THE DYNASTAR SANDWICH STORE“Here we cook up skis with passion and expertise”
Some make hot dogs, others cheeseburgers, paninis, kebabs, ham baguettes or Danish smorrebrods… But we craft that French classic: the croque-monsieur. This sophisticated, irresistible sandwich is lovingly made in the same place - in our Sallanches workshop in the heart of the mont Blanc valley - and we’ve been doing it for 60 years.
Some do their shopping at the supermarket. We get our supplies from the Super Market! In other words, our good ideas come from our superb Marketing department!
Here are the steps to make the cooperative’s filling:
- THE FACTORY TEAM
Consult our athletes for inspiration.
-> Discover the F-Team
- « FOCUS-GROUP »
Work with thought leaders such as store managers, retail sites, media, guides and ski instructors to identify trends and needs.
- THE BRIEF
Based on all this, our Super Market department will produce a product brief for the ski, together with a set of specifications for the “Research & Development” and “Graphic Design” departments.
The cooperative
The cooperative creates the concept for the new croque-monsieur. It’s then up to our lab to develop the recipe! All of this stemming from the specifications set out by the Super Market.
Following, are the different stages in our culinary lab (known to some as R&D):
- THE ‘SHAPE’ OF THE CROQUE-MONSIEUR
A project group is set up and an outline of the ski’s “shape” put forward: the sidecut, shape of the tip and tail and any little visible contours.
- SOURCING
The raw materials are sourced through a ‘materials Department’ which seeks out the best ingredients from local or European producers.
- THE CROQUE-MONSIEUR RECIPE
Our lab defines a structure for the ski with the ingredients that make up its different layers and the quantity of each ingredient. This provides us with the recipe for the croque-monsieur also known as the bill of materials for the ski.
- PROTOTYPING & TESTING
The initial prototype for the croque-monsieur is designed then tested in the Culinary lab by machines to see whether it meets very specific characteristics in terms of texture, flexibility, flavors and more. It is also tested on snow by the most discerning and gourmands palates in the valley. When things are going well, the recipe has to be refined 20 times to achieve what the Super Market originally envisioned.
The culinary Lab
Once we have taken delivery of the various ingredients for our famous croque-monsieur, they are kept in the storeroom before being prepared by our chefs – the “meilleurs ouvriers de France”. Their role is crucial since their traditional craftsmanship is the core of our unique skiability, our secret to producing the finest croque-monsieur in the valley since 1963.
These are the final stages of preparation prior to cooking the sandwich:
The elements which will make up the ski are set out in order of use in a kit which is placed on a trolley. As if the chefs were lining up all the ingredients in the croque-monsieur recipe in chronological order on their worktop.
Cutting the elements soles of the ski – Base, design, core and tail - of a large roll of very strong plastic material to the required dimensions.
Just like the cheese in a croque-monsieur which must be runny and cannot be eaten cold, the fiberglass is prepared at the last minute. It is unrolled, glued and cut to length while warm just before the ski goes into the mold.
La cuisine
Cooking
There’s an open secret known by all the world’s greatest restaurants: what makes the quality of a chef and therefore their reputation, is their mastery of cooking time! A large part of our know-how is the knowledge of the cooking time, the type of oven used and the way we go about the cooking. The outcome of it all is our unique skiability.
This step is as simple as it is crucial: the ingredients for the croque-monsieur are placed layer by layer in a very precise order, in a mold set in a press which looks identical to those used for our cousins the paninis!
Once the kit is assembled in the mold, the vice closes, exerting up to 12 bars of pressure. It is then cooked for 15 minutes at 110 °C. After that, the croque-monsieur is cooled with cold water for 5 minutes which allows the resin to set. Finally, the press is opened again at 23°C to extract the perfectly cooked little delight.
