Bakery days.
I began working at the ripe age of 15 landing a gig at our town’s most legit kitchen - The Heartstone Grill and Kitchen. I say legit since we were really fortunate to have a full fledged pastry kitchen, equipped with industrial ovens, plenty of bench space, all the fancy torches to brûlée our creme brûlées and more! I never really considered my time working in the kitchen a job, it was too fun to be considered a job. The kitchen life taught me a ton! The things I learned included culinary, flavour pairing, plating and other cooking related skills. Being only a decade and a half old I was mesmerized by the senior chefs in the kitchen who were always eager to show me the ropes and mentor me. To them I owe a lot of my passion and dedication to food to.
In particular, Candace. Candace, a pastry chef, friend, mentor, and full on bad-a** played such a key role in my development and maturity in the kitchen. It was shortly after my first regional cooking competition that we formally established our connection. She encouraged me to apply for a part-time job in the kitchen to refine my skills and ‘learn the culture of kitchen’, and so I did! A few cold months later and I spent every weekend in the kitchen working on pastry orders, plating for banquets, prepping for desert orders and perfecting my motor skills using the tools of the shop. Boy, were those the good o'l’ days. Working in the kitchen, I learned so much about food, and this experience really laid the ground work to my culinary arts obsession. From the folks in the kitchen I learned knife sharpening skills, flavour pairing (my biggest takeaway and why I mentioned it twice!), piping technique, and so much more.
After almost a year working with Candace and the team, a call for participants for an annual Baking Skills competition was open, and though I was drawn to toss my name into the hat, I was on the fence about committing.
“I am deciding for you….tell your foods teacher you will be in the baking contest! There is limited space so he needs to sign you up quickly. Also you can compete in the regional cooking….but this baking provincials…I have a feeling you could totally win and make it to nationals. Especially if I train you ;)”
- This is Candace!
It was Candace who encouraged me to compete in the baking competition. Over a few months she mentored and helped me craft my competition menu and we practiced and practiced. Shout out to Candace for being a BOSS… literally!!
Two full moons later, I was more than ready to bake some treats.
My competition menu consisted of (images below):
Piped shortbread with almond
Lemon poppy seed cream puffs
Lemon Mirange pie with a layer of cream cheese base. (recipe way below)
Orange cinnamon braided loaf
On slow days where we would have no banquets or orders, Candace would task me with mini-projects to spark my creativity. One morning I remember coming in and checking the project board - it was empty. A few moments later Candace came around and with a big grin on her face asks me, “Do you want to make pies"?”. My response was, “YES!”.
As I flipped through the recipe book, Candace snatched it out of my hands, looks me in the eyes (with that same grin on her face, except now one of her eyebrows is raised), and says, “Nope, no recipe book, just your brains”. It was experiences like this that finessed my creativity with food and as the years have progressed, food has become so much more than edible matter, it has transformed into my expression and art.
I tell this story because of the importance it hold in my journey, but also as an example of how our teachers can have a profound impact on our journey in learning new skills and trades. Those early days really shaped my love for cooking and set down a stepping stone to my journey with cooking. Candace and the mentors in the kitchen impacted me more than they realize, and to them I owe a huge thank you!
P.S Candace totally baked and decorated our wedding cake. She is super rad(Isn’t it gorgeous?!)
Signature red velvet, two tier cake with whipped buttercream frosting and gorgeous a gorgeously painted fondant overlay. Thanks, Candace!
In digging through some old emails, I was able to find the recipe for the Lemon Meringue Pie. (If you use this recipe, I would love to hear about it!)
Lemon Meringue Pie
Ingredients:
Cream Cheese Filling
4 oz cream cheese
½ cup confectioners' sugar
½ cup whipping cream, whipped
Lemon Curd Filling
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
5 tablespoons cornstarch
5 large egg yolks
dash salt
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Crust
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup unsalted butter, diced and chilled
1 large egg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Meringue
5 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
5 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Directions
For crust, combine flour, sugar and salt. Cut in chilled butter until a rough crumbly texture and little bits of butter are still visible. In a small bowl, whisk egg and lemon juice. Pour all at once into flour mixture and combine just until dough comes together. Shape dough into a disc and chill for at least one hour.
Preheat oven to 400 °F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to just less than ¼ inch thick. Sprinkle a 9-inch pie shell with flour and line with dough. Tuck in rough edges and crimp (pinch) with your fingers. Put pie shell in freezer just for 10 minutes to rest and firm up. Once chilled, line pastry with aluminum foil (and have foil hang over crust edges to protect it) and weigh down with pie weights, dried beans or raw rice.
Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 375 °F and bake 15 minutes more. Remove aluminum foil and weights and bake 10 minutes more, to dry out center of the shell. Cool completely before filling.
For cream cheese filling, in a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar until smooth. Fold in whipped cream. Spread mixture into crust. Chill
For filling, whisk sugar, water, and cornstarch in a heavy-bottomed saucepot. Whisk in egg yolks and salt and cook over low heat for 5 minutes, whisking constantly. Increase heat to medium and, still whisking, cook until filling becomes glossy and thick, about 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and strain. Stir in lemon zest, lemon juice and butter until butter dissolves. Pour immediately into cooled pie shell and let cool 15 minutes. Chill completely before finishing with meringue, about 4 hours.
For meringue, preheat oven to 350 °F. Whip egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. While whipping, gradually pour in sugar and whip on one speed less than highest until whites hold a stiff peak (the meringue stands upright when whisk is lifted). Whisk in cornstarch and dollop over chilled lemon filling. Use sweeping motions with your spatula to create swirls and peaks that look so enticing once browned. Bake pie for 10 minutes, just until meringue browns lightly. Let pie cool or chill until ready to slice.
Enjoy!! :)