The Comforts of Pie

This might sound like a cliche, but my first memories in the kitchen were of making pie with my mom. We made apple mostly, but sometimes pecan, pumpkin during the holidays, and once even mincemeat. I got to cut out letters with the scrap dough and immortalize my name in pastry... well, until I ate it.

At the restaurant, we've started a Sunday ritual called "The Butcher's Table". We serve a roasted meat & two veg, and a slice of pie for dessert. Friday and Saturday, we start prepping; lining the pie shells, making the filling, laying out the pie tops if that week's pie calls for a double crust. I love it. I don't always get to do the handy work myself -- one of my cooks is a very good pie-er -- but I always make the base pie dough & the filling.

I don't normally work on Sundays, so I don't get to see the pies lined up in all their glory, but if there's ever any leftover, my sous saves me a slice. There is nothing better than day old pie!

Some recent pie flavors:

Old Fashioned Apple

Pecan

Chocolate Pecan

Blueberry

Bailey's Cream

Peach Crumble

Rhubarb

Female Kitchen Casualties

I'm working in a culinary generation that is seeing more and more women in chef jackets and aprons. And yes.. I do believe in girl power! In my kitchen alone, of 23 cooks, 11 of them are women; and two of them are sous chefs. My entire pastry team, bar my sous and baker, is all girl.

Don't assume that ANY girl can work in a kitchen. This girl needs to have balls. This girl needs to accept the fact that for the rest of her career, she won't be wearing nail polish. And try wearing a sleeveless dress or cute top with an armful (or handful) of burns, cuts and scrapes. (I still have a scar from 6 years ago when I shaved the skin off my knuckle on a rotary meat slicer.) This girl needs to have the stamina to be on her feet for 14+ hours a day, on top of emptying 50# bags of sugar, carrying a suckling pig over her shoulder to hang it in the walk-in, or flinging a 30# halibut onto a cutting board.

This is an industry only for people who love what they do.

For women, sacrificing your girlie-ness is part of the job description. But that's what weekends are for, right? My Lauboutins still get to come out every now and then... they're just paired with a long sleeved dress.

The Chocolate Room

Yep. I have one. And yeah, I am completely aware of how much of a crazy luxury it is. Temperature controlled, marble countertop, lowboy freezer, plenty of storage to house a guitar, a candy panner, a 4-quart ice cream machine, 2 Paco Jets, a gajillion molds, and of course, chocolate. And with all these toys comes the pressure to BRING IT ON!! So yeah, I bring it. We produce approximately 500 molded & filled bon bons a week, not including 150 pieces of individually wrapped fudge and nougat, 200 pieces of individually foiled toffee, 200 pieces of assorted fruit jellies, and who knows how many macarons. Three 20" tall gingerbread houses were also birthed in that room, as well as countless special occasion cakes. I have yet, I'll admit, to erect a mammoth chocolate sculpture. Not really my thing, and honestly, where would I put it? I have to say though, of all the bells and whistles this room carries, the best part is... the lock on the door!! And I ain't afraid to use it, folks! This room also serves as my "calm down and get your head together" place when things get a little stressful, but sshh, don't tell anyone. The chocolate room - a pastry chef's best friend.

To P.B or Not to P.B.

Peanut Butter. I love it spread into a rib of celery. I love it even more in an "Elvis" sandwich. I love it simply spread on a piece of warm, whole wheat toast. I DO NOT love it in desserts. In fact, I abhor desserts with peanut butter. If I see it on a dessert menu, I stay away. This being said, as a pastry chef, I understand that most everybody else can't get enough of the stuff. And who am I to deprive my public?! Although I still haven't made a proper peanut butter dessert per se, I've included a pair of spiced P.B. cookies alongside a caramel corn sundae; and hands down, the most popular part of our petit four tray is the "crunchy peanut butter cup"(shown), a dark chocolate shell filled with a salty p.b./milk chocolate ganache, topped with honey roasted peanuts. It's a Reese's times a thousand. And that's really as far as I've gone. I can't bring myself to concoct a p.b. & j. themed dessert, and a chocolate dessert paired with peanut butter would be much too heavy for my tastes. So what am I to do?

Gorgeous photo courtesy of Steve Legato.

Let's Start With The Classics

I'm American. I studied pastry at Le Cordon Bleu, spent many a weekend in Paris and other French cities, and have worked with many a Frenchman/woman. I love classical French patisserie and let's face it folks, it still is the basis for so many desserts and pastries we see in restaurants and shops today... in any country! Most of my work life centers around the plated dessert, but every once in a while, I'll get a cake order for a birthday or special occasion. On this instance, a guest asked for a strawberry shortcake to serve 30. Yes, I certainly could have gone the homespun American "white sponge and whipped cream" route, but I decided to veer back to my culinary roots. And voila, I gave them a Fraisier! Hey, you can't deny it's a strawberry shortcake! The base is a light but sturdy genoise sponge, soaked with a strawberry syrup, and spread with a thin layer of housemade strawberry jam. Strawberry halves (all of the same height, of course) line the outer edge. A gorgeous mousseline cream holds the strawberries in place. Another layer of soaked genoise spread with jam. More mousseline to spread over the top . Then she gets a Shirley Temple treatment of white chocolate curls to garnish. The Fraisier sliced beautifully and everyone loved it!