Magic Seasoning Blends Welcomes New R&D Director

A native New Orleanian and culinary professional with over 30 years of experience in the restaurant industry will lead product development at Magic Seasoning Blends. For new Research and Development Director Pauly Dauterive walking through the doors of the 125,000 square foot facility last month was like coming home.???

By Dauterive’s desk in his office at the Magic Seasoning Blends plant in New Orleans is a framed collage featuring decades old photographs of him with company founder Chef Paul Prudhomme and employees of the spice company. “It’s amazing that a lot of people who work here today are in these photographs,” he said. “The tenure is incredible and now I’m working with people I have known for many years as a Magic Seasoning Blends customer.”

Chef Pauly, as he is known, grew up in the kitchen of his family’s New Orleans catering company, learning to cook from his father. After he graduated from Brother Martin High School, his parents relocated to Hawaii and Pauly, the youngest child of three, went with them. The New Orleans transplant enrolled at the University of Hawaii Kapi?olani Community College where he studied Restaurant and Tourism Management. Later he strengthened his knowledge of ingredients and food preparation through courses at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, California.

In 1993 Dauterive joined the research and development team of OSI Restaurant Partners, later renamed Bloomin Brands, Inc., the group that came up with Outback Steak House and other concept restaurants including Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Cheeseburger in Paradise, Bonefish Grill, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, and Lee Roy Selmon’s. He moved to Tampa, honing his skills under Tim Gannon, one of the Outback founders and a visionary in research and development. Under the OSI/Bloomin Brands umbrella Chef Pauly worked on concept restaurants, advancing to Director of Research and Development.

In the R & D kitchen of Chef Paul’s home in New Orleans, he teamed up with the legendary Cajun chef to prepare recipes that showcased fresh and exciting new flavor combinations. As their collaboration developed, Paul Prudhomme would visit Chef Pauly in Tampa at least once a year to experiment with new spice and herb blends.

“It was a back-and-forth exchange for many years. Chef Paul was passionate about origin and using the right pepper or the right granulation or the right mesh of certain spices,” he said. “He would source the best of the best and never took the short road.”

Chef Pauly left Tampa to become a Chef Partner of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in Metairie, later establishing his own culinary consulting firm. Former Saints quarterback Drew Brees brought him in to help develop Surge Entertainment, a chain of sports-themed family fun centers with upscale food and beverages.

As its new R & D Director, Chef Pauly spent his first weeks at Magic Seasoning Blends listening to salespeople and customers to get acclimated to their needs. Now he’s concentrating on clients, recipes, formulas and opportunities, with a focus on trends. “What are people looking for in today’s world? What’s the new spice on the block?”

For his first creative challenge, Magic Seasoning Blends President Marty Cosgrove asked the chef to come up with a snack featuring one of the company’s dry mixes that golfers could grab during a local tournament. The result was a granola bar with almonds and pecans that was pure magic. “I used Salmon Magic so it was sweet and savory. It was moist but had crunch,” Dauterive said. “After a couple of attempts, we locked on the formula and people loved it.”

Following their long professional association, Cosgrove knows that Chef Pauly is the right person to continue the legacy of Chef Paul Prudhomme while bringing Magic Seasoning Blends into the future. “He has the passion, the palate and an understanding of formula-based spices and flavor profiles to continue making magic.”

In the research and development kitchen of Magic Seasoning Blends, Chef Pauly is eager to create new milestones for the 40-year-old company. “It doesn’t feel like work,” he said. “Instead, it’s like cooking with family.”

For more information contact Marty Cosgrove, MSB President & CEO, 504-731-3590, [email protected] or learn more at magicseasoningblends.com.

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