Johnson & Wales Chefs Win Bread And Pastry Championship
A panel of world-class judges chose the winners based on work, artistry and taste. The pastry judges included former Johnson & Wales Distinguished Visting Chefs® Ewald Notter; Anil Rohira; and Thomas Vaccaro, recently voted Pastry Chef of the Year by the American Culinary Federation.
Working on the theme of "American History," the team created a bread showpiece, a pastry showpiece incorporating sugar and chocolate, two different types of bread, an entremet (cake), a plated dessert and three Viennoserie (baked goods made out of "laminated" dough, like croissants). They decided to focus on symbols related to the American Indian and put in countless hours throughout the summer and early fall practicing.
Abdullah's pastry showpiece included a galloping pinto horse made of blown sugar, capturing a feeling of freedom, while Hitz produced a bread sculpture that included a feather headdress almost suspended in air and held in place by a delicate system of leverage.
These two team members represented all the baking and pastry instructors University-wide; tryouts for the team were open to faculty at all campuses. "The entire Baking & Pastry department, as well as other members of the College of Culinary Arts, pulled together to make this event happen," said Martha Crawford, assistant dean of the International Baking & Pastry Institute at Johnson & Wales. "From storeroom procuring ingredients, to maintenance controlling the environment in which they worked, to other instructors assisting with practices — including the newest instructor, Dominique Bocquier, even before his official start date — it was definitely a team effort."
Abdullah and Hitz are no strangers to competition; Hitz was a member of Team USA 2002 for the World Baking Cup held in Paris. His bread sculpture helped the team garner the silver medal. More recently, Abduallah was a finalist for the 2004 PatisFrance competition.
While the Championship marked the first time the two chefs competed together, they first worked together many years ago; Abdullah was a student in Hitz's class during Hitz's first year on faculty. Both chefs arrived in the culinary world by a circuitous route.
Hitz originally went to art school; his final project entailed designing dinnerware. He realized he was more interested in "making the stuff to go ON the plates," and went home to Switzerland to complete a two-year pastry apprenticeship. As for Abdullah, he was running a janitorial business with his wife in Alaska when he chanced to see a pulled sugar demonstration at a local mall. He told the chef that he'd like to learn how to do it, to which the chef replied, "That's what everyone says." Determined to let his actions speak louder than words, Abdullah decided to enroll at Johnson & Wales.
"These two men are such talented chefs, we are thrilled that they ended up in the baking and pastry arts," said Crawford. "Their win is a testament to the strength of the teaching faculty at Johnson & Wales."
The first of its kind, the Championship featured six teams comprising a professional baker and a professional pastry chef; while there are several competitions that focus on either baking or pastry, this event was the first to bring the two disciplines together. The Food Network will air a special later this year on the event; High Noon Productions visited the Johnson & Wales Campus in September to film Abdullah and Hitz during a practice session.
Johnson & Wales — America's Career University® – was founded in 1914. It is a private, nonprofit, accredited institution offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, food service, education, hospitality and technology. Preparing students for successful careers is the cornerstone of the University's educational philosophy. A benchmark of the University has been its 27 consecutive year employment record - within 60 days of graduation, 98 percent of its students from the 50 states have jobs in their chosen career field. With an enrollment of nearly 16,000 students, Johnson & Wales maintains campuses in Providence, R.I., Charleston, S.C., Norfolk, Va., North Miami, Fla., and Denver, Colo. In September 2004, it opened its newest campus in Charlotte, N.C. For more information about Johnson & Wales University, visit www.jwu.edu.
Source: Johnson & Wales University