Where can I get that soup recipe?

Do you have anything gluten-free?

The first one isn’t as worrisome as the other question; I will get to that later. Though, when most commercial cooks make things it’s usually not for a six- or eight-person meal … it’s usually for 40 or 60 place sittings. In my case it’s for 200 people a day. Which means I have to make it a few times in my own kitchen to make sure it has the right mouthfeel as well as taste. Thankfully, my fella really likes soups. You can use either yams or sweet potatoes … yams will make the soup orange, and sweet potatoes will stay the same cream color as the Irish cheddar. You can omit the mustard if someone is allergic, and replace it with thyme or roasted garlic.

When someone asks about gluten-free, any commercial cook’s hairs stand-up on the back of their neck. We frantically look around the kitchen to see where flour might have touched, or what has hidden flour ingredients (BBQ sauce, soy sauce, sausage, roux, the list is endless) Usually I send someone out to double-check if it’s really an allergy or just a diet choice. If it is an allergy, I try to explain what items might have had contact with flour. We have one customer who comes with their own gluten-free crackers for me to use, which always gets a sigh of relief and a smile of thanks from me. I try really hard to have one cutting board that doesn’t have access to flour during the event; though essentially my kitchen does use flour, and the board gets washed and put away with other boards at the end of the day.

This dessert recipe I have created is for the time you want to throw a dinner party have a guest who is gluten-free. Desserts, outside of the obvious ice-cream, are hard to find something that is tasty and crave-worthy that is gluten-free. I personally think I created the perfectly darkly-delicious chocolate dessert that you can either serve warm or cold. Add cinnamon to it for a Mexican hot-chocolate flair to serve with a taco bar – corn tacos are gluten-free 😉. It is super quick to make, the baking part is what takes the longest. You can definitely make this the day before, just make sure you refrigerate it. I always serve it with bowl of whipped cream and bowl of berries, that guests can add to their cake.