AUI Corporate Pastry Chef Amanda Haba trained for months to compete at the 2011 National Pastry Team Championship, and on July 9^th all her preparations paid off. Chef Haba earned the “Best Sugar Showpiece” award while competing on Team Gallego, which took the silver medal overall. Amanda's teammates on Team Gallego were former AUI assistant pastry chef Courtney Goldian (currently the Corporate Pastry Chef at Founding Farmers Restaurant in Washington, D.C.) and Executive Pastry Chef Naomi Gallego (Team Captain) of the Fairmont Pittsburgh; the team was coached by Chef Bill Foltz of L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort.

This years competition theme was “Your Favorite Book”, Team Gallego chose Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as their inspiration. The sugar showpiece created by Chef Haba was inspired by the mad hatter’s tea-party, Chef Gallego’s chocolate showpiece was inspired by the Queen of Hearts, and Chef Goldian’s bonbons, desserts and entremets were inspired by multiple chapters from the book.

We followed-up with Chef Haba a couple days after the competition to get her thoughts on the experience. She said, “It was amazing to work with Bill and the ladies and grow in our craft together. The entire experience was really great, we developed an awesome relationship.” She also gave us her thoughts on the competition, “I respect the past competitors even more now that I know what they went through to prepare and compete. It’s exhausting but, I’m looking forward to the possibility of future competitions.”

The National Pastry Championship was held at the J.W. Marriott Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix, Arizona from July 8^th-9^th, 2011. Each team is given a total of 13 hours over two days to complete a lengthy list of required elements including a sugar showpiece, chocolate showpiece, bonbons, entremets, petits gateux, and plated desserts. A panel of judges comprised of industry leaders examines each group on their artistry and technical merit, work ethic and hygiene, and degustation. At this years competition there were four teams that competed to earn the title of Team USA and the honor to compete at the World Pastry Competition in 2012. Awards are given to the team with the overall best competition performance as well as the following categories:

Last week’s Taste of the Caribbean competition was only the second time Chef Kunal Chakrabarti competed at the event, and once again he brought home several awards for The Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas. Chef Chakrabarti earned the Pastry Chef of the Year award (sponsored by AUI) as well as the gold medal for the Individual Pastry Competition. In addition to winning two medals at the competition, he was also inducted into the Taste of the Caribbean Hall of Fame. Last year, Chef Chakrabarti earned a perfect score on his dessert, as well as taking the “Best Use of Chocolate” award at the competition.

So what was the award winning dessert Chef Chakrabarti created to showcase the flavors of his Caribbean nation? He says his dessert “portrays Virgin Island’s native fruit like guavaberry, mango, and coconut in different textures.” He pairs these flavors with a dark chocolate crème brûlée that has a hint of scotch bonnet pepper which is then presented on a spiced speculoos cookie with a pipette of guavaberry-rum sauce. The dessert is then topped with a chocolate decoration encasing a mango ­­­­­­­­­­sorbet. He finishes the presentation with guavaberry compote and Cruzan coconut rum foam.

DESSERT PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE ANNOUNCES

THE TOP TEN PASTRY CHEFS IN AMERICA

At the 18th Annual Awards Ceremony

On Monday, June 6th at The Institute For Culinary Education

New York, NY, March, 2011 -- Dessert Professional magazine, the nation's leading publication of the pastry, ice cream and chocolate industries, will name the top toques of tuile, cocoa and sugar at a ceremony on Monday, June 6 at The Institute for Culinary Education in New York. As dessert professionals have taken their rightful place as culinary luminaries, the magazine that leads the industry will honor those individuals who lead the pastry pack.

This year is only the second time that an all female team has competed at the National Pastry Team Championship. We are proud to be a sponsor of the team, especially because our Corporate Pastry Chef Amanda Haba is a member of the team! In addition to Chef Amanda, our former Assistant Corporate Pastry Chef (and current Willard InterContinental Pastry Chef) Courtney Goldian will be participating with Fairmont Pittsburgh Executive Pastry Chef Naomi Gallego as the team captain. Chef Bill Foltz of L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort is coaching the team, Chef Foltz brought home "Best Sugar" for Team USA at the 2011 “Coupe de Monde de la Patisserie” in Lyon, France.

Chef Gallego will be completing the chocolate showpiece for the team. Chef Haba is working with sugar to complete their sugar showpiece while Chef Goldian will be creating the desserts, entremets, and bon bons for the team.

The team has set-up a Facebook page which they will be consistently updating. Stop by the page, 'like' it (don't forget to cheer them on!) and receive periodic updates on their preparations.

Monday night's 10th Sweet Charity event at the Mandarin Oriental in Washington, D.C. was another huge success! Once again, the event sold out, with over 800 attendees enjoying a night of delicious food from area restaurants, sipping cocktails, and watching models strut down the runway at the chocolate fashion show. The event included sweet and savory dishes from over 40 area restaurants, as well as a silent auction with 70 items, and a raffle for 4 VIP tickets to Regis and Kelly.

This year's winner of the chocolate fashion show was Shaun McCarty, the pastry sous chef for the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Centre. Chef McCarty designed a dress and accesories made from chocolate in the likeness of Gretel from the children's story Hansel and Gretel. His model was Caitlin, a dancer for the Washington Wizard's cheerleading squad.

Executive Chef Daniel Wecker of The Elkridge Furnace Inn was chosen as the recipient of this year's Albert Uster Chef of the Year Award. Chef Wecker was chosen for his long-time commitment to community service. He coaches high school culinary teams, donates time and money to several local charities, and works with the Arc of Howard County to employ the mentally challenged. Previous recipients of the award include Chef Spike Mendelsohn of Good Stuff Eatery and We The Pizza, and Chef Geoff Tracy of Chef Geoff's and LIA'S, both attended Sweet Charity on Monday with tasting tables.