Freeze-dried ? ?

[wheelcap]

I have a friend whose daughter is a 'higher-up' in WDW food service. She said that much of the food served at WDW is now actually freeze-dried 'stuff' that is heated and served as thought they made it fresh. Does anybody else know anything about this? I remember when Disney was pushing the fact that they had the best chefs in the world, preparing the best food you could get anywhere. How did we get from "best chefs" to "frozen tv dinners?"

 

[BethR]

I don't know if it is true or not. But IMO, even if it WAS freeze dried, most of it still tastes pretty darn good when served.

 

[Lynne M]

I think your friend (or her daughter) is pulling your leg. I'm sure that some parts of a meal are pre-prepared and then frozen till needed, I'm sure most people do that in their own kitchens (make a bunch of meatballs and freeze them, etc.) But the idea that they freeze-dry much of their food is just absurd. Believe me, I don't think you could freeze-dry a steak or a pasta dish and then rehydrate it, and have no one be able to tell.

I ate at a variety of CS and TS places in March, and at no time did ANY of the food appear to have been freeze-dried and rehydrated.

 

[suzannews]

I work there, never heard of freeze dried food.

 

[audisight]

I used to work at WDW and had many friends in food service who worked as cooks, none of them ever said a thing about freeze dried food. The food at WDW is way to good to be freeze dried. Disney does have a great culinary team, and I think it shows. Why else would of us go crazy with ADRs?
If your friend's daughter said that I'm very shocked. "Higher-up" CMs usually don't knock WDW like that.

 

[apostolic4life]

Freeze dried means to take out almost all the moisture in something through a special process which in turn makes the product shelf-stable. Then water must be added back to the product to be reconstituted; this always results in way below acceptable serving and taste standards. Cryo-Vac on the other hand is a high tech version of food storage similar to a home vacuum sealer (Food Saver, Seal-A-Meal, etc.). Cryo-Vac pulls all the potentially harmful air from the package and freezes the product in nitrogen freezers to temperatures around -40*F. By removing all the air and rapidly freezing a pre-portioned part of the meal it can be stored longer and taste more like fresh at service time. Note though, if it won't freeze well at home it won't freeze well in Cryo-Vac either; this means meats and some veggies would be the only things used in this process. This process also lends itself to a special heating/cooking method. A kitchen appliance has been invented where you simply slide the frozen Cryo-Vac sealed item (seasonings and marinades can also be added to the items before sealing) into the special warmer and the item cooks inside the package. Cut it open, slide it on a plate and presto...........a fresh tasting frozen dinner. This process really is great, but the equipment is still cost prohibitive to be in wide use. Disney may have this equipment though, but it will not effect food quality since the product will not sit for prolonged time periods in storage since they serve so many people on a daily basis.

By the way, just so you know: I am a working Executive Chef.

 

[disnut8]

apostolic4life - you really scared me. I hope the days of actually preparing a meal for dinner aren't on the way out. It still bothers me that people serve Christmas cookies that the day before were in a tube and all they had to do was cut slices off with a knife. And I won't start with pre-dyed Easter eggs.

I guess the recipes I was given by two different chefs after two very good meals at Disney World weren't the real recipes?

 

[apostolic4life]

apostolic4life - you really scared me. I hope the days of actually preparing a meal for dinner aren't on the way out. It still bothers me that people serve Christmas cookies that the day before were in a tube and all they had to do was cut slices off with a knife. And I won't start with pre-dyed Easter eggs.

I guess the recipes I was given by two different chefs after two very good meals at Disney World weren't the real recipes?

I would bet almost all things at WDW restaurants are still made the old way since the cost of Cryo-Vac technology is still very expensive. Don't be scared, I'm sure it will be a little while before dining at WDW goes that direction. I was just trying explain the process that was referred to by the OP.........did not mean to frighten you!!!

 

[Dreaming WDW]

It might go over at Epcot, somewhere near Mission Space, but for me it brings back the memories of crunchy pork patties in the early MRE's while in the Army in the 80's.

P.S. The strawberry shortcake was not too bad. Just add water. Gotta love it.

 

[CamColt]

I believe at the store outside Space Mt. they sell freeze dried ice cream. Or at least they used to.

 

[Khokhonutt]

I wonder if they're just confusing how stuff is actually shipped. I know with shrimp, for example, unless you're at the boat when it's unloaded, technically you're getting frozen shrimp. It's flash frozen on the boat for a reason and that's not a bad thing. The process they use keeps the shrimp fresher and as long as it's processed properly, you'll never be able to tell the frozen from the fresh.

I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I did watch Alton Brown's Good Eats show on shrimp.

Jeff

 

[paintnolish]

Do they store this next to Walt's cryogenically frozen head, too?