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If I had enough time left in my life, I would remake everything that I have ever made. Everything that I make is a blank canvas to me. I don’t care how many ingredients that are in it, I always see room for improvement. But I have deadlines to meet so at a certain point,……...

The pandemic of Covid-19 changed many things that have now become ‘normal” for us. It closed a lot of restaurants and millions of hospitality workers were suddenly faced with the reality that I have known for years;  our business is one that is highly unstable. As a pastry chef, we are mostly considered  a luxury……...

I loved Christmas when I was a kid. It seemed to take forever to arrive. It wasn’t just about the gifts; it was also about the meals. My father was a disabled firefighter and my mom didn’t work outside of the home so big meals together were few and far between. My dad was injured……...

I Don’t Want To Be Interesting, I Want To Be Good- Ludwig Mies Van Der Rowe   I teach classes around the world and other than people coming to me to learn how to make ganaches and bonbons, they all want to learn how to make money. And making money in the chocolate industry should……...

It’s true that I’ve not made a lot of pies over the duration of my career. My French training had me making mousse cakes and tarts. American baking wasn’t something that we did a lot of in the pastry kitchens that I worked in. In fact, some of the American pies made by my French……...

When I was working for Joël Robuchon, I sensed that the chefs not only thumbed their noses at American ingredients, they actually seemed scared to be working in the United States. At times, it was ridiculous bordering on comical. The pastry chef sent from France was waiting for the corporate pastry chef, Phillipe, to come……...

I spent five years working with José Andrés, one of the most unconventional chefs in the world. It isn’t that he doesn’t know how to cook in a conventional manner. He certainly does and he has an array of restaurants that are all different. You can’t throw away the fact that everything starts with the……...

I had spent 8 years cooking before my first trip to France. That was a massive mistake; I should have gone sooner. It would have helped me understand what I was doing earlier. Food is part of the culture and tradition of wherever you visit and the only way to understand what you’re doing is……...

Since the beginning of the pandemic of Covid-19 and the shift from in person classes to online classes, I have been asked dozens of times to teach a class on panning dragées. I have always declined because it is one of those things that really needs to be a hands-on experience. I can give out……...

It was always thought that soufflés were especially finicky. “Don’t slam the door. Don’t open the door. In fact, don’t even look at the oven. Just place the soufflé dish in the oven, pray to your God and hope for the best.” It doesn’t take prayers, voodoo or any other form of mysticism to make……...