NMU Cafeteria going for gold in competition

The Northern Michigan University Cafeteria is an award winning dining venue and is in the process of trying to keep that title.

The National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUF) oversees a national competition.

Staff at NMU said this year, they are going for the gold.  The Dining Services division will be submitting its Harvest Feast menu, which celebrated deer season in the Upper Peninsula.

Last year, Dining Services received silver and bronze awards from the competition for its residential dining theme.

“We will be documenting everything from the menu, the theme, the marketing of it, the promotion of it and all of the other considerations that are tied in and putting that into a scrap book that will be judged nationally against other universities of the same size,” NMU Dining Services Marking Manager Stephanie Ruboin said.

NMU’s Harvest Feast menu had two items that were a crowd favorite:  rabbit tenders and boar sausage.

The chef gave ABC 10 a cooking lesson as to what makes those items so special.

“The egg–wash actually has a honey mustard, so it’s about half and half of egg and honey–mustard in it and that forms a real nice coating that seals in all of the juices,” NMU Chef Eric Moe said.  “We finish it with Japanese bread crumbs, Panko bread crumbs, fry it real quick so it’s crispy on the outside and it’s got that nice, sweet mustardy flavor around super, juicy rabbit pieces.”

“The boar is Pochetta.  It’s a classic Italian recipe so it’s got a lot of herbs and seasoning in it.  Garlic, Fennel and orange, it’s got orange zest and peel in it.  We cut long slits into it and unroll it away from the bone, rubbed it down then sealed it back up for a couple of days just to let that penetrate.  Cook it slow and low so it doesn’t get dry and it’s an amazing dish.”