I have always told my cooks that traveling to Paris, arguably the world’s capital city of pastry, is one of the essential things that they must do. I am shocked when I find out that a majority of pastry cooks and pastry chefs have never been to Paris. There is no other way to truly……...
Collection
The Lesson in The Very First Thing That I Ever Learned To Make
When I stepped into my very first kitchen, I had visions of creating masterpieces of edible art. I had seen every episode of Great Chefs on Discovery and I was sure I would be emulating the chefs that I admired by painting plates with perfectly made sauces, constructing desserts that reached from the table to……...
The Lesson in Barre Part 2
Despite my lackluster highschool career, I actually love to learn new things. Maybe school bored me. Perhaps it was just the hubris of being a teen. I didn’t really understand why I needed school. Both of my parents were high school dropouts and neither of them could convince me that school was preparing me for……...
The Lesson in Tartness
I have always loved yogurt. So much so, I have found several usages for yogurt in desserts. To me, the mission of transforming the public’s perception that yogurt is more than a breakfast food or a healthy snack has been a fun mission. Throughout the many years of my career, I have utilized fresh yogurt……...
The Lesson in Chocolate Chip Cookies
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 Lesson in Being Fearless
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……...
The Lesson About Family and My Favorite Cookie
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……...
The Lesson in Snacking
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……...
The Lesson in American Taste
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……...
The Lesson in Maple
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……...