What does a pastry chef do?
You work to the gram and to the degree, in the coldest corner of the kitchen, on the part of the meal people photograph.
Also called: patissier, dessert chef, pastry cook.
A day looks like
- 1You weigh everything. Pastry is the one section where 'about' is not a quantity.
- 2You work ahead — what goes out tonight was started yesterday and what you make today is for tomorrow.
- 3You temper chocolate, and either it snaps and shines or it does not, and there is no middle.
- 4You do the same decoration ninety times and the ninetieth goes to a table too.
Hardest part
Pastry does not forgive. A savoury chef can taste and adjust; you find out whether you were right two hours later when it is set, and by then the only option is to make it again.
Best part
Breaking a sheet of properly tempered chocolate and hearing the snap.
How you actually become a pastry chef
- At schoolA liking for precision more than a liking for cooking — this section suits the careful.
- TrainingCatering college or an apprenticeship, then years on a pastry section.
- How longTwo years to hold the section in service, five or more to run a pastry kitchen.
- Your first jobCommis pastry chef — weighing, lining tins, and a lot of washing up.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is pastry a separate job from being a chef?
- Because it works differently. Savoury cooking is adjusted by tasting as you go; pastry is chemistry set in advance, weighed to the gram and judged after it has set. Kitchens keep it as its own section with its own chef for that reason.
- Why is the pastry section always the cold corner?
- Because butter, chocolate and cream all behave differently a few degrees warmer. Pastry sections are deliberately sited away from the stoves, and in hot kitchens some work has to be done early in the morning.
- What is tempering?
- Taking melted chocolate through a specific sequence of temperatures so that the cocoa butter crystallises in a stable form. Tempered chocolate is glossy and snaps; untempered chocolate is dull, soft and develops white streaks.
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