Virginia eats from three directions, and a private jet menu for Richmond can draw on all of them. The Tidewater supplies oysters, blue crab and rockfish; the Piedmont supplies smoked pork, beef and orchard fruit; the mountains supply apples, trout and cider. Our local specialities travel in the galley the way a flight attendant would pack them: crab cakes ready to go in the oven, ham sliced thin and served cold, sauces in their own pots.
An inflight menu out of Richmond International can be built around Virginia country ham on warm biscuits, Smithfield-style charcuterie, peanut brittle for the snack basket and a stone-fruit plate in summer. The private jet food that works best here is simple: seasonal, labelled by seat, and finished at altitude with one oven and a drawer. For anything more elaborate, a private jet chef in the kitchen plans the dish around the galley, not the other way round.
Virginia is a good state to cook private jet menus for. Peanuts, ham and Chesapeake seafood are local specialities with a long history, and we pack each one for an aircraft galley: crab cakes with the remoulade apart, ham biscuits wrapped to reheat in the oven, apple tart served chilled. Guests flying in or out of Richmond often ask for a Virginia dish on the way home.
