From Farm to Table

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of heading out early in the morning, the dew still thick on the ground, to your local farmers market. There’s an energy, everyone vying for the freshest produce, the most delicious looking food. The leafy greens overflow on the tables, the carrots and potatoes still sport flecks of the earth they were grown in and the tomatoes shine in the sunlight.

There is something special about browsing the aisles, looking for a specific item or finding inspiration in the unexpected discoveries. It’s a feeling that’s lost in the aisles of a standard grocery store. But whether you’re a home cook looking to reincorporate fresh, locally grown food into your dishes, or the kitchen staff here at the Urbana Country Club, you don’t have to look too far to find that feeling again.

THE FARM TO TABLE MOVEMENT

Farm-to-table practices have been taking the restaurant industry by storm in the last decade or so. It’s the well-known concept of the home cook’s use of their local farmers market, but scaled up to accommodate the needs of a full service restaurant. Some restaurant owners have taken it as far as to own the entire supply chain, purchasing farmland and cultivating every fruit, veggie and livestock animal that they feature on their menu. But many restaurants keep it simple and look to local farms to replace the food they would otherwise order from large distributors. Frequently, it’s the difference between ripe, juicy and glistening red tomatoes, picked off the vine yesterday, or ones that are generally small, dull, wilted and may have spent a week frozen or in a crate. And the difference, in flavor and quality, is striking.

“[In produce from a distributor] the flavor often doesn’t develop fully because it’s not in the soil or attached to the vine for the optimum time,” said Chef Noe. “When it’s shipped from far away, picked before it’s ripe, and you don’t know how it’s being treated throughout the process, ultimately it doesn’t develop the flavor or the consistency you’re looking for as a chef.”

This farm-to-table attitude has led to a system that is mutually beneficial; farms are receiving a whole new influx of income and restaurants are able to get fresher and healthier product to use in their dishes. The economies of towns and cities are growing as a result, and buying local produce funnels the needed income into the same community diners and chefs live in. The real beneficiary though, is the diner.

“The difference between the heirloom tomatoes we get from California during the winter months and the ones grown during the peak season at the farms down the road is dramatic,” said Chef Noe. “The tomatoes from local farmers have a wholly developed flavor, with the natural sweetness of the fruit coming out full force. That’s the flavor we want to serve to our members.”

In the UCC kitchens, quality is always at the forefront of the staff’s minds. Dishes are developed and handpicked for members in order to provide the greatest flavor and health benefits. Locally grown food has been proven to provide more nutrients and better flavor than their grocery store counterparts. Vital nutrients are lost in the long transportation process grocery store produce goes through and food is picked before it is ripe, hindering the flavor development and making produce bland and tasteless. Those same nutrients are preserved in locally grown food, and produce is picked and sold at optimum times for flavor and freshness. Products like cheese, eggs and other livestock products are handcrafted for the best flavor and direct relationships with the handlers and processors are sustained in order to keep quality control at a high level.

“Everything affects the flavor: the weather, the environment, the amount of watering, the temperature. Knowing exactly the environment a product is grown in, talking to the farmers and learning details, it all helps us pick the flavors we want and develop them in the dishes accordingly,” said Chef Noe.

FARMERS: THE ULTIMATE RESOURCE

Like the home cook whose stale, worn-out recipes are revitalized by the diversity of produce at a farmers market, so too is a restaurant’s menu. While buying local does have the restriction of using only in-season food, it also widens a chef’s opportunities. For instance, a farmer that grows the tomatoes you’ve been using in a salad the past year is now growing a particular type of squash, and suddenly you have an idea for a brand new dish. A menu can become stronger, bolder and more diverse than before because of the use of fresh, local food.

“I talk to farmers frequently, asking them what they have coming up so I can start developing recipes with those products in mind,” said Chef Noe. “Sometimes they’ll tell me a vegetable I’ve never used before and I’ll ask them to send me some just so I can try it. The minute they mention a new item, I think what can I make with that. Right away I start developing dishes and flavors around those fresh products.”

And local growers, whose livelihoods depend on the use of local food, aren’t just providing the ingredients that feature on our plates every night, they’re also a gold mine of valuable information. It’s a resource Chef Noe and the rest of the kitchen staff use frequently.

“It takes time and work to build relationships with farmers and to maintain the level of quality that we’re looking for in our dishes,” said Chef Noe. “It’s an investment that Chef Obdulio and I put into researching where we can get the freshest produce. It’s work, but the flavor and quality difference make it all worth it.”

At UCC, Chef Noe and the kitchen staff know that the farmers are essential to delivering delicious and fresh food to the members. By buying local food as much as possible to incorporate into the dishes, they are both giving credit to the amazing growers in the area as well as gaining valuable insight into the food they’re using to create each and every dish at the Club.

FROM THE FARM TO YOUR PLATE

If you sit down for lunch or dinner in the dining room at UCC and order a caprese salad, there’s much more than simply lettuce, cheese and tomatoes sitting on your plate. The lettuce, you’ll notice, is crisp, bright and an appealing array of green hues overlap across the plate. The tomatoes are glistening red and the cheese is light, fluffy and rich.

And all of these products hold with them the countless hours of labor and care by real local farmers from the central Illinois area. It’s an intangible addition to the added nutrients and flavor, but one that gives the entire dish an elevated feel and an undeniable flavor.

The tomatoes you’ll find featured in the salad come from a small farm an hour south of Urbana called Riverbend Farm. They’re regulars of the Urbana Farmers Market, but they also supply businesses in the area, including UCC. Their fields and greenhouses are filled with everything from asparagus to squash to the tomatoes and green beans you’ll find in UCC dishes. The leafy greens in the salad come from a farm just north of Urbana called Blue Moon Farm. They are dedicated to using organic growing methods to produce the most beautiful and delicious produce possible.

The cheese used in many of the burgers and the cheese curds featured on the appetizer menu come from Ropp Jersey Cheese, a family farm in Normal, Ill. Over five generations of Ropps have developed the farm from a small plot of land owned by Christian Ropp in 1837, to what it is today; a cornerstone in the local farm-to-table movement. According to their website, their philosophy involves their “products moving from the field to the fork with the smallest amount of non-natural intervention”. Ropp Farm supports over a hundred head of dairy cows, and produces over 25 different kinds of cheeses. They also raise and process livestock for beef, pork and poultry.

Not only are these local farms producing high quality products, they’re using sustainable production practices as well. Ropp Farm, for example, has found a clever way of reusing the leftover whey from producing cheese: supplementing the grain they feed the hogs that will become pork. This practice results in, “better tolerance and growth than grain-fed piglet(s) and a more tender meat, completely suffused with a delicate taste,” according to their website.

And if you’re wondering if there’s anyone doing this a little bit closer to home, a fellow member, Traci Lipps, owns Willow Creek Farm in north Urbana, a sustainable venue that provides event space and food that quite literally goes straight from the farm to your table. Chef Noe and his kitchen staff had the opportunity to visit the farm and to talk to Lipps about the unique relationship with UCC.

“[We] provide a number of products to Urbana Country Club. We value Chef Noe and UCC greatly and look forward to continuing our relationship in the future,” said Lipps.

Willow Creek provides UCC with tomatoes, leafy greens, squash, zucchini, herbs and sometimes the occasional freshly processed lamb. When the call for fresh lamb comes in, even on his day off, Chef Noe doesn’t hesitate to head over to the farm to pick it up. And that direct relationship with Willow Creek also allows him to hand select produce that fits with a particular dish he has in mind back at the Club.

“It is always a great experience to visit and learn about her farm,” said Chef Noe. “We are looking forward to using her produce and developing new healthy and delicious dishes with them to serve to the members.”

A COMMUNITY PHILOSOPHY

Their dedication to using locally grown food, whether from Willow Creek Farm, Ropp Farm or another farm in the area, speaks to the UCC kitchen staff’s commitment to serving their members the highest quality food possible, with a sustainable and community driven philosophy.

“I do believe it’s a chain and we’re all connected. We need local farmers and everytime we support them they’re able to cultivate next year. Therefore, our members are supporting those farmers as well,” said Chef Noe. “I always try to support local because we are in this town, so we have to support what’s in this community. Because it benefits us all. It is chain and we have to continue the connection.”

At UCC, it’s important to make sure that members know where their food is coming from, that it is the highest quality and that eating at their Club is supporting their community. And all of this with delicious food at the end of their fork.