Butter plays a major role in our kitchen. We use two, 55

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DAIRYMEN’S DIGEST
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volume item Hill buys for the restaurant. “We use two, 55-pound blocks of
butter a day, on average, and more during the busy holiday season,” he said.
Ingredients in demand
AMPI butter is the key ingredient
in the béarnaise sauce that crowns
Manny’s steaks. The restaurant’s
butter-rich hollandaise sauce is the
creamy complement for broccoli and
asparagus.
“We tried other products, but there
truly is no substitute for real butter,”
Hill said while showing the Nelsons
how he makes clarified butter by heating AMPI butter to remove fat solids.
The remaining clear liquid butter is
used to make sauces and is paired with
Maine lobster tail and other dishes.
Cheese is also a favored ingredient
in the restaurant’s busy kitchen where
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Executive chef Josh Hill isn’t the
only one who’s passionate about
the food he and his team serve at
Manny’s Steakhouse. Regarded as one
of America’s top 10 steakhouses, the
27-year-old beef palace is a must-do,
according to food critics and diners
alike. Dry-aged, center-cut beef is the
marquee menu item. But AMPI butter and Cheddar cheese are key supporting players at this place where
diners are beckoned to “eat like never
before.”
“Butter plays a major role in our
kitchen,” executive chef Josh Hill told
AMPI members Nathan and Suzanna
Nelson. The couple recently visited the
acclaimed restaurant in the sophisticated W Minneapolis Hotel to learn
why products made from their milk are
prized ingredients in fine dining fare.
After steaks, butter is the highest
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Members learn why
AMPI products make
top chef’s menu
a professional staff prepares breakfast,
lunch and dinner menu items daily.
“Cheddar will continue to be the
cheese of choice for us,” Hill said. “It’s
so versatile and makes such a good
topping.”
AMPI butter and Cheddar cheese
are key ingredients in Manny’s popular loaded mashed potatoes and hash
browns. Both are also used to make
the restaurant’s signature macaroni
and cheese, which Hill describes as a
“crowd favorite.”
Natural gets the nod
Hill, who is known for his creative
use of fresh, natural ingredients in cuisine, is interested in the origin of foods
used in his kitchen. He likes knowing
that AMPI products begin on farms
such as the Nelsons’ 50-cow Home
Place Dairy in Hinckley, Minn. He was
Josh Hill, Executive Chef
Manny’s Steakhouse
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KITCHEN
confidential
“
Butter plays a major role in our
kitchen. We use two, 55-pound blocks
of butter a day, on average, and more
during the busy holiday season.
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impressed to learn that the couple’s
cows have a nutritionist and their diet
is closely monitored to ensure a quality milk supply.
After talking with the Nelsons, the
chef knows more about the source
of the dairy products he purchases
through Sysco, the nation’s leading
distributor of foods for restaurants. The
foodservice supplier buys and distributes a variety of AMPI products. Cheese
is packaged at the co-op’s Portage, Wis.,
plant and New Ulm, Minn., is home to
the co-op’s butter plant.
Foodservice favorites
Hill isn’t alone in his affinity for
AMPI products. Leading restaurant
chains, upscale restaurants and family-owned diners are among the co-op’s
foodservice customers. They’re buying
everything from processed cheese
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slices to table-service butter cups
made in AMPI’s dairy farmer-owned
network of plants.
Sales of AMPI cheese to foodservice customers grew 4 percent in 2014
over the previous year. In the last five
years, sales in this sector have jumped
20 percent.
Butter sales to restaurants are a
key contributor to nine consecutive
years of growth for AMPI in the product category.
As he readied for another packed
house for dinner, Hill said dairy products will continue to be heavily used
in his kitchen in 2015. The Nelsons
hoped the chef’s choice is a harbinger
of continued foodservice sales growth
for AMPI. DD
{ Contributing writer
Donna F. Abernathy }
1. Being a favored ingredient in
fine food fare at restaurants
such as Manny’s Steakhouse in
Minneapolis, Minn., helped AMPI
butter sales climb in 2014.
2. Executive chef Josh Hill shows AMPI
members Nathan and Suzanna
Nelson of Hinckley, Minn., how he
makes clarified butter using AMPI
products.
3. A sous chef carefully removes a serving of Cheddar-cheese topped loaded mashed potatoes from the oven.
4. AMPI butter and Cheddar cheese
are key ingredients in many of
Manny’s crowd-favorite dishes.
In addition to the loaded mashed
potatoes, diners enjoy cheesy hash
browns and macaroni and cheese.
JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2015
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