The National Culinary Review - July/August 2010

FEATURES

Cream and soda siphons can produce ethereal textures not possible by hand.

BASIC TO HIGH-END
Laiskonis is not alone in naming the offset
spatula as a favorite tool. Pichet Ong, owner
of Spot Dessert Bar and Village Tart, New
York, says, “For ordinary, everyday kitchen
tools, I love small offset spatulas. I use them
to frost cupcakes, scrape errant crumbs off
a cake, cut desserts and, during service,
spread garnishes on dessert plates.”
I can apply in my pastry-making, which
frequently combines the use of savory
ingredients in sweet applications, this
machine also helps make storage and
organization more efficient,” Ong says.

He puts his favorite tools into three categories: basic, high-end and in between. The spatula falls into the first category, as does another tool he can’t live without, a bowl scraper. ” In these days of slim profits and a tough economic climate, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of getting every last bit out of a mixing bowl from the perspectives of respecting precision in recipes and reducing food waste,” he says.

In the in-between category, he relies on cream and soda siphons used to produce ethereal, light textures that can’t be achieved by hand. “These are definitely worth the investment for every chef,” he says.

Chef Rubber

But despite his fondness for the use of
high-tech gadgets, Ong also pays homage
to the craft of baking and pastry-making.
“As a chef who prefers to whip creams
and other mixtures by hand, a whisk with
a wide balloon is also a simple tool I love.
Given the fact that it is emblematic of the
field of pastry arts, when I use it, I feel
connected to a long line of pastry-makers
who have ennobled the field.”
it,” she says. “I insist that my staff learn to
roll doughs by hand and, in fact, don’t have
a mechanical sheeter in my kitchen.”
In the category of “neat kitchen toys,”
Ong favors the blast chiller. “It cuts down
production time, since all of the doughs
that I use require chilling and resting time,”
he says. “It also helps to maintain the
integrity of the pastry product. Another
tool I like is a cryovac machine, which is
useful in a confection-driven kitchen.”
When Segal says her products are
handmade, she means it. Whether she’s
working on the chocolate sucrée dough
or the pork fat- or duck fat-based brisée
dough, she says rolling doughs by hand
leads to an even, consistent product. “You
can taste that the cookies made from these

BY HAND Mindy Segal, chef-owner of Hot Chocolate in Chicago, can’t live without her baby rolling pin, aka, fondant roller. She uses it to roll out each of the more than 12 different doughs she features in her operation’s line of cookies and tarts. “I like to feel the dough under my hands as I roll

Kerekes/ www.BakeDeco.com

Check out these sources for pastry chef tools.

For the past five years, the cryovac has found a home on the savory and sweet sides of his kitchen, used for preserving, marinating and storing food items. “Beyond the interesting cooking techniques that