It has been said that experience is the best teacher. I think it can be. But you also have to be able to think critically and be open to receive the teachings. And boy oh boy, did I learn a few things over the past couple days!
I participated in my very first pop-up as a featured cook in Chef Brigette’s “Cheat Night” event.
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This was not my first time making and selling food to the public. I have spoken previously about Goodfellas Pizza, which was a pizza business I ran out of my mother’s kitchen with some friends in the 90s. However, Goodfellas was a group of us. And at the time it felt more like our community supporting some youths who were doing something positive. It didn’t feel like a business even though we ran it like one.
I spent the last eight years developing and sharing recipes under the “Mmhmm” brand. My approach to food blogging and recipe development has always been from a “taking you along the journey with me” perspective. It was not a marketing or content strategy. This is literally what it was. Me sharing my passion for cooking and learning with the audience. People connected with it. They find the content relatable. And through authentic, meaningful content on the EatAhFood platform, Mmhmm has grown to become a trusted source for solid recipes and cooking advice.
Many people see “selling food” as the natural progression of Mmhmm/EatAhFood. Even though I sold pizza in my community many years ago and I still fantasize from time to time about running a “mom and pop” restaurant, cooking is still a deeply personal thing to me. It became increasingly personal as I continued to share recipes online. Sharing content like my Mother’s Stew Tuna Recipe or my Grandmother’s Sago Recipe allowed me to revisit some core memories. In that process I realized that my path into the world of food media was rooted in family and community. I did not go to culinary school nor did I come up in and around the industry.
The Internet/YouTube felt like the perfect medium to document and share the knowledge that was passed on to me. It allows me to connect with a wide audience while still preserving the actual cooking as something reverent.
But, after years of honing my craft as a videographer and photographer for food blogging, recipe development and storytelling, the elephant in the room is the expectation that exists. The weight of comments like “I cyah wait to taste Baidawi hand!” or “When yuh opening the restaurant?!” was present in participating in this “pop-up”. I did not want to disappoint. No pressure right?
A Learning Experience
My Saltfish Buljol Focaccia Recipe produces amazing results. The bread has a crispy, almost fried crust with an interior that is light with a soft, open crumb. The saltfish buljol is deliciously savory with a hint of smoky flavor from the baked saltfish. But as it turns out, making one focaccia is not quite the same as making fifty-something focaccia. I thought I could “just scale up the recipe” and use large bins to stretch/fold and bulk ferment the dough. Boy was I wrong.
I bought large storage bins for the dough and over twenty 9×9 pans to churn out the more popular half-size orders. My only real concern was stretching that size of dough by hand. I did not consider that stretching and folding a dough for a single focaccia which used 360 grams of flour is vastly different to a large sized dough that requires 18 kilograms of flour. Using lukewarm water which the original recipe calls for made the yeast activate too quickly. By the time I got to my third bowl fold there was too much activity in the dough. This caused a whole domino effect of issues in the shaping process.
Now I’m a huge proponent of “start where yuh is” so even though I contemplated getting a commercial oven, which was a fool’s dream to begin with because I could not afford it. I went with my trusty wall oven which has been serving me well for the past 9 years. Unfortunately this is a small oven and I could only bake two 9×9 pans at a time and I had 43 preorders to complete.
My trusty oven.
The Process
Baking started the night before which was a life-saving suggestion from my partner. I initially planned on starting early in the morning but that would have been a grave mistake. Each batch took approximately 25 minutes to bake. By the time things got into full swing I started observing the pitfalls of thinking I could just scale up this recipe, use bigger containers and all would be well. Less dough in a large container meant that the dough started to spread out and lose structure so I ended up with something looking more like a batter than a dough. This was a nightmare to handle to get from the bin into the pans. Because the dough lost strength and started over proofing, some of the breads didn’t give a good rise in the pans.
Some of the breads behaved differently when it was time to dimple and add the toppings. Others seemed fine but once I popped them into the oven, all the dimpling disappeared and the focaccia looked more like a bake. Cooling was also another integral part of the process that could mess up the final product. Focaccia requires quite a lot of oil to get that golden, crispy crust. But if you don’t cool it thoroughly and wrap it, the bread will steam and become soggy. That was another part of the process that needed to be managed, ensuring all were adequately cooled before packaging.
Team Work Makes The Dream Work
There’s no way I could have pulled this off without the help and support of my partner. From managing the cooling and packaging part of the process in the wee hours of the morning to managing a toddler who decided to wake up at 3AM because the boy has serious fomo and he know ting happening while he sleeping. There’s no way I would be able to fulfill the orders if I tried to do this alone.
A big thanks to Brigette as well for getting me out of my comfort zone and giving me the opportunity to ply my wares at Cheat Night.
Final Thoughts
I was not satisfied with how the focaccia came out. After I baked the first one from the batch order and tried it could see and taste a drop in quality from my original recipe. And that’s a general fear I have of bringing products to market. Even though I have cooked for family gatherings and limes in the past. I’m not cooking for more than twenty people at a time. Far less for baking, which is an area I am still quite an amatuer in. There’s always a consideration to be had when taking something that I’ve made for family and friends and turning it into a commercial product. I am still an advocate for “making it yourself” because I think that’s where the real joy lies.
At least for me, I love the experience of learning something new. Even if it requires failing at it a couple times and then becoming better at it with each try. That’s why I continue to develop and share recipes. Because that’s what I’m passionate about. Yes, I love cooking. Yes, I love cooking for people. But do I WANT to make it a commercial endeavor? The honest answer to that is no. But with rapidly declining sponsorship opportunities on the channel and a continuous uphill battle to grow the YouTube platform. Pivoting into making and selling food is something I have to seriously consider.
Will I do another one? I think so. But I’ll definitely need to invest in a commercial oven and also try a different method of preparing and fermenting the dough to achieve better, more consistent results.
I am eternally grateful to everyone who ordered (and tried to order) one of my focaccias. Thank you for continuing to support me on this journey. If you tried it, please leave your HONEST feedback, that will only help me to improve the next time around.
