Airlines Spiff Up the Food

Feb. 8, 2006 — -- If only airplane dining were like dining at Le Meurice, the multi-Michelin-starred restaurant in the Paris hotel of the same name. Its decor is inspired by the palace at Versailles. Every table is exquisitely set. Crystal stemware sparkles in the light of a single taper.

But the real attention goes to chef Yannick Alleno's cuisine, a mix of traditional and modern. The pan-fried wild sea scallops with celery broth, fresh chestnuts and white truffle are nice, for a mere $168.

Alleno and his staff turn out about 100 dinners every night. And that's where the difference with airline food begins.

Half a world away, in the flight kitchen of Singapore Airlines near Changi Airport, an army of chefs turns out 46,000 meals every day. The flight kitchen uses four-and-a-half tons of chicken every week. One room is devoted just to deveining shrimp. Omelets? Hundreds are turned out every hour by three cooks manning a constantly turning hot table with 10 skillets over which they stuff and fold omelets.

In addition to mass production, there are other significant differences. Airline food must be stored cold and then reheated on the plane, something that can dry out a meal or alter it in other fundamental ways. At 35,000 feet, the air is dry and the airplane cabin pressurized. According to James Boyd at Singapore Airlines, passengers lose 30 percent of their ability to taste in that environment .

There are still other reasons passengers have always complained about the quality of airline food. The main one is that traditionally, it just hasn't been very good or very creative. And now many U.S. airlines have eliminated meals, even in first-class on some domestic flights, as a cost-cutting measure. Most now sell food in economy. And they appreciate exact change.

On flights across the Atlantic and Pacific, U.S. carriers have sought to cut costs in food and wine, even in first and business class.

But now several foreign airlines flying from U.S. cities are trying to fatten their bottom lines not by eliminating food to cut costs but by investing in better food even in economy class as a way to increase profits. There are early signs that it's working.

Germany's Lufthansa points to its Connoisseurs on Board service. In the last several years, the airline has employed well-known chefs like New York's Daniel Boulud and Joachim Spichal of Patina in Los Angeles to create dishes for its flights.

Spichal's first-class menu includes appetizers of grilled scallops with jicama, gala apples and shallot vinaigrette, and roasted duck with caramelized endive, candied grapefruit, star anise and arugula, or fire-roasted vegetables with goat cheese and olives. Main courses include grilled beef tenderloin with mascarpone polenta and sautéed baby asparagus or seared striped sea bass with almonds, cauliflower florets and Madras curry lobster emulsion.

"Premium bookings are up in the high double digits," said Lufthansa's Jennifer Urbaniak. "While food and wine is only part of that, it's the part that our customers remember."

Singapore Airlines has a board of noted chefs to create menus for different regions of the world. Menus have entrees that might include lobster thermidor, rack of lamb and stir-fried chicken in Chinese wine sauce. But every meal in first and business class is likely to include seven courses.

And to attract premium customers, meals can be preordered on Singapore's Web site through the Book the Cook program. That guarantees the flight attendant will never say, "Oh, we're out of that."

Air France recently unveiled its new meals in all service classes created by Guy Martin, the inspiration behind Grand Vefour, arguably the best restaurant in Paris, long a holder of three Michelin stars.

"It's the same cooking as Grand Vefour," said Martin. "At the end of the day, it's the little detail that counts."

Martin's creations for the airline include filet of sea bream with baby fennel; beet hummus with cumin; tomato vinaigrette with breast of duck; lasagna with eggplant caviar; tomato and fresh goat cheese; breast of guinea fowl with special potatoes with cheese and artichoke.

In addition, Martin has created hors d'oeuvre selections that include lobster salad and duck foie gras.

In all, Air France serves 36,000,000 meals a year. So how do the airlines translate these recipes that may be superb in a small restaurant to mass production for consumption at 35,000 feet?

Martin says part of it comes from the kitchen. Chefs have learned to cook vegetables for airline meals briefly at very high temperatures so that they retain their flavor and stay crisp.

"Dishes that work best are spicy in nature, flavorful stews, increased reductions," said Hermann Freidanck, who's in charge of catering for Singapore Airlines. Gone are the days when every airline meal was oversalted in the flight kitchen to give it flavor.

Of particular concern, said Friedanck, is fish, which is sensitive to overheating onboard. More and more, airlines offer Chilean sea bass on their menus because it retains moisture, unlike salmon, which requires a sauce.

Technology has also solved some of the traditional problems of producing a good airline meal. Once, what came from the flight kitchen was simply heated -- or overheated -- in a convection oven. All food was served in small casseroles, which meant the juices of one food contaminated the flavor of another.

Now many foreign airlines use three kinds of ovens: convection, microwave and steam injection. Parts of a meal are heated separately and meet for the first time when put on a plate. That gives crews the flexibility in the small galley to heat each part of a meal in a way that keeps it fresh, with its natural flavors.

And cabin crews are trained not to turn that filet mignon into a hockey puck.

Air France's Martin said his goal is to turn every meal, no matter whether it's served in the front of the plane or the back, into "a moment of pleasure for the passenger."

Back at Le Meurice, Alleno isn't necessarily a skeptic but when flying, he said, "I carry truffles in my bag, and crush them over the meal."