pastrypros.com

As a self-taught pastry chef utilizing his childhood and professional culinary experiences, as well as his background in architecture and design, Pichet is known for creating delicious, innovative desserts that are visually appealing and whimsical. Eschewing the use of sugar and advocating flavor reductions and savory seasonings, he is known for incorporating unique yet familiar ingredients in desserts that appeal to a universal palate. At present, Pichet focuses his professional endeavors on using classic Asian ingredients and cooking techniques and introducing the exotic flavors of Southeast Asia to the current dining scene. Some of these desserts include Coconut Tapioca and Lime Parfait, Chinese Sweet Dim Sum, Ovaltine Kulfi, and the original and much praised Thai Jewels on Crushed Coconut Ice. Pastrypros.com is working on a story with Master Pastry Chef Pichet Ong
for publication in the next few months.

We do have a picture of his upcoming dessert cookbook ‘The Sweet Spot’ written by Pichet and Genevieve Ko.
It’s a beautiful looking book of Asian inspired desserts and once we get our grubby hands on it we’ll get into depth with Pichet on some recipes!
In the meantime, he’s hard at work on P*ONG , his soon to be opened dessertcentric restaurant (www.p-ong.com).
The site is very cool, with more to be added, I’ll bet. In the meantime www.pichetong.com should do.
It’s all going to be good, we’ll keep you updated.

– Ted Niceley and Timothy Horst

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pastrypros.com would like to extend a warm welcome to Ted Niceley to the publication. Ted will be taking on the role of Partner, Creative Director and all around great pastry guy.
Ted has been an inspiration and friend for a number of years now, and I look forward to his collaboration and dedication in bringing pastrypros.com to the forefront of pastry publications.

Timothy Horst
Pastry Chef and founder, pastrypros.com

Popularity: unranked [?]

Part of the philosophy here at pastrypros.com is the sharing of information. We’ll be compiling a database of recipes for our readers to use, free of charge. Most of the recipes are base components for plated desserts, but there will also be sections for cakes, or entremets, confections and breads.

You can find the listing here: recipes

Just a reminder – pastrypros.com provides the recipes free of charge, all we ask in return is an acknowledgment of their origin. Thanks!

Popularity: unranked [?]

A few years ago, I came across a piece written by Michael Laiskonis. At the time he was the pastry chef at Tribute, in Michigan. It was during this time that Michael was really starting to garnish a lot of attention, and rightly so. His dishes are clean, he’s an exceptionally articulate man and he really can put flavors and techniques together. He’s been PA&D’s top 10 twice, Bon Appetite’s Pastry Chef of the year, Star chefs rising star… and probably a bunch more I don’t know about. Anyway, there was a topic amongst pastry chef’s about their not getting the recognition they feel they deserve; either in their own kitchen environment, or in the press. He wrote a very nicely put together piece on how a pastry chef might put him(her)self into a better position for recognition.
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Well, seeing as the fall is creeping up on us at an alarming rate, I thought we’d feature a nice home-y tasting, but well presented dessert in a glass.

Fall spice risotto with carrot caramel, pumpkin sorbet and candied popcorn

ingredient lists:

fall spice risotto:
2L milk
.5L risotto
350g granulated sugar
2 van. beans, scraped
3g spice mix (eq.parts:cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, grd. ginger)

Bring milk, vanilla beans, spice mix and sugar to a scald. In a seperate pot, sautee risotto in a small amount of unsalted butter. Add 1/2L of scalded milk and cook until milk is absorbed, stirring constantly. Add 1/2L more milk and cook until absorbed stirring constantly. Keep adding remaining milk until rice is cooked. Cool.

carrot caramel:
60ml water
225g granulated sugar
90ml water
150g cooked, pureed , seived carrots

Cook sugar and first water to a light caramel, with barely any color. Add the second water to the warm caramel, followed by the carrot puree. Strain. Cool.

pumpkin sorbet:
400g pumpkin puree
805g sorbet syrup

Add pumkin puree to sorbet syrup, whisk. process in batch/ice cream freezer according to manufacturers directions.

to assemble:

Warm approx 8oz/240ml of risotto. If necessary, add a small amount of milk to loosen. Place in glass. Top with a layer of carrot caramel, then a quenelle of pumpkin sorbet. Garnish with caramel popcorn.

recipe courtesy Timothy Horst, pastrypros.com

Popularity: 13% [?]

it’s funny, 12 years ago I had three toolboxes that I kept in the kitchen. Then I went to a rolling craftsman unit like you find in a auto repair shop. I had alot of tools for pastry work. But it got too crazy, I mean, who needs an offset spatula in every available size? I thought I did. I’ve certainly whittled it down now.

Here’s what I bring along now:

Now, I know it’s a little jumbled in there.
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Ok…, I’ll admit it…, I’m a kitchen geek. One thing I’d like to do is travel around and take a look at the kitchens of some of the more well known restaurants (or even not-so-well known). I love tinker with layout (much to the dismay of the guys that have worked for me), get into spec’-ing new equipment, seeing everything sparkle….. it’s just real cool to me.

I have a good friend in NJ, one of the best cooks you’ll come across, and he opened up a new place a little over a year ago. I was down and took some pix that I’d thought I’d share with you. It’s a small restaurant, seats around 50, so the kitchen’s not huge. But it’s well laid out, and has got some great equipment.

first up, a view down the line from the pass:

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Founder and chef at pastrypros.com ,Timothy Horst, can be found cooking up desserts in his home lab in wilton, nh. It’s here that he’s ended up after a career in the restaurant industry spanning 16 years. Now as the main contributor to pastrypros.com, and a consulting pastry chef, Tim finds his life very balanced. ” I came to new england to find a nice, hometown place to raise my son and love life with my wife Danielle”.

When asked about his philosophy in making desserts, he replies “Elements of contrast. In my eyes, the interaction of different component temeratures, textures and flavors is paramount over anything else. Contrary to some the last thing on my mind is how it looks on a plate. Sure it’s got to be visually appealing, but that’s the last step”.

Has he any unfulfilled dreams and aspirations? “Mostly, to be a wonderful role model for my son and the best husband I can be. I’ve accomplished everything my pastry career I’ve wanted, and gotten more recognition than I expected. I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with some of the best culinary minds in america”.

Popularity: 13% [?]

For those in the field that are looking to expand their knowledge of choclate bon-bons(both molded and enrobed), or those wishing to open their own chocolate business, Fine Chocolates: Great Experience by Jean-pierre Wybauw is a great addition to your library.

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Sometimes you come accross a book that you’ve just got to have. This is one of them (actually part of a series of 4). Petits Fours, Chocolate, Frozen Desserts, and Sugar Work conatins a tremendous amount of information. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 5% [?]