Behind every cozily stacked layer of cake, buried beneath every lazy drift of chilled whipped cream is what really props up pastry: discipline.
The abandonment, the surrender associated with dessert, is strictly the luxury of the eater. Making something sweet and appealing takes concentration and effort. The home cook needs to do it right just once in a while. For the professional pastry chef, one who must produce the divine daily, even the tiniest butter cookie is a constant test.
That is why Cindy Schuman, whose creations now round out the menu at Kevin restaurant on West Hubbard Street, recently found herself frowning at a bowl of egg yolks. She had been asked a question, interrupting a count to determine how many more eggs needed to be cracked. This was not the time to lose track: The correct number of yolks was essential to the velvety custard that was to become a whiskey-flavored brown sugar ice cream.
Schuman was willing to let a few distractions into her corner of the kitchen, though. She realizes that not many people, customers or casual cooks, have a real sense of what it takes to be a pastry chef.
Television programs and movies have given outsiders a peek inside restaurants, but they usually focus on the workings of the main kitchen. Pastry work is different in ways that can surprise even other kitchen workers.
A chef on a saute line can improvise with the amount of oil in a pan or cooking time of a stew. But pastry takes precision. As Schuman says, the craft is “not necessarily hard, but it is particular.”
That characteristic may not appeal to fledgling chefs attracted by the flamboyant, seat-of-the-pants style of cooking. Pastry chefs usually are not the ones heading into the dining room for a bow after dinner.
And depending on a restaurant’s budget, a pastry staff may find itself marginalized, elbowing for a humidity-free corner in which to place a tray of meringues.
Schuman, though she works in a small, independent restaurant, considers herself lucky. She has two assistants, one for morning prep and another to help with evening service. That allows her to offer such stylized menu items as frozen lemon parfait with pistachio cake and brandied cherries.
Chef and owner Kevin Shikami hired sufficient staff when he opened the restaurant last year, Schuman said. “Not all owners do that.”
Wrapping a chef’s jacket around her 4-foot, 11-inch frame and swooping her long brown hair into a bun, the 32-year-old Schuman got down to work one recent morning with assistant Corin Savini, simmering milk and vanilla in a saucepan, folding flour into melted chocolate and rolling cookie dough for the little after-dinner treats that go to customers with coffee.
While temperatures outside rose into the high 80s, a fan propped up on milk crates kept the air moving. Heat poured out of the Garland convection oven each time a batch of banana cakes came out, and even the giant freezer gave off heat from its motor. The tiny work area seemed close, rather than comfy. (Kitchen staffs love winter.) And recently, the whole restaurant closed while a new air-conditioning system was put in. Schuman couldn’t wait. “In the summer, you scoop ice cream and it melts while you are scooping.”
As the day moved on in the pastry kitchen (and before the frenzied energy that arrives with the first customers), everyone worked steadily and deliberately, not wasting any movement.
And then there was the counting. At the end of each evening’s service, for instance, Schuman gives Shikami her orders for how much fruit needs to be delivered the next day to make the cherry strudel or the carrot-coconut sorbet. Schuman can only estimate how many orders will come in for a particular dessert.
“I hate to have the servers announce to a customer that something is out,” she said.
But chocolate will be ordered. Anything chocolate is guaranteed to sell.
Complements to the chef
Kevin’s menu changes every couple of months. So Schuman, working to complement the chef’s concepts, changes her offerings with it.
For the 180 guests expected that evening, Schuman would have to make enough of the “hot sellers,” such as a chocolate mousse and praline crisp, to keep a portion of those customers happy.
Learning to create a dessert menu that keeps chef and customer happy is something Schuman has learned while working for such high-profile venues as Aubriot, Carlos’ and The Four Seasons. But Schuman came to the business in a roundabout way.
For the most part, she was self-taught, making desserts for family and friends while growing up in Buffalo Grove. Fortunately for her, two of those family friends were Debbie Gold and Michael Smith, who used to run Kansas City’s much-praised American Restaurant.
“They would make incredible Thanksgiving dinners and I would make a tart,” Schuman said.
The friends encouraged Schuman when, after working for several years in advertising, she suffered through the breakup of an eight-year relationship. The pastry amateur decided it was time for a major life change, so she applied for–and landed–a job at Carlos’.
Maybe not everyone would be able to switch gears and start fresh in a new profession. But the people who are attracted to pastry work tend to be like Schuman: perfectionists obsessed with consistency, obsessed with quality.
“Customers want the dessert they liked last time to taste exactly the same when they come back,” Schuman said. That is true with most menu items, but dessert preparation can be incredibly unforgiving and takes much longer than many entrees.
“Things need to be chilled, like the rice pudding, things need to set up, like the ice cream,” she said. “Each menu item is a compound of several recipes. If you run out of chocolate mousse, that’s it for the whole dessert.”
Composing the elements
Preparation for each meal–five lunches and six dinners weekly–is devoted to composing all the dessert elements: churning ice cream, shaping tuile cookies, grinding sesame seeds for the sesame-almond tartlet and melting chocolate drops for a smooth chocolate sauce.
In the late afternoon, the staff meal appeared, but Schuman ate on the fly. “Taking the time to sit down and eat breaks the rhythm of the day,” she said.
When the restaurant opened for dinner at 5:30, and assistant Savini had been replaced by assistant James Whittington, the desserts were ready for all the last minute touches and plating.
When it came to hiring, Schuman was particular about her assistants too. “I wanted people who would pay attention to the details,” she said. “I harp a lot on consistency.”
Orders started coming in over a printer, waiters popped in and out to pick up the plates of cake and ice cream. She scrolled a birthday greeting over a customer’s plate. Schuman and Whittington turned, pulled, lifted, scooped, spun and poured all the elements of their work into the beautiful compositions the diners were paying for.
When the last main course was served and the other cooks were sliding into the tired, loose playfulness of people whose work is done, Schuman was still at it, plating the course that would be the customers’ last impression of the meal.
It was nearing midnight. She looked worn out and ready to relax.
“When it’s all over, we get to do it all again tomorrow,” she said with a smile. “That’s what restaurants are all about.”
Precisely.
What does it take to be a pastry chef?
Simply liking to bake isn’t enough. We asked some notable names in the pastry business throughout the Chicago area to suggest some of the qualities they have found useful in their industry.
Judy Contino, Bittersweet bakery: “A certain amount of patience is needed. There are so many steps to baking; when we make a wedding cake, someone bakes it, someone else fills it, someone else decorates it. There is not as much closure as there is with a chef who cooks fish and gets immediate satisfaction because it was cooked perfectly.”
Sandro Gamba, NoMI (who spent 22 years working in his family’s pastry shops in France): “You must be very sensitive to the clientele, to the guest. More and more, pastry is changing in terms of diet and what people like. A good pastry chef will not be frustrated by this; it is a nice challenge to make them happy.”
Gale Gand, Tru: “I look for people who are detail-oriented, with great eye-hand coordination and good motor skills. Your food has to fit in with the chef’s; you are kind of an extension of the chef in a way. And have cold hands; otherwise everything melts when you touch it.”
Della Gossett, Trotter’s To Go: “Really love what you do. You have to want to do it 10, 12 hours a day, every single day. It’s not always fun. And strive to make it perfect every day; not raw, not overbaked, using the freshest possible fruit and never compromising. You also have to love eating desserts. Believe it or not, I have interviewed people who weren’t that interested in desserts.”
En-Ming Hsu, Ritz-Carlton Chicago: “You do need to follow recipes. Everything has to be scaled right; your artistry is based on formulas. You’ve got to be organized with everything. In pastry work there is a lot that you do ahead of time, so you can control your time a little.”
Elissa Narow, Blackbird: “You need dedication and patience. Baking is a long process; if you mess up, you can’t just add salt and pepper to fix the recipe–you have to start all over again. And understand what kind of pastry chef you want to be. I never wanted to work in a bakery because I don’t enjoy putting together cakes as much as I enjoy putting together plated desserts.”
Jacquy Pfeiffer, French Pastry School at City Colleges of Chicago: “Work like a marathon runner and pace yourself. Stay in shape also because there is a lot of standing that is not good for your knees and feet. And you have to be humble. The better you get, the more you should realize you are only as good as your last chocolate cake. There is always someone better than you are at making chocolate cake, I don’t care who you are.”
Mindy Segal, mk and mk north: “A keen business sense. You have to know how to manage your costs, manage waste, manage labor. When I started, I was just working for the passion of pastry. But the restaurant has to sell desserts. … It is not just about my vision; I have to create something that people will buy.”
— K.E.
Schools for pastry arts
Do you feel your inner pastry chef yearning to break free? Consider taking classes or full-length professional programs in the pastry arts at one of these cooking schools:
College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. 630-942-3663 or www.cod.edu.
Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago, 361 W. Chestnut St. 877-828-7772 or www.chicnet.org.
Elgin Community College, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin. 847-697-1000 or www.elgin.edu.
French Pastry School at City Colleges of Chicago, 226 W. Jackson Blvd., 312-726-2419 or www.frenchpastryschool.com.
Harper College, 1200 W. Algonquin Rd., Palatine. 847-925-6000 or www.harpercollege.edu.
Illinois Institute of Art Chicago, 180 N. Wabash Ave. 312-280-3500 or 800-351-3450 or www.ilic.artinstitutes.edu.
Joliet Junior College, 1215 Houbolt Rd., Joliet. 815-280-2255 or www.jjc.cc.il.us.
Kendall College, 2408 Orrington Ave., Evanston. 847-866-1304, or www. kendall.edu.
Almond-sesame tart
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Chilling time: 30 minutes
Baking time: 35 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
n Adapted from a recipe by Cindy Schuman, who serves this tart with a carrot-coconut sorbet. You can substitute any tropical-flavored sorbet or ice cream from the store.
Dough:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
Filling:
1/3 cup sesame seeds
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 can (8 ounces) almond paste
2 tablespoons flour
3 eggs
1. For the dough, beat butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl; stir in the flour until blended; do not overmix. Shape dough into a disc; wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
2. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll the dough into a 12-inch circle between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Remove top piece of plastic; invert dough into a 10-inch tart pan. Press dough into bottom and sides of pan. Cover bottom with parchment paper; fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until slightly brown, about 10 minutes. Remove parchment and pie weights; set aside.
3. For filling, process sesame seeds in a food processor until powdery, about 1 minute. Add sugar, butter, almond paste and flour; process until smooth. Add eggs; pulse until smooth. Spread batter into tart shell; bake until set and golden, about 25 minutes.
Nutrition information per serving:
575 calories, 55% calories from fat, 36 g fat,16 g saturated fat, 145 mg cholesterol, 260 mg sodium, 56 g carbohydrate, 9 g protein, 2.6 g fiber
Pistachio cookies
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Freezing time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Cooking time: 12 minutes
Yield: 24 cookies
Pastry chef Cindy Schuman makes these butter cookies, colored with a stripe of pistachio filling, to serve at the end of the meal with coffee. We’ve adapted the recipe to make swirl cookies.
Cookie dough:
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
Filling:
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon water
Egg wash:
1 egg
1 teaspoon water
1. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer; beat on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla; beat 1 minute. Slowly add flour, beating on medium speed until a stiff dough forms.
2. Roll out dough on floured surface to a rectangle 3/8-inch thick; wrap in plastic. Freeze until firm, 15 minutes. For filling, place pistachios and sugar in a food processor; process until powdery. Add egg yolk and 1 tablespoon water; process to a smooth paste.
3. Remove dough from freezer; unwrap. For wash, beat egg with 1 teaspoon water; brush over top of dough. Press pistachio paste over dough. Roll dough and filling into a log; wrap tightly in plastic wrap or foil. Freeze until very firm, 1 hour or overnight.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from freezer; unwrap. Slice rolled dough into 3/8-inch-thick slices. Bake on cookie sheet until edges are golden brown, about 12 minutes.
Nutrition information per cookie:
165 calories, 50% calories from fat, 9 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 45 mg cholesterol, 6 mg sodium, 18 g carbohydrate, 2.5 g protein, 0.6 g fiber
Basmati rice pudding with caramel bananas
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Chilling time: 3 hours
Yield: 6 servings
At the restaurant, Cindy Schuman’s comforting rice pudding is glazed on the top with a kitchen blowtorch and garnished with fresh berries. As the weather gets colder and berries go out of season, you might want to try her pudding with bananas.
4 cups milk
1/2 cup each: basmati rice, sugar
8 egg yolks, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter
2 ripe bananas, sliced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1. Heat 2 cups of the milk and the rice in small saucepan over medium heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until rice absorbs all the milk, about 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat oven to 300 degrees. Butter and sugar six 6-ounce custard cups. Heat remaining 2 cups milk and 1/2 cup sugar in medium pan to boiling; whisk a spoonful of mixture into eggs until yolks are heated. Stir yolks into milk and sugar mixture; cook, stirring constantly over medium heat, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in rice and vanilla. Spoon pudding into custard cups.
3. Place custard cups in a large baking pan half-filled with water; bake until just set, about 25 minutes. Remove custard cups from pan; refrigerate at least 3 hours.
4. Heat 2 tablespoons butter and brown sugar in a large skillet; stir in bananas. Cook, stirring, 1 minute; set aside. Slide knife around the edge of puddings; place plate over each pudding. Invert; unmold pudding on to plate. Spoon bananas and sauce over each pudding.
Nutrition information per serving:
355 calories, 35% calories from fat, 14 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 305 mg cholesterol, 130 mg sodium, 47 g carbohydrate, 11 g protein, 0.5 g fiber
