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Something's Always Cooking at Rosie's: An Insider's Look into H-E-B's Test Kitchen Meet H-E-B Nutrition Specialist, Rosie Benner. A registered dietician for over 36 years and chef extraordinaire, this H-E-B Partner keeps the test kitchen cooking. Don't be surprised if Rosalind Benner, a.k.a., Rosie, looks familiar to you. She regularly appears on the Saturday Morning Show on KENS 5 in San Antonio with helpful cooking tips. She also appears in various televised community outreach programs. But that's just the tip of the Rosie iceberg. Because Rosie Benner is Nutrition Specialist at H-E-B's Product Evaluation Center. Which means she's developing recipes that have to meet the demands of the most exacting of critics—the H-E-B customer. "My number one goal is to put together recipe techniques to help make cooking easier for our customers," says Benner. "And there's a lot to keep in mind when you're doing this. You need to minimize steps, eliminate any useless ingredients, make sure the recipe instructions are straightforward and easy to follow and, of course, ensure that the end results will be a hit at the dinner table. Actually," says Benner, "if a recipe is too involved, we won't even consider it." Why all the fuss over making things easy? As Benner explains, it's more than just a nice thing to do. It's a must. "Our customers are out there with loads of responsibilities on their hands—raising kids, working, staying on top of the bills, going back to school, you name it. It's life. And the last thing anyone wants to do after putting in a long day is to have to come up with some elaborate meal. Of course, they still want something that tastes great. Who wouldn't?" 
That's why Benner makes it her mission to develop speedy techniques that
offer delicious results. This is especially true of the recipes that show
up in H-E-B Solutions, a monthly publication
that specializes in timesaving hints for everyday living (available for
free at all H-E-B stores)."We put in time-savers wherever we can," says Benner. "Like suggesting that you preheat tortillas in the microwave or compile ingredients into a single bowl that you wouldn't normally group to avoid additional cleanup. You'll see this a lot in our enchilada recipes." (See Quick & Beefy Cheese Enchiladas for an example.) "Then, there's something we call power cooking," continues Benner. "It's a new technique we've incorporated to reduce cooking times. What you do is initially cook the dish in the microwave, then finish it up in a conventional oven. Like in our Pronto King Ranch casserole recipe." "The key," says Benner, "is to reduce the hassle without reducing taste." And Benner ought to know. She developed 429 recipes last year alone. But developing recipes isn't where the Product Evaluation Center ends. Because these people are all part of the Customer Insight Center, which is responsible for coordinating cuttings (comparisons against national brands), creating questionnaires, facilitating on-site taste tests, hosting Consumer Sensory Panels, setting up taste tests at stores, writing heating and cooking instructions for packaging and more. "Quality is always a priority," Benner explains, "Take cuttings, for instance. These are comparison tests to see if a potential product makes the cut against a national brand. Remember, the H-E-B brand promises to be as good or better than the leading national brand. If it isn't, we drop it from consideration. If it is, we keep it in the running." "Then there's the Consumer Sensory Panel. It's crucial," continues Benner. "Whenever H-E-B develops a product, it is subjected to rigorous testing all the way through the cycle. But it's this panel of customers that tells us if we're really hitting the mark or not. A product simply doesn't make it to the shelf until it gets past these guys." As Benner explains, everything H-E-B employees do at the Customer Insight Center and the test kitchen of the Product Evaluation Center has a very distinct focus. And it's the same focus found in any department at H-E-B. "It's all about the customer," says Benner. "Their needs always drive our products and services. And for our group, that means helping them create great meals, with great products, in short order." You can see Rosie Benner bimonthly on the Saturday Morning Show on KENS 5 in San Antonio and in community outreach television promotions in Austin and Laredo. For recipes from Rosie and the H-E-B Kitchen, visit our online recipe section. You can also see recipes in H-E-B Solutions and printed on H-E-B labels and packages throughout the store. |
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