What It Takes To “Earn” the Title of Pastry Chef

I get emails from high school kids, their parents, people looking to change careers and individuals looking to start new businesses asking about becoming a professional pastry chef or baker. They want to know where to start, is culinary school required, what skills are necessary….questions like these. So I put this article together with hopes that it will help answer some of these questions.

If not, there are a lot more articles about getting into the restaurant/food industry at my Culinary School Resources page and throughout the web site and blog. If you do a search, I’m sure you will find many of the answers you are looking for and I’ll do my best to answer any questions you may have by reaching out to my network of professional chefs.

Earn the Title of Pastry Chef

I call this article “what it takes to earn…” rather than “how to become…” because, in talking to many chefs I’ve met in pursuit of learning to cook through this website, they all say that nobody walks out of culinary school with the title of chef. Chef means “chief,” or the number one person in the kitchen, and only through long and varied experience in hotel and restaurant kitchens can someone claim the title “chef.”

Having said that, though, I am not trying to discourage anybody who has the desire and the passion to become a chef. After all, if you have your own business - say a cupcake business or a croissant bakery - you can call yourself “pastry chef” or “head baker” because you are technically in charge of your kitchen.   Regardless, here are a great number of roads you can take to earn the title pastry chef.

If you are interested in baking and pastry and are considering it as a career choice, it is important to know what area you want to focus on.

• Do you want to bake artisan breads?
• Are you interested in making wedding cakes?
• Cupcakes?
• Perhaps you are inspired by pastry competitions and really want to make complex presentation desserts.
• Or maybe you want to become a chocolatier or candy maker.

There are many facets of baking and pastry, so it really pays to concentrate on a particular area.

How Do I Choose

The question then becomes, “How do I choose?” I think it’s important to take a look at what inspires you.  Like my oldest daughter, do you live for watching The Cake Boss?  Then maybe your passion lies in decorating high end wedding cakes.

Do you DVR Top Chef Desserts? You might consider working in a restaurant putting out high-volume and consistently excellent desserts.  If you find bread making therapeutic and relaxing and you get excited about words like “poolish,” “biga,” and “fermentation” you are probably going to want to look into becoming a baker.

If you’re still not sure, there are many ways to get your feet wet in these different areas without having to spend a lot of money.  Many craft stores offer cake decorating classes.  Consider signing up for one and seeing if you love it.  Look into enthusiasts’ cooking classes in your area.  Some restaurants and many caterers offer classes that focus on one specific area of cooking or baking.

Using the Internet

A quick Internet search should turn up many opportunities in your local area.  If you are in junior high or high school, check and see if there are any Home-Ec type electives available at your school.  Go to the library and check out books on chocolate and candy making, on cake baking, or bread baking and learn from them.  Try out recipes, and then buy the books that really speak to you and hold your interest.

There are many online forums for bakers and cooks, and most of them welcome anyone from chefs with years of experience to novices.  These forums are wonderful places to go to get answers to your questions and to ask chefs and pastry chefs about their personal experiences. And then their are some great baking and pastry web sites. One of my favorites is Chef Jenni’s Pastry Chef Online and her blog Pastry Methods and Techniques.

Find a Job Locally

If you are old enough, you can get a part time job in a bakery.  Believe it or not, grocery store bakeries are pretty good places to start.  You’ll be exposed to baking everything from rolls to birthday cakes, and this can really help you decide where your interests lie.

Here’s another great idea.  Some company, organization or other is always having recipe contests.  Develop and submit recipes.  If your submission is the best, you win!  Winning contests is a wonderful way to gain experience in recipe development and in baking in general, and it is also an excellent confidence builder.  Listing your contest wins on your resume certainly won’t hurt, either!

Along a similar line, submit your baked goods to your county or state fair.  The judging will give you excellent feedback on your strengths and also in what you need to work on.  Again, coming up with a submission will involve at least a few test batches, and all of that experience will help hone your baking and pastry skills.

And don’t let lack of experience stop you from applying for jobs in restaurant kitchens.  One chef I talked to told me that passion and “teachability” are much more important than cooking or baking experience.
Strictly speaking, it is not necessary to attend a high-dollar culinary school to become a baker or pastry chef.

More and more schools are offering that option, and I’m not trying to discourage you from going to culinary school if you want to experience it, but willingness to learn on the job, practicing and experimenting on your own are time-honored ways of eventually earning the “chef” title.  Working your way up the ladder, at least in hotel and restaurant kitchens, really shows the people you work with that you are dedicated and serious about your chosen profession.

Going to Culinary School

If you know, however, that you want to go to culinary school, most nationally recognized programs offer specializations in baking and pastry.  This is a great option for “pastry folks” for a couple of reasons:

1. Baking and Pastry programs are usually slightly less expensive than culinary programs and
2. You won’t have to butcher any meat or filet a fish!

Another option is to attend a baking and pastry school strictly devoted to pastry arts.  Again, the Internet is your friend here.  Search for one in, or close to, your area, and then go visit.  You can find a good list of schools to start at Baking and Pastry Schools.

Make sure that you like what you see, that you like the instructors you meet and that you like their philosophy of baking education, whatever that may be.  Never, never, never apply to a school sight-unseen.  You want to make sure it is a good fit for you, so make sure you go take a tour of the facilities and ask a lot of questions.

No matter what road you decide to take on your journey to become a pastry chef, you should continue to bake and explore pastries on your own and in your own kitchens.  They say practice makes perfect, and “they” are not wrong.  Not only will your techniques and methods come more and more easily, but you’ll be improving the speed and accuracy with which you complete baking tasks, and working precisely and quickly are skills that are necessary, whether you work in a bakery, a restaurant kitchen or your own shop.

Related Topics:

Becoming a Pastry Chef

Interview with a Master Baker and Pastry Chef

Cooking School Is Not For Everyone

Too Old For Culinary School?

Baking Schools in the United States

Everything You Want To Know About Scallops

Clean, sweet and tasting of the ocean, scallops are considered a seafood delicacy by many people.  Rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and relatively low in calories, they are an incredibly healthy source of protein.  What I particularly like about scallops is they are very versatile and can be prepared in many ways, from simple searing and grilling to sautéing, deep frying, stir-frying, and baking.  I have even prepared scallops in soups, stews and risottos. Be sure to check out some of my favorite scallop recipes below.

What’s In A Name?

As with many delicacies, many stories and traditions have grown up around the scallop.  You may have heard the term “Coquille de St. Jacques.”  While this names a classic scallop preparation, it also translates to “St. James’ shell.”  St. James the Greater was a disciple of Jesus and is the Patron Saint of Spain.  Pilgrims traveling to his shrine carried a scallop shell with them to signify that they were making a pilgrimage.  At stops along the way on his pilgrimage, the pilgrim was offered what food he could scoop up in his shell.

The scallop shell is symmetrical and quite beautiful, and as such is often found in motifs both decorative and religious.  At some time, the scallop shell was linked with fertility, and it often shows up in classical art along with images of beautiful and desirable women.  A notable example of this is Boticelli’s The Birth Of Venus.

What Are Scallops Really?

It is nice to know a little history of the scallop as a symbol of pilgrimage and fertility, but what are they?  Scallops are bivalve mollusks.  This means that they have two shells.  Although the reproductive organs, or roe, are edible, the part of the scallop that most people in the United States eat is the adductor muscle that opens and closes the shell.

Some people refer to this muscle as “the nut.”  Unlike other mollusks that we eat, such as mussels and oysters, most species of scallops are free-swimming and can propel themselves across the sea floor several feet at a time by rapidly opening and closing their shells.

Types of Scallops

There are three kinds of scallops that are consumed in the United States—sea scallops, bay scallops and calico scallops.

• Sea scallops are relatively large, often as many as 1½”-2” in diameter, and are often presented in beautifully seared platings of two or three.
• Bay scallops are much smaller, although some aficionados find them to be sweeter than sea scallops.  Because of their small size, bay scallops are not the ideal scallop for searing but are wonderful in stir-fries and even cooked as scampi to be served as a light pasta sauce.
• Calico scallops are harvested off of the US Gulf and Southern Atlantic coasts.  Unlike sea and bay scallops, their shells are tightly closed, and they must be steamed open before further preparation.  Although similar in shape, size and color to bay scallops, they are less sweet than their Northern cousins.

Characteristics of Scallops

Speaking of shape, size and color, the adductor muscle itself can range in color from pale ivory to beige.  Raw scallops are somewhat translucent and are generally round.  Large sea scallops might be up to an inch thick and up to 2” in diameter, while bay and calico scallops, while shaped the same, are much smaller.

How Are They Harvested?

Scallops are harvested in one of two ways—by trawling or by diving.  Trawling is done by scraping the ocean floor and pulling up scallops (and whatever else is down there) without regard to maturity or to the damage possibly being done to the ocean floor.

A more environmentally friendly, albeit expensive, method of harvest is by diver and giving us “diver scallops.”  A diver scallop is not another species of scallop, nor does it designate at size.  Rather it describes the manner in which the scallops were harvested.

Divers go down and choose mature scallops by hand, leaving behind immature scallops as well as leaving the ocean floor alone.  Since the ocean floor is not disturbed by the divers, diver scallops are usually less gritty than those harvested by bottom trawls.

Day Boat Scallops & STP

Unlike other mollusks that can hold themselves tightly closed once caught, sea and bay scallops cannot and are extremely perishable.  For this reason, scallops are killed right after harvesting.  Some are immediately frozen while others are brought quickly back to shore to be sold as “day boat scallops,” some of the freshest, and priciest, scallops you can find.

Due to their extreme perishability and the high costs of only taking a boat out for a day at a time, some scallop fishermen treat their scallops with a solution of sodium tripolyphosphate, or STP, which helps keep the scallop from drying out.  Used judiciously before freezing, treatment with STP is not necessarily a bad thing.

Unfortunately, when used in great quantity, a soak in STP causes scallops to absorb a lot of excess moisture, sometimes as much as 50% of their weight.  Of course, since scallops are sold by weight, this artificially inflates the price.

Buying The Best You Can Afford

If you are concerned about purchasing scallops treated with STP, make sure to look for “dry pack” scallops.  Dry pack scallops are packaged without any additives.  By law, STP treated scallops must be sold as “wet pack.”

It is fairly easy to tell the difference between dry pack and wet pack scallops.  While the natural muscle color is generally ivory to beige and the texture can be slightly sticky, scallops treated with STP are bright white and are very wet to the touch.

Dry Scallops Shrink Less

If you are planning to prepare a dish using a dry-heat cooking method, such as sautéing or searing, you will be better off purchasing dry pack scallops.  As you can imagine, a wet pack scallop is more apt to steam in all of that excess water and overcook long before it will caramelize.   And the wet scallops shrink when you cook them almost 40% whereas the dry scallops do not. You may be paying more for the dry scallops but by the time you are done cooking them, you may actually be saving.

If you are making a dish where the scallop is a supporting player or are using a moist heat cooking method like a fish stew or chowder, you will probably be fine using wet pack scallops.  It is a personal decision that you will have to make based on your budget and your feelings about food additives.

How Are Scallops Sold?

Like shrimp, scallops are sold by count-per-pound.  Sea scallops might be marked at 10/20, meaning that between 10 and 20 scallops are in each pound.  This translates to scallops that weigh somewhere between .8 to 1.6 ounces each.  The higher the numbers, the smaller the scallops.

Of course, larger sea scallops tend to be the most expensive.  Another weight designation you might see is U/10 or U/15.  This means that it takes fewer than, or under, 10 (or 15) to make up a pound.  Here again, the larger the U number, the smaller the scallop.  Bay scallops, being smaller than sea scallops, generally fall in the 70/120 range.  This roughly equates to between 4 to 9-10 bay scallops per ounce.

Buying Tips

When purchasing scallops, make sure to buy from a reputable fishmonger and be sure to smell the scallops before purchase.  The scallops should smell clean and sweet and like the ocean.  If they have a strong fishy smell, do not buy them.

The muscles should be in one piece, so inspect them carefully.  If you see signs of the muscle fibers pulling apart, pass them by as this is a sign that the scallops are past their prime.  As mentioned before, dry pack scallops should feel slightly sticky but not be slimy.  If the rubbery side muscle has been left on the scallops, ask your fishmonger to remove them.  Trust me, this will save you valuable time in the kitchen, once it’s time to cook.

How To Store Fresh Scallops

Fresh scallops need to be stored at temperatures below 38F.  This is generally lower than most people keep their refrigerators, so you will have to make some adjustments.  An ideal set up for storing scallops is to have a shallow plastic container with holes in the bottom set in a deeper plastic container.

Place ice in the shallow container and spread the scallops on the ice.  Cover everything with a damp paper towel, and store in the coldest part of the refrigerator.  Even with this care, make sure to use the scallops within a day or two.  Because they are so perishable, using them the same day you purchase them is ideal.

What About Frozen Scallops?

If you purchase frozen scallops, they will keep in the freezer for up to three months.  Thaw them in the bag in the refrigerator overnight.  Again, to due spoilage issues, do not thaw them out on the counter.  If you find yourself in a pinch and you have to thaw your scallops quickly, do not use the microwave.  Rather, run the frozen scallops, still in the bag, under a stream of cold water in the sink until thawed.

Cooking Scallops

Scallops are lean protein, and as such, they can toughen very easily upon cooking.  It is very important not to overcook scallops as they can go from succulent to rubber ball pretty quickly.  Don’t take your eyes off them when cooking to make sure that you remove them from the heat when they are still moist, juicy and plump.

Grilling, sautéing, broiling and grilling are all simple, dry heat methods by which you can cook large sea scallops to really showcase them.  Moist heat methods including stir-fry (with sauce) and simmering (as in soups and stews and even risottos) are perfect for the small, sweet bay scallops.

Below are some of my favorite scallop recipes:

Related Topics:

Sauteed Sea Scallops On Grilled Pineapple Recipe

Grilled Scallops & Nectarines with Fresh Corn and Jersey Tomato Salad

Sea Scallops with Tomato Ginger Vinaigrette

New Year’s Eve Dinner

Happy New Year. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, full of great joy and wonderful meals.  I’m looking forward to the New Year and all the new cooking techniques and recipes I will learn and be able to share with you. 2011 should be a fun year with some major changes to the Reluctant Gourmet website and cooking blog.

This year I spent New Year’s Eve in Park City with my family at my good friend Alice’s home where she prepared delicious roasted beef tenderloin, Caesar salad, boiled potatoes and my oldest daughter prepared her special glazed carrots. On the way back from a great visit from our friend’s cabin in the Uintas, Alice asked me how long should she cook the tenderloin? I gave her my standard answer, “as long as it takes to get the internal temperature you want”.

How long does it take to cook a beef tenderloin?

I get asked this question all the time and although I often prepare a meal using time and temperature given in the recipe, I know this is not the best way to cook anything. The best way to cook a steak, roast or even a piece of chicken is to use a thermometer to measure internal temperatures.

For this whole beef tenderloin, Alice wanted to cook it to medium doneness which equates to approximately 145°F. In order to achieve this, I explained to Alice she should cook the tenderloin to an internal temperature of approximately 135°F and let it rest until it reaches the desired 145°F.  This also allows the juices to redistribute throughout the meat. (See my Meat Doneness Chart)

Photo Credit - The photograph above is not from our dinner but from Eric Olson’s Flickr page. I unfortunately did not take any photos of our dinner prep and we did not cut our whole tenderloin in half as Eric did but the thermometer is exactly the same as the one we used.

What type of thermometer?

With roasts, I like to use a meat thermometer. Whether it’s one of the old-fashioned style meat thermometers, or the new fancy models with a probe and an external remote (some have a wire connection and some are now wireless), it doesn’t matter. Alice had a very old meat thermometer that I found very difficult to read but worked just fine. My problem with her old fashion meat thermometer was how difficult it was to read.

The other option is to go with an instant read thermometer like the one I talked about in my recent Christmas gift idea article describing an instant read thermometer versus a talking thermometer.  These instant read thermometers are great for checking internal temperature of steaks, pork chops, and chicken breasts or anything you are cooking on the stovetop.  They work fine for roasts, but I don’t like having to open the oven door all the time to check the temp.

We cooked the beef tenderloin at 350°F for about 60 min. until the temperature at the thickest part of the roast reached 135°F. After removing it from the oven and covering with tinfoil, we let it rest for approximately 15 minutes. When I carved a slice from the middle of the roast, it was cooked perfectly to a medium doneness. Normally, I would cook it to a medium rare doneness, which equates to about 130°F but that is a little too rare for the girls.

I know that most of you are used to cooking meats and poultry using a time and temperature technique and that most recipes found in cookbooks and cooking magazines give you time and temperature, but I urge you to use them as approximations only and try getting used to using a thermometer to achieve better results. You may even want to keep track of internal temperatures for everything you cook and after a while you will be able to determine when a piece of meat is cooked to perfection by your other senses including touch, sight, and even what you hear.