MEET THE CHEF: Jack Kaestner

www.wisconsinlocalfood.com

By Ellen Liburn

 A graduate of The Culinary Institute of New York, he received his start at Devil’s Head Ski Resort and is now Executive Chef of Oconomowoc Lake Club, meet Chef Jack Kaestner. 

The executive chef at the Oconomowoc Lake Club enjoys staying involved with local food and the Slow Food movement.  He enjoys visiting with the farmers, taking staff along with, talking about how the food is grown, and making a chef and farmer connection.  “In the morning I can go on a farm visit, and in the evening I can serve a fresh pick to the members.  And when a member remarks about how different or good a green bean or other food tastes, I can tell him/her that it’s because it was fresh picked and has been grown for flavor and has no preservatives or additives.”

Chef Kastner’s local food comes from Wisconsin farms and ranches, providing products like grass fed beef or lamb or elk, free range poultry, cheese, dairy, eggs, vegetables, herbs, flowers, or honey.  More and more is able to be sold under organic labeling as farms are changing practices to improve the soil and environment from which we obtain our food.  Costs can be higher when choosing to be involved in the local food market.  With food costs always being a part of process improvement, Chef Kastner believes the most productive way to curb food costs include:

        Change recipes and/or menus to match the season of the local food you are buying.

        Use different cuts of meat.

        Keep to local food to keep the high quality flavor and nutrition.

        Portion correctly yet keep satisfying and of value to the customer.

“Chefs may hesitate when buying local food because they may not able to purchase large quantities of the same item (for example, 200 pounds of lamb chops); it becomes an impetus for them to offer a variety of cuts instead.”  The Oconomowoc Lake Club offers a menu changing according to season, to the delight of the members.

Keeping with natural, local, and from scratch goals it is easy to see how Chef Kastner is motivated to bring to his customers and the public an increased awareness and knowledge level about food and appreciating food.  We talked about the increasing customer interaction and how the Slow Food Movement is becoming interrelated with schools.  Chef Kastner himself keeps his teaching certificate in order to stay involved with schools and takes note of how the young culinarians are attracted to and becoming more interested in local or Slow Food cooking.

As we walked through the kitchen just off the main dining room, we paused at the extensive spice rack.  “That is probably my favorite spice.”  Chef Kastner pointed to the Chipolte.  Earlier we had talked about a favorite herb being lemon thyme, and favorite proteins being free range chicken or grass fed beef.  New potatoes or quinoas are his favorite starch accompaniments.

Trying to define a favorite was challenging, because when it comes to local foods there are so many to pick from.  The level of direct availability to chefs on organic or local food has risen over the last years and as public awareness is increased so does the call for more local foods on the menu.  At Oconomowoc Lake Club over 30% of the menu is local food and it accounts for more than $60,000 in expenditures.  Lately, the events and banquets will feature local food.

Thank you Chef Kastner for your time, your work with the farmers, and the wealth of information you gave in this interview.  Continued success to you and your family.