Anyone who knows pastry knows not everyone can make pastry. Very few can make it well. And just a select group of very special culinary craftspeople do it at a very high level. One of those people is Jessica Craig, Pastry Chef for prominent L’Artusi in New York. Her star is rising fast, and she’s even been featured in Essence Magazine, and the Michelin Guide.
She’s also one of the very few women of color working in the kitchens of fine dining restaurants in America. It’s no wonder she accepts the challenge of succeeding as a role model, and has plans to build a bit of an empire. Jessica joins Chef Rozanne Gold in the MouthMedia Network studio.
- Incorporating her Jamaican background in what she does
- The use ion allspice, ginger, hibiscus
- Some history of Italian-inspired L'Artusi, and Marietta the 18 year old cook who had a lot to do with the taste of those recipes
- How Jessica goes about conceiving recipe ideas
- Intergenerational sharing
- NYC vs. other places and judgement
- When someone believed in Jessica as a chef
- Growing up as one of eleven children
- Really appreciating genuine Jamaican food
- How an ice cream truck and an encouraging uncle inspired a pastry career
- Why there may be better paths to success in the food world than going to culinary school
- Wanting to learn sugar and chocolate work
- The state of women in the culinary world, and how her restaurant is pretty diverse
- Acting as a role model despite not liking the spotlight
- An Essence article about Jessica, and an article in the New York Times about her and her family
- Why it matters that her great grandmother was a butcher
- A recipe for business
- Legacy recipe vs. life recipe
- The recipe that reflects her heritage she would love to pout on the menu (but can’t)
- Creating power that’s not taboo
