Manny Haider is the corporate research chef for Thai Kitchen and Simply Asia, a Maryland-based cuisine line that has one of the largest selections of gluten-free food. Next week the company is sponsoring an “Iron Chef“-style cook-off of gluten-free dishes to raise money for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. Celiac disease is an autoimmune intestinal disorder triggered by gluten.
Are there people that you know with celiac disease that you?ve had experience cooking for?
One of my teachers at culinary school was a baking teacher for our light and healthy desserts class. All through college, I was very close with him. He?s a baker by trade, but his wife and two kids are all celiac.
What kind of foods are the biggest challenge in terms of making them glutenless?
Baked products and your breads and pastries. We?re so used to that being in everything and those carbohydrates being such a big part of the American diet. In baking there?s not really a perfect linear substitute for wheat flour … but there are now, in the last three or four years, amazing gluten-free blends and gums that you can take and put in your breadmaker.
What are some foods that we don?t realize have gluten?
Potato chips, soy crisps. Then there are icings, cocoa mixes, Ovaltine. That?s where the challenge comes for someone with celiac: They really have to check labels.
As part of your job, you come up with new recipes and formulas. How do you go about doing that?
From current trends, consumer focus groups. We go out there and do research and use that as our basis for trying things out.
Do you have a favorite recipe or two?
I don?t want to give away what I?m making for the competition. … But I did do a couple of recipes for Vegetarian Times magazine. One was Thai tempeh tacos with corn tortilla. You use tempeh as the meat and some Thai seasoning.
