Great article from APPY BISTRO (www.appybistro.com) and Parul Khanna. Very appreciative.

Patisserie Perfectionist: Chef Aaron Maree

BY APPY BISTRO ON FEBRUARY 26, 2016 • ( LEAVE A COMMENT )

 

 

 

 

 

 

21 Votes

It is quite natural to have sweet cravings and it one of the most satisfying feeling for our taste buds to enjoy great desserts but do you ever wonder the person who has created such an alluring dessert for us? A lot of people may not think about it but still there are many who do. Being a chef is not an easy task and being a pastry chef has its own challenges too. To become a pastry chef of highest repute, a lot of hard work and dedication is needed as pastry making or designing a dessert is an art to master. Today we would like to present one such master pastry chef who has perfect understanding of pastry elements and is an ultimate in patisserie perfection.

Meet Chef Aaron Maree, highly successful & highly talented International Pastry chef and a Dessert consultant, highly famous author of more than 15 cookbooks including the world famous cookbook “Arabian Dreams” on modern middle eastern desserts, which won him awards in Paris and with it, he could change the face of Middle Eastern Desserts globally. A vivid traveler & a great teacher.

Apart from that Chef Aaron has won many more awards & accolades, like he has been a “Fellow of the World Master Chefs Society”, has been proud recipient of Culinary Order of Merit, had been awarded Young Queenslander of the Year 1990 by QLD, Australia and Young Achiever Awards 1991 by Channel Nine – Australia apart from receiving an Advance Australia Award for Service to the Food Industry in year 1996. He also happens to be the Youngest TAFE Lecturer in Australia.

Aaron Maree, hails from Australia, highly educated from various prestigious culinary institutes across Australia, France, Switzerland & USA. His professional career started from England where he worked under pastry chef Brian Baker and took him back to Australia again as a lecturer. After teaching for 3 years, he went to New Zealand to work with Death by Chocolate Worldwide. After 7 years, this great chef returned to Australia one more time to be a chocolate consultant with Cadbury Schweppess.

There after he got a great opportunity and he started his full time pastry chef work when he joined Movenpick Restaurants of Switzerland, Canada as a Patissier. After this he started his own patisserie in Canada by the name Dip me in Chocolate which he winded up & sold later, moving on to take another opportunity with Holland America Line Cruise Ships, Seattle USA and managed the entire pastry operations with his team for various cruises, days at length.

With his excellent pastry knowledge & great experience, Chef Aaron got a great opportunity & a very challenging task to work at Al Rawdha Palace, Kingdom of Bahrain as an Executive Patissier catering to the Royalty & highest dignitaries of the Bahrain, which he handled very well for 7 years, after that he did pastry consultancy jobs with some Boutique hotels and private businesses in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Los Angeles, USA.

This incredibly talented chef was judged & chosen to be one of the top 5 Pastry chefs of the Middle East for 2012 and rated as one of the Top 5 Food Guru’s of The Middle East. Currently with his vast experience & unparalleled expertise, he is handling the entire pastry operations at Peninsula Manila Hotel, Makati City, Manila with his team of 25 people.

We interviewed chef Aaron and would like to share the same with our viewers as it gives an insight into this great chef’s mind and his pastry passion:

Q: When did you decide to be a pastry chef?

A: I was 13 when I decided cooking was the career I wanted to work. I eventually found a job and was granted a beginner’s role of dishwashing and making garlic bread on the weekends. Weekends eventually lasted weeks and then i was given basic work such as buffet and salad mise-en-place to do. When i turned 14 the kitchen i was working in employed a Danish pastry chef and what he was doing with pastry I found amazing. I requested to work with him and began an apprenticeship in pastry that same year. 

4 years later I would be in London working for Gary Rhodes at the Castle Hotel, Taunton, later I worked at Hambleton Hall under another famed name Chef Brian Baker before returning to Australia at age 20.

Upon returning to Australia I was fortunate enough to find a publishing company interested in publishing a book concept I had and it was received well worldwide and the publishing house offered me a future whereby I published a total of 14 books. My last book with them was published in 2001.

Q: What has been the most rewarding moment in your career so far?

A: Meeting and working with some of the greatest chefs in the world is definitely a major plus of my career. I have been privileged in my career to travel a lot as well seeing 87 countries. But by far the biggest reward was receiving two awards in Paris for the last cookbook I wrote, ARABIAN DREAMS. It was a personal feat of writing, editing and photography and a pet project I wanted to thank the industry that had been so good to me for three decades. When it was praised and awarded it felt great.

To be honest though the entire career has been rewarding. More so than most could dream. I have published 16 books over my career, I have worked as a chocolate consultant to one of the largest chocolate companies, I have worked in franchising on a global level, i have had the ability to travel, have worked for a King and Queen and numerous world leaders, major brands of hotels and been corporate Pastry chef for some major companies. Its a ever changing career and it has been very rewarding all round.

Q: What has been the toughest thing you have done in your line of work?

A: Standing on your feet for thirty years and doing the hours. Its a tough job physically. Thankfully the amazing food we have created among the many teams I have worked with has been rewarding enough.

Q: What advise would you like to give to the new pastry chefs starting out in this field?

A: Do not come into the industry based on watching anything on television. It is a tough job and paid college courses do not prepare you for the level of stress, hours, and expectations of the brigade that you will encounter. I’m not sure that if I started today that even I would last the same thirty-three years I have worked in the industry. I’m very happy to be where I am in my career with the work and skills behind me now, rather than in-front of me.

It is though a fantastic career and allows you to work in so many countries and in more areas than virtually any other job, ships, restaurants, hotels, resorts, islands, stand alone businesses and eventually your own business, and always surrounded by amazing cakes and pastries.

Chef Aaron Maree is true pastry genius, he has earned a name & a great place for himself in the Patisserie world with his hard work, sincere dedication, absolute passion and un-parallel & unmatched patisserie skills and above all, for sharing his pastry knowledge with the world through his books. He is truly a great inspiration to all the new pastry chefs trying to make a place for themselves in the pastry world.

Cheers Chef Aaron Maree!

Post by: Parul Khanna / Appy Bistro

Picture courtesy: Aaron Maree

Better Late Than Never

I was at a meeting today and someone commented on my status in a TOP TEN list, to which I argued they were wrong.....then I was sent the link to look at...
In 2012 I had the honor of being named on of the Top 5 pastry chefs in the MIDDLE EAST, but I had never been aware that I was also listed in the Top 10 FOOD GURUS of the MIDDLE EAST...

(this was September 2012)
http://www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/pics-15013-caterer-awards-2012-5-perfect-pastry-chefs-named/

CATERER AWARDS 2012: 5 perfect pastry chefs named The shortlisted entrants for MidEast Pastry Chef of the Year unveiled (Aug 28, 2012)

Winner Pastry Chef of the Year: Dragan Rucnov,  Fairmont Bab al BahrMaree... JOB TITLE: Highly Commended: Aaron Maree, Executive Pastrychef, Abu Dhabi.

Had I known about this other honor, it would not have changed anything. But it is in fact nice to know simply from the fact that ARABIAN DREAMS the cookbook which came out in 2011 was self funded and was done so to re-ignite change in the way people think about Middle Eastern Desserts.
In conversations recently with several different parties about the direction of new and up coming projects, I am aware that ARABIAN DREAMS really did do it's job.
That people are starting to see the convergence of Modern French patisserie and the possibility of utilizing Middle Eastern ingredients and flavors into that. Or the fact we can look at a Baklava and transform it into a new dish with the same taste, texture, layers but in a format that our guests never thought possible. Thus giving longevity to the Middle Eastern flavors of old, to a new generation of food lovers, looking for something less traditional and more modern, complex and amazing in looks.
Arabian Dreams the cookbook remains my lives "Oeuvre" and the proudest of all 16 cookbooks that i have written over my 30 year career in pastry. If I do no others, I will be honored to be permanently linked with Arabian Dreams for it speaks from the heart and speaks "ME".

Being named in the MAY 2012 Top 10 Food Gurus in the MIDDLE EAST is an honor, even though it was MAY 2012 and I just found out about it today in February 2013 I am pleased and honored on behalf of Middle Eastern pastry to have been noted, for with a light shone toward me for such, it means that a torch has been held high for the world of pastry in this region and deservingly so.

France is renowned as all things sweet and confectionery like, but I truly believe that the world of tomorrow's desserts and pastries will truly emanate from the wealth of experience and the expertise that is coming out of the MIDDLE EAST at this time...I am constantly and fortunately involved with multiple projects being thought of, conceived and being formatted pre, during and post production and I am aware right now of some truly incredible outlets and concepts coming to all countries with the GCC, and that too makes me happy that the sweet world is evolving here endlessly. For amazing leaps forward in patisserie look no further than THE VICTORIAN (http://mashmoom.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-victorian-patisserie-and-chocolate.html)... Created under the work of Frank Haasnoot (Chocolate World Champion), the concepts have turned pastry again into a true work of art, along the lines started why such visionaries in our trade as Christophe Michalak, the desserts are almost too good to eat, literally. They are really that beautiful.
For me to be named in a list of Top Food Gurus, is one thing, I do not take things like that to hart and let it get the better of me, I never have, even after 20 years of writing and books. I love my trade and I love the process of production of the pastries and cakes, training the staff and making something new. Im in that process right now, of starting something new, and over coming blogs you will learn where and when that "SOMETHING NEW" will occur and live and breathe.
Accolades are nice, but in this case, I'm simply proud that to have been recognized, even a year ago, has brought light toward us all in the pastry professions, here, locally on my home soil of Bahrain or internationally in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia or Cairo....
I love the world of pastry and promise you all that the best is yet to come...I know, I'm building it as we speak....

Top 10 F&B industry gurus in the Middle East

10 Aaron Maree, Patissiere and author
Aaron Maree has
been waving the flag
for Middle East
patissieres for 25
years. Author of
book, Arabian
Deams, he has
worked tirelessly to
push Middle Eastern
pastry under the international spotlight.
He visits Europe often to stay on top of the latest trends, and greatly enjoyed his role as personal executive chef at a Middle East royal palace, before which he held posts including corporate pastry chef to international companies like Cadbury Schweppes and Mövenpick Marche.

Too see the full list of top Ten F & B GURUS in the MIDDLE EAST see the link http://www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/14279-top-10-fb-industry.

Writing that COOK BOOK !!

Interested in writing a cookbook?
Then here is a few words of advice on what to look forward to and what to prepare for when doing so...from someone who has written 15 cookbooks over 20 year period spanning self publishing to the largest publishing houses in the world.
Good luck !!
Article appears in the newest magazine to hit the online world, THE WORD.. Currently online and soon to be on book shelves everywhere...
Enjoy !!

http://www.thewordmagazineonline.com/the-word/booking-the-cooks/

Rewards for Good Things

Some things in life truly surprise you. They are few and far between but they happen.

Someone recently queried my sanity at spending the Bd 20,000 or $75,000 on publishing Arabian Dreams on limited release, throughout just the Middle East. My reply, was , well "I BELIEVED IN THE PROJECT."

Many of us who cook, never invest in ourselves throughout our career . Yet we are our greatest tool. We are not about knives, but about ourselves. A chef does not stand back and point to his expensive knife box and say,"There, that is the sum of my career".

This is not my "ouevre", I believe there is more inside me yet to come, but its pretty dam close. If the remainder of my career I do nothing more than sit back and reflect upon the pride of the effort my team where I work,  made to help produce the dream which was ARABIAN DREAMS, then I will truly be blessed anyway.

I am not a religious person to any great extent, but I do believe if you put good things out into the universe you will be rewarded. (A harsh lesson a GM I know is currently learning on the opposite end of that scale)

ARABIAN DREAMS has definately been a good thing and has been accepted into the universe by thousands of people. Not only has the book become the BEST ARABIC TITLE COOKBOOK IN THE WORLD and on the list of TOP 57 COOKBOOKS of 2011 but it has also sold far greater numbers than I ever hoped for.

If "Success is based upon the amount of risk you are willing to stomach", then risk I did. 

Today Arabian Dreams is to be found in Abu Dhabi at Blossum Cakes store, In Egypt through the Egypt Chef's Association, In England through Squires Kitchen store and On-line, through Lebanesebooks.com can be found in Australia through Fred Mayer imports NSW, and throughout the Middle East in Jashanmal bookstores, booksarabia.com, and in all good bookstores (including Waitrose supermarket in Dubai) through the Middle East.
Starting this week ARABIAN DREAMS has been lucky to garner some truly blessed PR at the hands of amazing magazines. Three full pages in Spinney's FOOD magazine, Dubai, a whole 4 colour pages in HELLO magazine MIDDLE EAST Edition July 23rd publication and more in Dubai Voyager Duty Free magazine and we hear soon to come to Tabloid Saturday in the GULF NEWS newspaper.
Ten months it has been released now and yet sales continue to climb and PRess becomes greater every passing day. To those who joined the Arabian Dream and the most amazing book i have ever been part of, thank you from the bottom of my heart. This book is not about personal gain, but about proving that REAL CHEFS still have a voice in this world. Many publishers prefer home economists and designers who barely cook, because CHEFS are too professional (yes I have a dozen letters from publishers stating that). ARABIAN DREAMS was born, produced, written , photographed and paid for by a team a CHEF who had a belief that the words and the food meant something and deserve to be set free into the universe. Rewards for good things are truly a blessing,

For those of you who do not live in the MIDDLE EAST, please try and get your hands upon a copy to view photos of amazing food, the read the words of Gary Rhodes about the beauty of the Middle East and to read the text from myself and my team who labored over this book of New Age Middle Eastern Concepts.

Before you judge the Middle East based upon news broadcasts, learn about its history and its culture and especially its food. Do not be swayed by politics or fighting. Yes its bad, but there are millions more people working hard within the Middle East who are surviving and trying to tell the world how amazing this place really is. Like any country, there are problems, but below the surface and below the headlines, the people, the culture and the food are an absolute blessing. Even we who live here, are sometimes blinded by its sands. Yet take a day off and most of us wonder at why we would ever consider to leave its shores.

Inside the kitchen we have no boundaries, other than the limits of your imagination and your skill. Step inside a Middle Eastern kitchen and you will find the true United Nations, the absolute Gulf Co-operative Council and a world of absolute freedom.

Thank you to everyone for your interest in ARABIAN DREAMS and may all your DREAMS come true.

Spinney's FOOD magazine available throughout Dubai and the UAE August 2011

Third page of Spinney's FOOD Magazine Middle East 

HELLO Magazine Middle East Edition July 23rd 2011

ARABIAN DREAMS, now selling in Cairo through the Egypt Chefs Association, In Paris at the Librarie Gourmande, In Abu Dhabi at Blossum Cakes, Jashanmals bookstore in Bahrain and also in stores in UAE, Dubai, Qatar and Kuwait. Call Swiss Food in Bahrain for a copy in Qatar or Bahrain or go online at Amazon.com, Lebanesebooks.com, Squireskitchens.com and Booksarabia.com.

Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrodinger....Aaron Maree and Paul Britton....Same Same just different!!

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.

Albert Einstein

I wish Albert Einstein had been a chef. He would have awakened so much within many of us. Thankfully we can still look to him for guidance. A friend of mine has just joined the blogging world , Paul Britton, (check out his site and his food here http://paulbritton.blogspot.com/ ) we work together and chat together about food most days. 

Our years cooking together has seen both of us change and develop as chefs more completer because of the talks that we have had, many conversations nothing to do with food. Inspiration comes from the discussion not from the physical act of talking. Words, visions, ideas have all been translated into food at some stage, some successfully, some , well, we just don’t photograph. Our time together as chefs has truly been a blessing, some days teachers, some days inspirators some days students ourselves of the words we speak and try to translate into edible works of art.

Recently a mutual friend of ours, James Claire a brilliant Bahrain based writer and another theologian of the coffee hour, (Check his blog out http://thescribe-jamesclaire.blogspot.com) wrote an article about his vision of the Schrodingers Cat theorum. 

I won’t relay the whole concept (best you take a look at Paul’s blog site for that, he does it so eloquently). James wrote of how in essence we are all Schrodinger’s Cat living together on Schrodinger’s Planet to anyone living off site from our home rock. 

Paul expanding on this wrote the following.

“If you put a Chef, or team of chefs , as we always travel in packs, in a concrete room,(Kitchen) with gas, fire, electricity and water , all running at the same time in high volume for hours on end in extreme heat, under the correct circumstances one could look at the Schrodinger theory as a kitchen environment. On paper, looking in, are the chef’s alive or dead. All these elements combined are a recipe for a real life quantum entanglement.

This maybe just a chef’s perspective of over thinking a conversation over coffee, but to create good food many topics are talked about, on many levels that might spark a new creation.”

And that’s exactly the ethos and the intellectual environment in which I adore to cook. Chef’s thinking on many levels, voicing opinions and expressing themselves over coffee, lunch or merely during work hours, which makes another think, expand upon the original context and eventually transform the words, thoughts and creativity into a visual feast. To our friend James, they are but words. His mind flows with them and we love him for the freedoms he enjoys by expressing himself in the published written word (Check James Claire out at his home magazine Bahrain This Month http://www.bahrainthismonth.com/regulars/lastword.php ). My friend Paul can take a conversation about Quantum entanglement and develop it into a scenario about the kitchen and me well, I’m left to develop a dessert from our chats ,  I term it simply Entremet Erwin. (after Erwin Schrodinger of course)

ENTREMET ERWIN

You see, the cake is there, but you know someone is going to eat it soon. You see a picture of it because I made it, but at any moment you have no idea if the cake sits in my refrigerator still or has already been masticated. At anyone moment of viewing this photo the cake is both dead and alive. Until you open my refrigerator you have no idea if it is alive or dead. So it is truly Schrodinger’s cake.

But FYI…no cake has ever lasted long in my fridge…

See ya all again soon. Happy thinking leads to happy cooking !!

Birthday Cake 

Something to go with our coffee

The following pics are just todays work in the kitchen... Bon Appetite folks

Fraise Chocolat-Strawberry Gellee ,chocolate sponge, chocolate mousse with raspberry coulis

Dinner for a friend..Chocolate breton Sable, Chocolate Mousseline, blackberry geleee, Chocolate sponge.

Modern Media

This blogging stuff takes a while to understand. Dinsosaur thinking has no place in this fast,efficient and techno world. It's taken me months to work out how to post the PR that has been received for ARABIAN DREAMS. I needed to as we are about to be hit with an onslaught of more from the recent press tour of Dubai. 

BAHRAIN CONFIDENTIAL 2011

Anyway, Hope some of you enjoy it and I hope it inspires a few to buy a copy of the book. Thanks. Don't forget its available through www.lebanesebooks.com, www.amazon.com, www.squires-kitchens.com and www.booksarabia.com.  It is available at the Librarie Gourmand in Paris and available through the Egypt Chefs Association, Cairo. In the Middle East its available through JASHANMALS bookstores, Jashanmal online, Waitrose Supermarket in Dubai, McGrudy's bookstores and through Swiss Foods Ingredients in Bahrain and Qatar. and In Australi it's available through Gary Willis at Fred Mayer Imports in Sydney.

BAHRAIN THIS MONTH MAGAZINE 2010

SPINNEYS FOOD MAGAZINE DUBAI 2010

SQUIRES MAGAZINE UK DECEMBER 2010

OH LA LA MAGAZINE 2011

Ying and Yang

“Cause and effect, ying and yang, butterfly wings and ripples in the pond, no matter how you phrase it, everything we do has a result, what you do now matters, what you don’t do know matters.”

I feel a change in the air this season.

Well why not? 

In a year that has been filled with strange changes;  good and bad, sad and happy. Relationships have come and gone , countries leaders have come and gone, disasters and their after effects have come and stayed with those involved.

What a year, and this is only June ….Half way!!!!!

In the  Middle East summer is baring down upon us fast. Some are already contemplating their departures for cooler shores from now till Ramadan and even beyond.  For those uncertain and not from our shores, summer here is very, very hot.

And so we enter summer.

What to call it?

I mean it has to have a name these days. Starting earlier in the year, around Valentines day everything became labeled for us. What began in late 2010 as the Autumn of Uprisings, soon became the  Winter of Discontent which lead to the Spring of Rage, which then lead to the Summer of ?

Well lets hope anyway it is the Summer of Peace and Contentment and nothing more. Life is tough enough without the added stresses placed upon us all this year.

And so I come back to the changes that are in the air.

A friend from Abu Dhabi asked me to come up with some HALWA flavored desserts and cakes. Halwa is not something I have had a lot of time for. Its not my kind of dessert. Well there you go, I was wrong again !!

Just looking at the stuff in its plastic containers and poking it, does not actually account for having tried it.

I have seen it made at where we work. It always mystified me. Few ingredients, strange colors and a finished product which , well, did not inspire me in the slightest.

And then I was given a challenge. Create from it. And so I did. And I have to say, it’s a pretty good source of inspiration once you get your head around what it actually is. To the un-initiated let me say HALWA is pretty close to Turkish Delight, less perfumed without rose water and less gelatinous, and considering it is heavily peppered with nuts, it is a very texturous product. Adding great substance to several of the desserts I made from it.

The Gateau Voyage Version with Halwa Centre

It makes a sensational mousse, if you follow a few tricks of the trade, and does not require gelatine to set. A plus for this region. Halwa is perfect by itself and suits fresh fruits due to its sweetness. (the tartness of berries and fresh peaches perfect for accompanying it) and truly comes into it's own when baked into a subtle moist coconut cake.

A sweet coconut cake hiding a sweet sticky surprise in its centre!!!

Take a look at some of the things created with this tasty, delicacy of the Moen Orient.

Sometimes its great to be thrown a challenge.

To create with an ingredient you could never have imagined working with and successfully creating something which inspires you.
Some days we seem to be nothing more than guinea pigs on a treadmill going no-where, other days, well they are filled with HALWA, and this guinea pig is thankful for that. 

Sensational Red Halwa Cakes

Ispahan Halwa Vert with Mahalabiyeh

Ispahan Red halwa with fresh peaches

Halwa Mousse Cake with Creme Brulee Centre

Red Halwa Mousse Cake, Inside

A Perfect Face for Radio....

Many amazing things have occurred in the past six months since the launch of ARABIAN DREAMS the book.
I had given up on the idea of a return to writing cookbooks. But at 40 it became a reality and a very great source of pride when a little concept and discussion with my Executive Chef  gave rise to the book that has since gone on to become The BEST ARABIC TITLE IN THE WORLD..
One other thing I had given up on at 42 was a return to Television and publicity in general. ARABIAN DREAMS has, however brought me out of hiding for a further 15 minutes of fame, or infamy.

http://vod.dmi.ae/media/video/15990/Episode_102


The above link should take you to DUBAI ONE television episode 102. If it does, be patient and let it download and watch.  My stint on the programme is between 15:56 to 24:56!!!! FYI.. If it does not automatically download then please cut and past into your address URL and click on it there.The show is great and the hosts Tom and Saba Wahid are absolutely amazing people. We will hopefully meet one day again soon. For all you others, see for yourself, and be kind on your words...please !!
PR and television became necessary for one reason only, ARABIAN DREAMS has made an impact, book sales are higher than we had imagined and the positive feedback by those already cooking from the book has been nothing but positive.
A return to Dubai is imminent, if not know, then definately as we spiral toward completion of the next book. (photography is finished by the way!!!)
Adeiu !! Bon Voyage and of course Bon Appetite !! x

One More Date and Another Tart !!!!!!!!! oh...and a GATEAU VOYAGE!

ONE MORE DATE.............

I was asked recently to do an international dinner for a chefs association outside of my current country. In considering the honor, I wanted to showcase ARABIAN DREAMS , the book, and give the diners for the event a sampling of what I am trying to get the world to see....." That the traditions of the Middle East are amazing and yet they can be turned into NEW AGE masterpieces quite simply."
 LA DATTE ARABIA is perfection in presentation to my humble beliefs. It serves dates, the Middle East's abundant fruit of an honorable past, in a manner few would expect.  At the same time it gives so many variations of it in one dessert. Date and thyme gellee, date cake, date mousse, date ganache and date glaze. So much date, and for most people an horrific concept, having never eaten dates outside of Sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce.
Arabian Dreams was born from a desire to prove chefs can create from the ground up in everything they do. That we are more than one dimensional cooking robots. That our skills, talent and artistry can produce more than plates of 5 minute organliptic pleasure. An idea can blossum one summer ,and by the winters end, it can be turned into an award winning book title. I have never been so inspired nor so proud of anything, as I was ARABIAN DREAMS. OF course that is closely followed every day when the inspiration to cook, makes me proud of the creations we produce, the taste buds we set on fire and the memories of amazing desserts, my diners, patrons and guests will have many moons from now.
The greatest honor a pastry chef can ever be granted would be to hear, a decade from now," I still remember the sensations of dining on that most memorable of dessert you created."

LA DATTE ARABIA - PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE
(White chocolate filled with date mousse, date cake, Umbread
and glazed with Date glaze. Served with date and thyme gellee
date ganache.)

AND ANOTHER TART.............

My dear friend and blog teacher , Anita Menon (Check out her amazing blog) asked me to describe what ,"a day in the life of a Pastrychef" actually entails. Well certain difficulties stand before me in doing that. None of which I wish to share.

Some, within the realm of where I work, believe that all we do as chef's, is sit, chat and drink coffee, and that is about it. Few realise that during the sitting and the chatting, myself and colleagues could be discussing what it is we see before us, which we desire to achieve in reality and some how take dreams and turn them into plated edible perfection.

As a writer, I remember a quote, from I know not who, which stated some thing like," The novel I desire is already written before me. I see the words, they need just be plucked from the air floating before me and scribed upon the page in the order in which they fall."

For us as chefs, it is the same. "I see the finished dish before me, the only thing standing in my way is to place the order, chopped the fruit, bake the cake and organise the parts into that which my minds eye, has already begun to devour."

As a chef and a writer I find many similarities. And much of both worlds collided back in 1987 when Gary Rhodes OBE stated , "Simplicity need not mean sloppy. Done to perfection, the simplest dish can bring you a Michelin Star".

Simplicity in writing is the key. Too big an idea means thousands of pages of explanation. I adore the 800 word essay, where beginning, middle and end; concept, evolution and finality must all collide within a set number of words, be fun to read, or instructive and make sense on a singular published page.

Cooking is much the same. 

You do not have to make every single dish a monolithic enterprise to achieve greatness. Some of the simplest dishes truly are the most memorable.

For me, tarts always seemed too simplistic. Today I hold them high and shout from the highest of mountain tops, that tarts can be magnificent.  A tart shell baked perfectly, a filing not too sweet, not too dry, a simplistic topping of meringue, nuts, or glaze and you have perfection.

A day in the life of a pastry chef can be summed up as a day of tarts. I may sometimes sit and chat a little longer than most. I may sometimes have a few too many cups of coffee. But those who fear that laziness has crept within the soul of this pastry chef need look no further than the photos below. A day in the life of a Tart maker. All made, all prepared, all executed to perfection on a singular day. And yes....others sampled them, some of them twice. Some asked for slices to take home and others where shared among my staff. Simplicity does not mean un-creative either. These gorgeous entities will remain with me now for years and shall sooner or later become the basis of another morphed creation, simplicity will one day have its chance at complicated and stunning. For now, taste speaks for itself; simple, stunning, sexy.

Bakewell tart

Candied Chestnut tartlets 

Chestnut, vanilla creme brulee and fresh fig tart. 

Maple Syrup meringue tartlets

Fresh pear and baked Mascarpone tart 

Tarte tatin

 oh....AND A GATEAU VOYAGE!!!......
Again simplicity wins the day.
Playing for a day with chestnut paste to extend the conceptual range for a European client I did not stop at the perfect chestnut tartlets with Italian meringue nor at the Chestnut, Vanilla Brulee and Fresh Fig tart, but continued on to this gorgeously moist Gateau Voyage Marron. It speaks for itself and so I shall stop.

Gateau Voyage MARRON (white fondant glaze with candied chestnuts and gold leaf)



"LOVE ALL, SERVE ALL" as the famous words of Hard Rock Cafe state. Let the kitchen be the world's true UN. We are all united by the food that we eat, we all deserve a meal and therefore we all must take social responsibilities in the protection of the earth on which we live. No food, No us, No blogs. Oh what a shame!!!

Stepping Back Into The Fray

Wow what a day.  March 12th 2011

I stepped away from the glitz of publishing for more than a decade and today was my first foray back .Thanks to the success of Arabian Dreams cookbook, not because I truly wanted to step back in.

I’m just not media hungry like I was at 20 years old.

Still. . .There I was sitting in the Green Room before the ALLURE OF THE EAST - FOOD PANEL went on stage at the Emirates Airlines Dubai Literary Festival, it was hard not to remember the days when I traveled to many of these events back between publishing books one to fourteen, somewhere in the 90’s. Today I’m definitely the outsider. Not the oldest, quite young compared to other authors, but definitely still the outsider. One book in ten years and I am sitting in the same room as the amazing Margaret Attwood and truly accomplished best selling Madhur Jaffrey…wow…out of my depth.

It was an honor to have been asked to speak at the Emirates Airlines Dubai Literary Festival and the subject matter really does appeal to me…What is the ALLURE OF THE MIDDLE EAST when it comes to food?…for me it’s the traditions and simplicity of some of the dishes. So simple that they are easy to mess up? How can this be! Well as a chef we over complicate matters by thinking rigidly. We think of skills and methods taught us through schooling and our own practices. The truth of the matter is, we often need to set them aside and remember that many Arabic mothers and grand mothers still to this day do not have modern machinery in their homes with which to cook with. It is that “touch of the hand” that my fellow panelists Madhur Jaffrey, Susan Husseini and Ariana Bundy(wow! now there is a great and amazing looking fellow pastry chef) all spoke so eloquently about. The “touch of the hand” is the truth of the Arabic food secret....."If you feel the food, love the food and have passion for the food, the food will be successful and tasty, no matter how simple or complex your recipe."

I agree. Some chefs I have worked with just don't have the touch of the hand and you can see it immediately. It's the difference between cooking being a JOB and cooking being a CAREER.

Book signings after the panel finished up, was a humbling session especially sitting beside Madhur Jaffrey. She can outsign anyone. About ten books to one.

Lunch after the event was with my publisher at Jamies Italian in Festival City. Wanted to try this as rumors are that Jamie Olivers Italian restaurant will soon be for our shores of Bahrain.

Honestly I went with the attitude that I did not want to like it. Truth is I loved it. Glad I did not pay, as it was pricey, but seriously nice food. I just hope the waitresses they have in Dubai, come to our shores.

My friends and I will be regulars for sure if that’s the case.

Discussed future book titles today, so please stay posted and by the way, book sales are better than even the author could have imagined, so please tell everyone about ARABIAN DREAMS cookbook, inside and outside of the Middle East, Book Sales are testament that this book has legs , as it is walking out of the bookstores everywhere.

Reprint is a word I love, and we are awfully close my friends so please keep the numbers ticking over. (And a huge thank you to those who have supported the belief that Middle Eastern Desserts deserved their own book.)

To top off a most amazing day I picked up a copy of the BBC Food Middle East Magazine and found that there list of top ten food trends list ARABIAN DREAMS as number 8 beating Gordon Ramsey’s Chefs Table at Verre Dubai, which came in at ten.

Last week we received BEST ARABIC TITLE IN THE WORLD, this book is just about the proudest achievement in this 42 year olds life.

Anyway, a great day done, I flew to Bahrain , touching down for just 5 hours to change the luggage and then run back to the Bahrain International Airport once again ….next stop…. Paris.

Will post pics soon to anyone following these screeds.
But the ones of Dubai, the ALLURE OF THE EAST and the Book Signing in Dubai will have to wait (sorry, forgot the right cables for the wrong camera!!!)

Remember “Love All-Serve All” , not my words, but from the palace of musical history, Hard Rock Café, since 1971, but truer by the day the world over.

MARCH, MARCH, MARCH…. I LOVE MARCH

Wow, what a month. I love March.

First of all thanks to those who have already congratulated me on the big win of the year. And for those who do not know, ARABIAN DREAMS, our teams little book made here in the tiny nation island of Bahrain, had been awarded BEST ARABIC TITLE COOKBOOK IN THE WORLD….. yes IN THE WORLD...by the Gourmand Cookbook Awards at the Cookbook Fair in Paris on March 3rd.

BEST ARABIC TITLE COOKBOOK...........IN THE WORLD

My team are thrilled with the win, for it truly justifies in ourselves anyway the time and effort we spent on testing the recipes, baking for the pictures and most important …EATING.. all the dishes that went into this amazing achievement of a book.

As I have written before, this was book 15 for me, but truly this baby was my proudest. Amazing that when you dream up a concept, believe in it 1000% and then carry it through financially and all, what an amazing labor of love can really create.

Now lets try and find someone who will print ARABIAN DREAMS in ARABIC so the real people we produced this for, can truly enjoy it.

On March 6^th A very dear friend of mine had a birthday and even I must say, I was shocked at the beauty of the birthday gift received.

On March 11^th I’ll be flying to Dubai to appear at the Emirates Literary Festival and signing copies of ARABIAN DREAMS…..did I mention it was also crowned ONE OF THE TOP 57 COOKBOOKS IN THE WORLD.

Following my  showing up and signing copies for avid readers, ( I do pray someone turns up) I’m then off to Paris. My favorite city on the planet, unashamedly from a pastry perspective. I’ll be working during my time there. Firstly being a student myself at the Bellouet Conseil and then visiting my favorite equipment, literary and ingredient haunts and bringing all that goodness back with me.

I’ll be returning at the end of the month , but let me state that On March 27^th I’ll be turning 42 years of age.

Proud 42 year old chef with his teams cookbook ARABIAN DREAMS (wait till you see our next book- if you think this was amazing......)

So you can see why I love March so badly. Its going to be a party month for me.

I’ll be posting photos from Dubai, Paris and of the birthday so please stay tuned and I hope I can tempt you into the kitchen with some of the amazing photos.

Remember people, in the words of Hard Rock café, “LOVE ALL-SERVE ALL”  

Chocolate and Pistachio tart...mmmh mmmh mmmmmmm

CUBE DUBAI...chocolate chocolate and more chocolate...YUM