An interview with Executive Chef Cody Wolff

Melody Living is proud of our culinary team and menu offerings that are available to our senior living residents. With the guidance and leadership of an excellent Executive Chef and Culinary Director, like Chef Cody Wolff, it’s easy to see why our residents love their dining experience. So, we took this as an opportunity to showcase the brilliance behind the menu to give you a better perspective of the passion behind the process.

​Q: What led you to become a Chef?
A: Leading up to high school graduation I really didn’t know what I wanted to do as a career. I did, however, spend a lot of time in my Restaurant Management courses and I competed at the state level for Culinary arts placing eighth in Illinois. After that I figured I would take the skills I have been working on day after day and make them flourish into a career.
Q: How do you live a Life in Harmony?
A: Every day I tell my staff I don’t want them coming in here to feel like work I want everyone to have a good time and not dread coming to work. If everyone is having a good time it won’t feel like work and all the work will get done. Teamwork makes the dream work.

​Q: How do you create menus that are delicious and nutritious that appeal to all seniors?
A: I spent two years working in a skilled nursing facility with strict oversite and no freedom to make the menu changes that were constantly requested by the residents there. Coming into Melody I took all that I knew and consolidated that into four weeks’ worth of rotating specials for our growing population here. As we added more and more residents the menu began to change and mold to the population.
I am currently on my third set of cycle menu specials and second set of always available items. A lot of the ideas that make the menu change come from our food committee meetings that are held monthly with me, as many residents as would like to attend, and the Director of Life Enrichment. As for nutrition, I follow a very simple recipe for balanced nutrition, protein, starch and vegetable in some fashion with each special. Now that can look very different day to day for example: beef stew has all three items and is a complete dish as it sits but something like duck confit will need the addition of potatoes and a fresh vegetable to complete the dish. 

​Q: What is your favorite cuisine or dish to create?
A: The easiest answer is whatever my wife would like to eat. The more complicated answer is the fact that I am my hardest critic and strive to improve and perfect everything I make. More times than not someone will say “oh my god this is delicious” and I will say something along the lines of “yeah it’s alright” and people typically give me a very confused look and I follow up with “next time I make it I will change a couple things and it will be even better” then they begin to understand. Working in a kitchen is an experience and a challenge every day. Perfection is ultimately the end goal with all services.
Q: Do you have a motto you'd like to share in regard to what you do?
A: Personally, I don’t really have a motto but in my kitchen the standard rule is accuracy first. speed second, every time. Without accuracy the efficiency of the kitchen would plunder, with accuracy comes efficiency, with efficiency comes speed, with speed comes success, with success comes happy residents and isn’t that what everyone wants?
Q: What/who inspires you daily?
A: My wife every time. She is my most trusted second pallet in the community and outside of. If I am unsure about something or just can’t put my finger on what something needs, I will call her over to come taste it and she will help me out. Or if something is getting mixed reviews, she will tell me exactly what it is good or bad no matter what.
Q: Can you share the importance of creating appealing and healthy meals for seniors?
A: The generation we are feeding daily grew up in a time where there wasn’t a vast variety of food like we are used to today especially in the Midwest where it was basically meat and potatoes. My goal is to take my residents’ horizons of food and broaden them so that they go and brag to their families about the food they are eating. This will inevitably lead to their families wanting to come and dine with us as soon as COVID-19 is over.
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Current popular items with our residents are the authentic German dishes ( Jagger Schnitzel and Saurbraten), the Americanized Chinese dishes (Orange Chicken and Sweet and Sour Chicken) both of which have a little bit of my flair tossed in to set them apart from the pack and finally, actually one of my mom’s recipes, called Italian shell casserole, it is basically a riff on lasagna and it has stayed on all three cycle menus because the residents and staff love it.