past year, Ali was on my team for the smoothie adventure and I have to admit she had the best idea from the beginning… keep it simple… 2 max 3 ingredients! And, McDonalds keeps in simple wit all its products, for example, a hamburger is 100percent Canadian beef!
Ideal smoothie would be yogurt and a whole lotta berries!
I met Chef Dan when I was there on a media tour. He is awesome and what he does with his team is simply unimaginable to us when we are gobbling up a burger and fries. Innovation and imagination with a lot of thinking in order to please the masses. It’s a lot harder than one thinks!
no dairy. interesting!!
My ideal smoothie? Well, I make it almost every day, so I guess I should know, eh? Mango, mango, peach and OJ. No dairy. No added sugar (enough is in the OJ). It’s a little sip of heaven!