Busy professionals who frequently rely on fast foods because they can't spare the time to cook, should meet Chef Mike Monohan. He can whip up several delicious dishes in fewer minutes than it takes for a pizza delivery.
 "Chef Mike," as he is known professionally, is founder of Great Chefs of America, an organization currently conducting cooking demonstrations around the country for Florio's dry and sweet Marsalas. Designed to educate shoppers and wannabe chefs, the events are held in grocery or wine stores and, during summer months, at the poolside of upscale apartment complexes.
Each session lasts about three hours, and in that time some 75 to 100 dishes are prepared. The most popular is Chicken Marsala in which Florio's Ambra Secco (dry) Marsala serves as the magic ingredient. The recipe requires cream whose natural sweetness is tempered--but not overpowered--by the Secco, Chef Mike explains, noting that the wine helps achieve a perfect balance, "and that accounts for the dish's success even more than the chef's skills."
Another crowd pleaser is Mushroom Risotto, and here the Florio Secco plays a triple role: it harmonizes the recipe's ingredients, enhances the mushroom's flavor and again offsets the sweetness of a required touch of cream.
When it comes to dessert preparations, Florio's Ambra Dolce (sweet) Marsala figures prominently. A highly favored recipe calls for fresh strawberries afloat in a Zabaglione sauce. Chef Mike says that the wine enhances the sauce with an eye-appealing swirl while its sweet taste counterbalances the fruit's tartness.
As a follow-up promotion, Florio provides stores with a three-minute video of the cooking lessons for continuous viewing on the premises.
That the program has proven successful, Gary Clayton, marketing director of Banfi Vintners, Florio's importer, is quick to testify. He said that one of the O'Malley stores in Indianapolis purchased 25 cases of Florio wines for a cooking demonstration and customers bought bottle after bottle. In three hours, 12 cases moved off the shelves. "The results were so pleasing to the store manager that he assigned a permanent end-of-the-aisle display to the product, a strong floor position."
Other leading chain outlets, such as Publix Supermarkets in Georgia and Florida and Randall's and Tom Thumb stores in Texas, have reported similar successes, Mr. Clayton added.
Chef Mike acquired his expertise over a 20-year, self-taught period. He began his career in the grocery field, rising from bag boy to corporate buyer and then switched to selling wines, an experience that inspired his cooking lessons. They helped him to promote his portfolio. But he became so popular as a chef he decided to venture on his own and organized Great Chefs of America, networking with talented chefs from coast to coast whom he recruits for the Florio promotion.
While he finds stores an ideal venue for educating consumers, he claims that the poolside area of upscale apartment complexes also provides an excellent opportunity to reach the upwardly mobile. He likes to target people in the 25- to 30-age bracket who dine out frequently or rely on take-out dinners and pizza because they've never learned to cook, or feel they just don't have time for it.
"I assure them they can learn quickly and that time really isn't a factor, proving both points with recipes that rarely require more than five ingredients. Before the demonstration begins, I phone a local pizzeria and order a pie. Then I start cooking, and by the time the pizza is delivered, I've prepared at least three tempting, healthy dishes." |
