Chefs’ secret ingredient in making exclusive dishes now ‘market price’
Listing’s traditional use for freshly caught seafood extended to beef
When you see "market price" (MP) on a menu, you know the item will be expensive, no matter what the so-called market says. Traditionally, restaurants employ the listing to denote freshly caught seafood — the cost of a fish or lobster can be wildly variable based on the size, the season, and other factors affecting supply. "At their cheapest, lobsters are $5 to $6 a pound [0.45kg]," says Ian MacGregor, Manhattan, New York’s largest wholesaler of lobster. "But they can go upwards of $14 a pound," MacGregor says. Increasingly, though, market prices are becoming popular with chefs who want to lend a glint of exclusivity to cuts of steak, barbecued rib, or even wild boar. It’s also a way to avoid sticker shock; the cost of Wagyu beef, which is veiled by a market price label at restaurants from New York to Chicago to Miami, hit a record high earlier in 2017. "I tell clients that if having an expensive item bumps up the range of their prices too high, then they should list that dish as MP,...
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