The new First and Business Class meals that SWISS will be offering travellers on its long-haul services from Switzerland, are the creation of starred chef Manuel Steigmeier, who worked in collaboration with SWISS’ catering partner gategourmet to jointly create the new seasonal menus.
SWISS has been taking its customers on a journey of gastronomic discovery through its home country’s various regions under its ‘SWISS Taste of Switzerland’ inflight culinary programme for some 21 years now. Every three months, in collaboration with its catering partner gategourmet, a new top chef is invited to create a varied selection of quality dishes from their ‘home’ canton to be served aboard SWISS’s long-haul flights from Switzerland. The meal creations are also accompanied by wines and cheeses from the featured region.
This process has practically become a routine for the culinary team of gategourmet Zurich. Over the years, the experienced team from the test kitchen has already welcomed more than 80 guest chefs from top Swiss restaurants, to jointly create the new seasonal menus for SWISS First and Business Class. On this occasion, the starred guest chef responsible for the creation of the First and Business Class meals is Manuel Steigmeier, chef de cuisine at the FAHR restaurant in the Aargau village of Künten.
The collaboration with chef Manuel Steigmeier began with a briefing at the FAHR restaurant, where the menu ideas were discussed and developed together. Feasibility of the production and scaling of the dishes in large quantities was carefully analyzed, recipes were exchanged, quality ingredients were sourced and then the menus and recipes were created together with chef Manuel Steigmeier at the gategourmet development kitchen in Zurich airport.
The final dishes were tested and then presented to the SWISS inflight development team, along with the rest of the menus for Premium Economy, which were designed by the gategourmet culinary development team. A special highlight of the Economy and Premium Economy menu included the canton Aargau’s famed ‘Rüeblikuchen’ carrot cake. Once the menu was approved by the SWISS team, then a careful planning process began to prepare for changing the complete menu cycle for the next 3 months.
“In recent years, gategourmet has been continually enriched with innovations from the different guest chefs, staying tuned with the latest culinary trends”. Says Patrick Dudler, Executive Chef Product Development at gategourmet Zurich. “This culinary programme represents a win-win situation for the three parties involved: SWISS can offer its travellers new menus designed by different starred chefs, gategourmet is continually enriched with innovations from the different guest chefs and the guest chef ultimately gets to put his name and stamp out into the world.”
As the primary supplier of SWISS’s inflight food and beverage products, gategourmet ensures that all these meal creations arrive onboard in the finest quality possible. The culinary team at gategourmet faces an extremely complex task, as they have to serve around 150 passengers per day in First Class and over 500 in Business Class. This requires very precise processes and strict adherence to recipes and hygiene protocols, in order to maintain the daily quality onboard and reflect the signature of the guest chef’s creations. No other kitchen can extrapolate recipes for these volumes and implement them with such attention to detail.
Veal cheeks, salmon trout and ‘Rüeblikuchen’
SWISS First travellers can enjoy a starter of char tatar with dill mayonnaise, cucumber and yoghurt mousse, followed by a choice of main courses: braised veal cheeks with cremolata, cherry jus and mascarpone polenta or sautéed cod with chimichurri, creamy fregola sarda and roasted autumn vegetables. A chocolate financier provides a sweet conclusion to the First Class offer.
To learn more about SWISS’s latest inflight menus, visit SWISS media release:
About gategroup
gategroup is the global leader in airline catering, retail-on-board and hospitality products and services. They provide passengers with superior culinary and retail experiences, leveraging innovation and advanced technology solutions. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, gategroup delivers operational excellence through the most extensive catering network in the aviation industry, serving more than 700 million passengers annually from over 200 operating units in over 60 countries/territories across all continents. For further information, please visit www.gategroup.com.
