Famend pastry chef Nina Tarasova graduated with a distinguished diploma from the Larger Culinary Faculty Alain Ducasse within the metropolis Yssingeaux ENSP (Ecole Nationale Superiere de la Patisserie). Since then she has been upgrading and expertise and furthering her training. She returns to Europe to endure coaching at a number of the most prestigious pastry colleges usually. With greater than seven years of expertise, Nina works in Russia and overseas conducting masterclasses and consulting for pastry retailers and eating places. She represents Russia yearly at varied worldwide gastronomy festivals and boards.
What impressed you to turn into a pastry chef? You’ve been within the business for fairly a while. Would you could have performed something otherwise when first beginning out?
I awoke in the future once I was nearly 24 years outdated and thought: “What if I prepare dinner one thing particular?” And all of the sudden this “particular” was profitable, so I made a decision to dedicate my life to pastry. I cooked, tried, experimented, mixed, erased, drew, constructed the schemes, tried once more, and loved the outcome. France was and stays for me as a rustic – discovery on the earth of culinary expertise. Individuals can say something about different international locations – everybody has a proper to their opinion, however for me, France isn’t solely a rustic that introduced me nearer to meals and artwork, not only a place of nice high quality merchandise and well-known pastry cooks… but it surely’s the nation of my soul. At any time when I step off the airplane, I turn into so calm, like I come again residence after a really lengthy separation and I really feel that now all the things can be nice as a result of I’m at residence. I lived impressed after studying books of French masters and naturally, I needed to strive all of it out, it was like magic for me.
I’m impressed completely by all the things, particularly France. I get impressed in France and I really feel deeply misplaced and weak if I don’t go there at the least as soon as in six months. Once I create a brand new dessert I could be impressed by the climate, flowers, uncommon sample on the grids, attention-grabbing inside, and dishes! I can take a brand new kind for the dessert within the store, and staying on the checkout I can think about a brand new picture of a dessert – what would be the greatest mixture for this dessert, for this kind. I experiment with chocolate, macaroons, caramel… I do one thing nicely and I perceive that this can be an ideal ornament for a cake or particular person cake. And the most effective substances for it will likely be so-and-so. I need to begin to prepare dinner and embellish as quickly as attainable, to see if my concepts had been proper. And I’m unsuitable very not often.
Immediately I’m a Russian artist-patissier and an Ambassador of the Cacao Barry chocolate, RaviFruit French puree firm, Sosa Elements, Ambassador of WorldSkills 2019, Pure Vanilla Madagascar, and Bergner firm. A graduate of Ecole Nationale Superieure De La Patisserie, I’ve been collaborating in quite a few skilled competitions, a marketing consultant in pastry expertise, and a columnist in lots of pastry journals.
I acquired skilled coaching in France and yearly attend skilled improvement applications in high European colleges. I work in Russia in addition to overseas and maintain grasp courses everywhere in the world. I represented Russia as a patissier.
I consider that if you happen to comply with your dream, all of your goals will come true for positive.
What’s the philosophy and ethos behind the meals you create?
One of the crucial essential issues for me – is the style of my desserts. I all the time work with clear style and flavors and use solely pure substances. We all the time fall in love with our desserts and meals with our eyes first. We like desserts that look yummy. And the second waves of affection seem once we style the dessert.
What’s the most recent pattern in the case of baking and patisserie? What’s one meals (pastry) pattern you would like would simply go away?
As of late vegan desserts, gluten-free and sugarless desserts are common. Persons are increasingly more involved about their good well being. An excessive amount of brilliant glazing with a number of colorants is a pastry pattern I want would go away.
What’s your favourite consolation meals? What’s your favourite pastry or cake or baked product?
One in all my favourite desserts is a standard Russian Honey cake. It brings again reminiscences of The style from my childhood: honey sponges and wealthy bitter cream fillings.
Who or what was your inspiration to turn into a pastry chef?
My inspiration would definitely be Pierre Herme as a result of I studied the fundamentals of pastry artwork and even the French language by his guide PH10.
What’s your recommendation to aspiring pastry cooks?
My recommendation to pastry cooks is to consider in your self and don’t take heed to anybody. Your magic is in your individual fingers, however you need to work relentlessly and passionately to activate your magic.
Future Plans?
I hope I’ll have extra alternatives to show individuals world wide and share all my information and expertise.
Would you think about your self an artist? Are you impressed by artists while you create your pastries? Once you create totally different merchandise daily the place do you get impressed from?
Dessert is primarily created on paper. I all the time carry a pocket book and coloured pencils in my purse; shade is essential to me. Concepts come all over the place – within the subway, in a restaurant, throughout work, and even in sleep. I can get up at evening, schematically sketch my creativeness, describe the composition and proceed to go to sleep. And within the morning I’ll draw in additional element, portray and prescribing all of the layers. After the picture is prepared, I start to consider all of the combos that I outlined. I don’t understand how, however I style even simply eager about it. I can vividly think about how a lot it will likely be tender or sharp, harmonious or “difficult”. I wish to experiment and typically “play” with seemingly incompatible merchandise – yogurt, honey, and wine; saffron and chocolate; greens and herbs, mixed with berries and fruits.
For me, the sketchiness of the dessert is essential to such an extent that I all the time lay its “drawing” inside. To make the cake look lovely, not solely externally, but in addition essentially be attention-grabbing within the context. Usually I compose desserts in airplanes. Having 6 flights of various lengths per thirty days, a number of free time seems in a restricted area. And more and more, it’s exactly at such moments that photos, visions, and the transformation of thought into an concept comes.
Have you ever ever thought of being a vegan chef? How sensible is it being a pastry chef?
No, I don’t produce solely vegan merchandise. However on my menu, I all the time have some vegan desserts. For me, it is extremely essential to work with all spheres of my occupation and I wish to make new experiments with textures and recipes.
What’s your signature dish?
Honey cake and Blueberry-lavender Opera cake.
How has the present pandemic affected your work?
After a very long time, I’m at residence with my daughter. We spend a number of time collectively and it’s our time. I work out a number of new recipes, creations, with new books and for my on-line college “Pastry is magic”. We are able to improve our expertise in our kitchens later with extra focus on particulars.
When the lockdown is over, what’s the first restaurant you’ll be heading to and what is going to you order?
I’ll go to a steak home and can order a very good steak “medium uncommon” roasted.
Which is the dish you’ve created that you’re most pleased with and why?
My “Blueberry-lavender Opera”. It was the primary recipe that was represented at a Michelin Star Restaurant in Strasbourg.
Russian Honey cake
Cream:
1300 g bitter cream 20%
300 g sugar
250 g butter
Path: Bitter cream. Bitter cream is boiled with sugar for an hour and a half. Not stratified! It is extremely essential to prepare dinner it in a water bathtub, stirring usually sufficient. After an hour and a half, your cream turns into silky, delicate, of medium density, and traces from the corolla stay on the floor. Put bitter cream in a bowl and put in a scorching water bathtub. Stir sometimes, boil the cream with a slight boil of water for about 60-90 minutes. In the long run, add tender butter and blend nicely till it dissolves. Cool the mass for a number of hours, most an evening within the fridge.
Honey dough:
3 eggs
50 g of flower honey
300 g sugar
400 g flour
2 tsp soda
4 tsp vinegar or lemon juice (for quenching soda)
50 g of melted butter
Path: From this quantity of dough and cream, I get two small muffins of 10×18 cm, 5 shortcakes in top. Beat eggs calmly with sugar. Switch to a deep pan, add honey, slaked soda, melted butter, and all of the flour without delay. Stir with a wood spatula. Set the pan in a water bathtub and stir now and again, prepare dinner for about 40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 220C. After the time has handed, cut back the hearth below your water bathtub to the minimal and begin working with the dough.
Take a small quantity of honey custard dough and, fairly often wetting your fingers, distribute it as skinny as attainable on a baking sheet coated with parchment paper. The layer ought to be as skinny as attainable – about 1 mm. Every cake individually bakes for about 4-5 minutes. Then, instantly, nonetheless scorching, trim to the scale you want. Let the muffins cool. Make the crumbs out of the scraps. Layers of honey with bitter cream. Cowl the perimeters or all the floor with crumbs. And put within the fridge in a single day.