2 answers
Charlotte
Student
Penfield, New York
2
Questions
Asked
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How did current pastry chefs get started out of culinary school?
I want to publish my own cookbook someday
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2 answers
Lynn Miller
Private and Personal Chef, Food Stylist, Recipe Developer
14
Answers
Cold Spring, New York
Updated
Lynn’s Answer
There is so much to learn to get a solid foundation in pastry-bread baking, sourdough, dough lamination, chocolate production and management, all the differing kinds of cakes (butter, genoise, angel, sponge, etc) and all the different kinds of creams-creme patisserie, buttercream in all it's forms, bavarois, etc etc. You need a solid foundation in all these pastry disciplines before applying for a pastry cook position. Understand that once you graduate from culinary school you leave with a toolbox of pastry skills.
Having the toolbox does NOT make you a pastry chef. It qualifies you to work in a pastry kitchen or bakery in a supportive role under the direction of a pastry chef. Practical work in a professional kitchen is where you hone your skills and expand your abilities, repertoire, and learn operational management. The repetitive production required of you in a support position is the only way to develop the efficiencies needed to rise in the ranks of the kitchen brigade. Allow yourself plenty of time to garner these skills-at least 3-4 years post graduation, maybe more.
However, there is a big difference between the work a pastry chef does in a restaurant or catering venue and the work of a cookbook author. Cookbooks written by restaurant chefs serve only as tools for self promotion with little, if any practical use to the home cook-even a highly skilled one. Restaurant chefs develop and test their recipes using equipment mostly unavailable to the home cook -convection ovens, digital scales, heavy duty baking pans, specialty molds and ingredients.
The best cookbooks, especially in the realm of pastry and baking, are those written and developed by experienced recipe developers. Each recipe should be tested multiple times using differing equipment found in the average home kitchen-gas vs. electric ranges, stand vs. hand-held mixers, etc etc. The idea is that each recipe should be successful for the home cook regardless of their skill level and tools on hand.
Additionally, before attempting to write a cookbook, you need to familiarize yourself with the different styles of recipe formatting and how each style is targeted to a specific audience. They do not teach any of this in culinary school. The best way to learn recipe writing is to work as a recipe tester in an editorial test kitchen or for an established culinary author, then move on to hone your skills as a recipe developer and the specific processes by which effective recipes are written, tested, edited, retested and finalized.
One more note about writing a cookbook. NO ONE makes any money from the publication and sales of a cookbook-even celebrity chefs. Notice how quickly cookbooks are released, then wind up stacked on the tables of Sam's Club and Costco at radically reduced prices. It's usually a matter of months, if not weeks. Publishers are inundated with thousands of queries for potential cookbooks every week, most of which go directly to the "round file." Query letters to publishers typically contain a quick cover letter explaining the overall viewpoint and target audience, an outline of the different chapters, and a few recipes-NOT complete cookbooks.
And here is the kicker-best selling cookbooks contain A LOT of photos, both of the recipes in progress and the final result. The costs of photos are paid for by the author, NOT the publisher. You want photos in your book, be prepared to hire a qualified photo team which consists of a photographer and their assistant, a food stylist, a prop stylist and a graphics designer. Just so you know what these cost, I work as a food stylist specializing in pastry and baking for many publishers, editorials, bloggers and vloggers. My usual day rate is $850/day plus expenses. Photographers average $1200/day plus expenses and that's the lower end. All those costs come out of THE AUTHOR'S pocket, not the publisher's.
Here are a few cookbooks worth reading thoroughly that will provide you with a basic understanding of the discipline required of a skilled pastry chef/baker/author:
1. "The Baker's Dozen"-a compendium of classic breads and pastries by twelve renowned bakers each sharing and comparing their approach to collaboratively develop the most successful and tasty versions. I love the angel food cake from this book-a real winner.
2. Any of Rose Levy Berenbaum's "Cake Bibles"-every recipe is meticulously tested, includes every nuanced detail, and measurements are shown in volume, empirical weights, and metric.
3. "Bakewise" by Shirley Corriher. She's a food scientist that explains in minute detail why and how recipes work and why they don't. She is Alton Brown's go-to for the science behind successful recipes, eventhough his recipes are rather boring. I've always thought he was a lazy cook, but that's beside the point.
Good luck pursuing your ambitions in the culinary discipline of baking and pastry. Go to culinary school and stuff your toolbox as full of skills as you can. Have a plan "in mind" about how you hope to eventually make a vocation of it, but be open to all the differing ways you can use the skills that you've developed along the way.
Having the toolbox does NOT make you a pastry chef. It qualifies you to work in a pastry kitchen or bakery in a supportive role under the direction of a pastry chef. Practical work in a professional kitchen is where you hone your skills and expand your abilities, repertoire, and learn operational management. The repetitive production required of you in a support position is the only way to develop the efficiencies needed to rise in the ranks of the kitchen brigade. Allow yourself plenty of time to garner these skills-at least 3-4 years post graduation, maybe more.
However, there is a big difference between the work a pastry chef does in a restaurant or catering venue and the work of a cookbook author. Cookbooks written by restaurant chefs serve only as tools for self promotion with little, if any practical use to the home cook-even a highly skilled one. Restaurant chefs develop and test their recipes using equipment mostly unavailable to the home cook -convection ovens, digital scales, heavy duty baking pans, specialty molds and ingredients.
The best cookbooks, especially in the realm of pastry and baking, are those written and developed by experienced recipe developers. Each recipe should be tested multiple times using differing equipment found in the average home kitchen-gas vs. electric ranges, stand vs. hand-held mixers, etc etc. The idea is that each recipe should be successful for the home cook regardless of their skill level and tools on hand.
Additionally, before attempting to write a cookbook, you need to familiarize yourself with the different styles of recipe formatting and how each style is targeted to a specific audience. They do not teach any of this in culinary school. The best way to learn recipe writing is to work as a recipe tester in an editorial test kitchen or for an established culinary author, then move on to hone your skills as a recipe developer and the specific processes by which effective recipes are written, tested, edited, retested and finalized.
One more note about writing a cookbook. NO ONE makes any money from the publication and sales of a cookbook-even celebrity chefs. Notice how quickly cookbooks are released, then wind up stacked on the tables of Sam's Club and Costco at radically reduced prices. It's usually a matter of months, if not weeks. Publishers are inundated with thousands of queries for potential cookbooks every week, most of which go directly to the "round file." Query letters to publishers typically contain a quick cover letter explaining the overall viewpoint and target audience, an outline of the different chapters, and a few recipes-NOT complete cookbooks.
And here is the kicker-best selling cookbooks contain A LOT of photos, both of the recipes in progress and the final result. The costs of photos are paid for by the author, NOT the publisher. You want photos in your book, be prepared to hire a qualified photo team which consists of a photographer and their assistant, a food stylist, a prop stylist and a graphics designer. Just so you know what these cost, I work as a food stylist specializing in pastry and baking for many publishers, editorials, bloggers and vloggers. My usual day rate is $850/day plus expenses. Photographers average $1200/day plus expenses and that's the lower end. All those costs come out of THE AUTHOR'S pocket, not the publisher's.
Here are a few cookbooks worth reading thoroughly that will provide you with a basic understanding of the discipline required of a skilled pastry chef/baker/author:
1. "The Baker's Dozen"-a compendium of classic breads and pastries by twelve renowned bakers each sharing and comparing their approach to collaboratively develop the most successful and tasty versions. I love the angel food cake from this book-a real winner.
2. Any of Rose Levy Berenbaum's "Cake Bibles"-every recipe is meticulously tested, includes every nuanced detail, and measurements are shown in volume, empirical weights, and metric.
3. "Bakewise" by Shirley Corriher. She's a food scientist that explains in minute detail why and how recipes work and why they don't. She is Alton Brown's go-to for the science behind successful recipes, eventhough his recipes are rather boring. I've always thought he was a lazy cook, but that's beside the point.
Good luck pursuing your ambitions in the culinary discipline of baking and pastry. Go to culinary school and stuff your toolbox as full of skills as you can. Have a plan "in mind" about how you hope to eventually make a vocation of it, but be open to all the differing ways you can use the skills that you've developed along the way.
andrew ALVA
Private Chef/Catering/Sous Chef/Ranch Chef
1
Answer
Corpus Christi, Texas
Updated
andrew’s Answer
"Making a cookbook is kind of like making a storybook, but with food! Here's how you do it:"
Pick your favorite recipes.
Think about foods you love to eat or cook. Maybe cookies, spaghetti, or pancakes!
Write down the ingredients.
Ingredients are the things you need to make the food. Like flour, eggs, sugar — write them down in a list.
Write the steps.
Tell someone exactly how to make it, step-by-step. Like "First, mix the flour and sugar. Then, add the eggs."
Add pictures or drawings.
You can draw pictures of the food or take real pictures and put them in your book.
Make a cover.
Every book needs a cool cover! You can call it something like "Emma’s Awesome Cookbook" or "Cooking Fun with Jake."
Put it all together.
Staple the pages, put them in a folder, or even make a little book with a grown-up's help.
Pick your favorite recipes.
Think about foods you love to eat or cook. Maybe cookies, spaghetti, or pancakes!
Write down the ingredients.
Ingredients are the things you need to make the food. Like flour, eggs, sugar — write them down in a list.
Write the steps.
Tell someone exactly how to make it, step-by-step. Like "First, mix the flour and sugar. Then, add the eggs."
Add pictures or drawings.
You can draw pictures of the food or take real pictures and put them in your book.
Make a cover.
Every book needs a cool cover! You can call it something like "Emma’s Awesome Cookbook" or "Cooking Fun with Jake."
Put it all together.
Staple the pages, put them in a folder, or even make a little book with a grown-up's help.