February 16, 2008

Juan Arache

Juan Arache is a neighbor of mine who teaches cake decorating at his shop here in Sunnyside,at the Sugar Room. My wife first told me about  his store one day and payed for a decorating class for me to attend along with several chatty women, I was the only male student of course ! The class was based on the Wilton decorating method with a lot of input and experience from Juan's years of cake decorating as well as his secret weapon, the over the top Dominican cake which made for constant gaggle amongst my fellow classmates. You see the Dominican cake is the rage here in New York, amongst office parties and has even hit the Anglo's for a loop. The cake is sold by the pound (a lost in translation sort of thing, which Juan explains), and is a rich pound cake and Juan knowing full well everyone wants to
make it rather than pay for it put it in his curriculum as an incentive to join! For a while I wanted to speak to this soft spoken and very dedicated craftsman, he follows the old school traditions of using his hands and heart to create the perfectly decorated cake for any occasion! Juan is also active in his community contributing weekly in El Diario, where he can introduce flavors of the Latin American pantry while living in the American perspective.

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January 12, 2008

Dieter Schorner

341_aI recall first seeing Dieter Schorner in my bread class one Saturday morning about 10- years ago, he left some samples that we enthusiastically polished off! Chef Jacques Torres told us to try the Danish pastries, we didn't need much encouragement either. They were toothsome crisp layers of buttery dough married with pistachio paste and sugar glaze, it was sublime yet so simple. A few weeks later when I befriended a German student from his class, we exchanged stories about cooking and our mutual link to Germany, he kindly left me  copies of Chef Schorner's recipes a literal treasure trove!
I can tell you his brownies with cherries soaked in orange juice are addictive, his stollen simple fruit and nut filled pieces of manna. So when I received e-mail from him that he would be available to speak to me, I was like a kid in a candy shop. First his knowledge is worth its weight in gold, his storytelling from a different era with anecdotes that are well placed for a complacent generation! As for the knuckle headed publisher who said he wasn't current, he should have his head examined! Chef Dieter is a living book of pastry and life experiences  and I can't wait  for a copy!

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