When you're recognized as one of the best athletes in the world, you can reasonably expect to represent your country in the Olympic Games.
The same applies to those whose passion and skills are focused in the kitchen.
Meet Byron J. Bardy, a food service consultant. One of his accounts is H.J. Heinz Co. of Pittsburgh. Another has been the International Olympic Committee.
His greatest feat, however, might be his ascension to the coveted title of certified master chef.
Becoming a master chef is roughly equivalent to becoming a grandmaster in chess, a ninth-degree black belt in karate, or a four-star general in the Army. Or all three at once.
In 1981, Bardy took on the grueling 10-day examination to attain the title, which covers all forms of cooking and management. He was one of the first five professional chefs to attain master chef status.
Currently, there are only 57 chefs who have achieved such distinction.
You probably know Bardy -- or his cooking creativity, at least. He developed the tomato sauce for pizzas at Pizza Hut and the pasta sauces served at the Olive Garden, the Cheesecake Factory and many of Heinz's top 100 "national account customers." For 14 years, Bardy was research and development chief for Heinz, responsible for giving restaurants unique and distinctive sauces to meet their customers' needs.
At the Olive Garden, for instance, "it's a specific kind of tomato that sets certain sauces apart," Bardy says. "The restaurants then add the fresh ingredients."
Bardy, a Pittsburgh native, is the son of a chef and learned his trade at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. He then earned a degree in hotel and restaurant management from Michigan State University and followed with a business administration degree from the University of Pittsburgh.
He worked under Ferdinand Metz, a legendary head chef at Heinz, and replaced him when Metz moved on to head the Culinary Institute of America.
Bardy, together with his wife, now own and operate a private food-service consulting company based in Pittsburgh.
For the 2002 Winter Olympics, Bardy was in charge of developing menus for the "Arts and Culture Dinners" for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, in conjunction with the James Beard Foundation's Celebration of Great Chefs. The dinners were $5,000-a-plate fund-raisers; each raised $50,000for Salt Lake City's Olympics.
Some nights, well-known athletes such as downhill skier Picabo Street would drop by to eat and greet donors. But the pressures of helping put together dishes such as "Foie Gras Cru with Papaya and Black Truffle" and "Hickory Smoked Brook Trout with American Beluga Caviar" kept Bardy in the kitchen most of the time.
One of Bardy's most striking memories of Salt Lake City, he says, was the overwhelming amount of security. "Our cooking facility was in a 'secure' area," he says, "but we had to transport (the food) through a 'dirty area,' which meant that we had to have an FBI team escort us." (That, presumably, was to thwart any would-be poisoners.)
The chefs became fast friends with the security detail, but once the bomb-sniffing dogs smelled the treats -- steaks and hamburgers, Bardy says, it was kind of hard to keep the canines' minds -- and noses -- on their work.
The kitchen crew also had to be careful carrying their knives from place to place. "We had a special dispensation to carry our chef's knives," Bardy says. "But sometimes we'd have somebody new working, and (the knives would) get confiscated. We learned to leave our knives in the kitchens."
The International Olympic Committee (IOC)-- not the host country -- controls all of the food, Bardy says, and its requirements can be a bit tricky. "They have to use the foods that are donated by the sponsor companies. Some of the sponsors include Heinz, Coke, Sysco, various caterers. ... You also have to have all cuisines available for the various diets of the athletes -- though Western cuisine is the most popular."
For the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, Bardy has an informal invitation to help out in the kitchen at the IOC clubhouse. "They have four cuisines there," he says. This will include the past host country's cuisine -- American -- as well as the present host's.
The American cuisine will be served partly because some of the organizers and officials from the Salt Lake City games will be in Torino to ensure that everything they learned from their Winter Games is passed on. "The dining room will have big-screen TVs, so the assembled dignitaries can keep track of the competitions while they eat," Bardy says.
Instead of the American menu, the chef is expected to be working with the Italian team on its menu. He's considered an "away" chef on the "home" team in Torino, because in Utah, he struck up a close working relationship with a top chef from the Italian delegation, Vittorio Minichiello.
Bardy says that it is quite an honor for an American chef to be asked to cook as one of the Italians in their own country. Bardy's intimate knowledge of pasta sauces is a plus. About a year ahead of the games, says Bardy, he and Minichiello will start collaborating on the new menu.
Bardy also might be involved in the Summer Olympics in Athens in 2004. In addition, he will find out later this spring whether he will be designing the kitchens at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The latter would involve training Chinese cooks how to prepare Western cuisine.
Anyone who questions the scope of this task hasn't seen a hungry hockey team go through steaks like they're snack crackers. Says Bardy, "One of my chef friends who was working the actual dining room (in Salt Lake City) said he'd get an entire hockey team in at 4 in the morning, (each player) eating three or four steaks."
That probably won't be a problem in Beijing, although basketball, baseball and wrestling teams will no doubt be looking for equal amounts of high-energy food to fuel grueling performances.
Luckily, Bardy says, there's always a lot to choose from. "It's set up like a large college -- with stations or kiosks. They know from their trainers what they're supposed to eat."
| Mighty tomato proves tops in master chef's book |
As former national manager of food service research for H.J. Heinz Co., master chef Byron J. Bardy knows his way around a tomato. Bardy, along with David Yeung, Heinz's general manager of global nutrition, has included 57 of his favorite recipes in his first cookbook, "Great Tomato! 57 Fabulous Recipes for Great Taste and Great Health."
Bardy and Yeung collaborated to serve up exciting but unintimidating new ways to prepare tomatoes, the chef says.The slim, spiral-bound book flips among soups, salsas, sauces, chicken dishes, seafood entrees and vegetarian dishes, many of which make prodigious use of dried tomatoes.
The text recommends Heinz products such as Classico Pasta Sauce and ketchup to "add just the right touch" to appetizers, soups, side dishes, pizzas and more, the chef says.
In recent years, nutrition research has been focusing on the possible copious health benefits of an antioxidant called lycopene. Lycopene appears to reduce the risk of several chronic diseases, including cancers of the prostate, digestive tract, breast, lung and cervix. It also might play a significant role in preventing heart attacks.
Lycopene is what makes tomatoes red.
"The tomato itself is the highest form of lycopene," Bardy says. "Canned tomato actually has more than fresh tomatoes, because it's concentrated." Processed food products such as ketchup and pizza sauce are better suppliers of lycopene than raw tomatoes, because when tomatoes are heated during processing, the lycopene is converted to a form that's easier for the body to absorb.
The 79-page cookbook, $9.50, published by arpr inc. of Pittsburgh, is available in area bookstores and through the Web sites knowledgeinanutshell.com, barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.
Bardy shared these recipes, perfect for the Lenten season.
Southwestern Pasta Salad
- 3 cups rotini pasta, uncooked
- 1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained
- 1 (15-ounce) can corn, undrained
- 1 ripe tomato, chopped
- 1/2 cup sweet red or green pepper, chopped
- 1/2 cup celery, sliced
- 1/2 cup green onions, sliced
- 1/2 cup black or green olives, sliced
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix
- 1/3 cup milk
- Leaf lettuce
- Cheddar cheese, shredded
Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse; chill.
In a large bowl, combine the pasta, kidney beans, corn, tomato, sweet pepper, celery, green onions and olives.
To make the dressing, combine the ketchup, mayonnaise and taco seasoning. Stir in the milk.
Add the dressing to the pasta mixture and toss to combine. Serve on lettuce, sprinkling each serving with some of the cheese.
Makes 5 servings.
Deep-Fried Fish
with Tomato Sauce
- 2 fillets of red snapper or similar fish (2 1/2 to 3 pounds total)
For the marinade:
- 2 teaspoons rice wine or dry sherry
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the batter:
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vegetable shortening
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 6 tablespoons ice water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the seasoning sauce:
- 1 tablespoon rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar or white vinegar
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons chicken broth
- 6 tablespoons water
Other ingredients:
- 6 cups vegetable oil for deep-frying
- 1/4 cup diced onion
- 1 small tomato, peeled and diced
- 1/4 cup diced fresh or drained canned mushrooms
- 1/4 cup diced fresh carrot
- 1/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
The fillets should be scaled and boned with the skin left on.
Score the inside of each piece of fish 3 times lengthwise and 5 times across, deep but not through the skin.
Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl and add the fish. Coat the fish with marinade.
Combine the batter ingredients until smooth.
Combine the seasoning sauce's ingredients.
Heat the vegetable oil in a wok to 350 degrees. Reduce to medium heat. Holding 1 fillet at one end, using tongs, dip it in the batter to coat. Dip the fillet in and out of the hot oil several times to separate the scored surfaces. Then lower the fillet, skin side down, into the oil and deep-fry for 2 minutes. Remove and let cool.
Return the fish to the hot oil and deep-fry until the crust is golden brown. Remove and repeat with the remaining fillet.
Remove all except 3 tablespoons oil from the wok. Stir-fry the onion, then add the tomato, mushrooms, carrot and peas and stir-fry for 2 more minutes.
Add the seasoning sauce to the vegetables. Once the sauce thickens, spoon it over the fish.
Makes 4 servings.
Braised fish: Use a fresh, whole fish (1 1/2 pounds). Score and sprinkle with salt. After 10 minutes, pat dry and pat 3 tablespoons cornstarch on both sides of the fish. Heat 1/3 cup vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat and fry the fish. Remove when golden brown. Using the same seasoning sauce and vegetables as in the previous recipe, stir-fry all ingredients the same way and spoon over the fish.
Editor's note: To cool and drain the fish after deep-frying, place the pieces gently on a wire rack over several layers of paper towels.
