We started this 2023 with the launch of a new issue of so good.. magazine, an issue with which, in addition to presenting the work of pastry chefs from around the world, we also wanted to raise awareness and place ourselves before the mirror. We ask a question to all of those who are part of artisan pastry: what are you doing? And what we are referring to is the need to carry out daily work that is more sustainable, more respectful of the environment, more efficient in terms of energy, and even if it is more ethical.
To address these questions in depth, we have asked a total of seven prestigious pastry chefs from different parts of the world how they have implemented sustainability in their daily professional lives, with surprising and enlightening answers. The protagonists are Lauren V. Haas, Francisco Migoya, Juan Contreras, Nicolas Dutertre, Jo Barrett, Nicoll Notter, and Natsuko Shoji. And to avoid staying only on the theoretical level, we have also asked them to create a recipe to put their principles into practice.
No less interesting are the three technical articles that are also included in this so good.. magazine #29.
The first is by Michel Willaume and Marc Balaguer, who provide us with a very interesting study on fruit glazes. Under the premise of achieving more natural fruit glazes, they have developed simple basic recipes to work with up to 100 different coatings.
Richard Hawke, shares the second of the technical articles that we collect in this issue. The author of the famous book, Adapt, which you can find at booksforchefs, pours all of his technical experience with pectins to offer us a very practical article, full of comments, tips, and concrete information on how to work with this kind of ingredient in all contexts and applications.
Finally, the Japanese pastry chefs Daisuke Mori and Yohei Nakayama, owners of two of the best pastry shops in Tokyo today, invite us to discover the world of fermented foods through two of Japanese gastronomy’s iconic products, miso and sake, but taking them to the level of haute western pastry. There is a piece of information that we attach the utmost importance to, and that is that of the 24 chefs that we have gathered in this so good.. magazine, a total of 13 had not yet visited us. Therefore, there are 13 new professionals joining the great so good… family, something that makes us extremely proud.
Among them we welcome Camila García Elizalde, a young Chilean pastry chef, owner of StudioPas Academy and who practices a pastry charged with emotionality and good taste, as can be seen in the three creations that she offers us exclusively. Another of the professionals who is visiting us for the first time, and surely will not be the last, is the South African pastry chef based in Australia, Anthony Hart, who works with equal passion in the professions of pastry and photography, as evidenced by the three delicate desserts that he gives us.
And the same welcome goes to an Italian who is passionate and studious about baked dough, Andrea Tortora, who, in addition to showing us his art, invites us to reflect on innovation and tradition. It is also the first time for Abel Bravo and his revisited classic cakes with a local touch; for Valentí Mille, a young Frenchman who is doing wonders at the head of the sweet station of the Four Season in Madrid; and for the Dutch pastry chef Roger Van Damme, a renowned figure who from the Het Gebaar restaurant in Antwerp (Belgium), proposes a pastry of great beauty and perfect execution.
And we are pleased to see other chefs of incalculable talent in our pages, such as Josep Maria Ribé, and the chocolates with his trademark; Cédric Grolet, with two unbeatable classics and his most iconic dessert; Malaysian pastry chef Otto Tay, and his dim sum turned into a sweet delicacy based on crêpe dough and pâte à choux inside; and the Scottish pastry chef Ross Sneddon, who from The Balmoral Hotel invites us to discover his exclusive sweet and savory pastries. We complete this tour with two exceptional collaborations, that of Antonio Bachour with the Bachour Buffets under his arm; and that of Yohan Ferrant, who does the same with his Oh là, là. Both books, published a short time ago, have become the two great best sellers of booksforchefs.com