QUEEN’S ROAD:Elaine Young is a consultant pastry chef and chocolatier from Australia. She is in the city to add zing to Bliss Chocolates and is blending Indian flavours with European methods. To be able to do that, she toured around the city and exuberantly sampled the culture and the food she encountered. MTR fascinated her a lot and inspired by the food she ate, she has blended chocolates with masala curry powder and cashew. She also used garam masala and chocolate to coat nuts and many more uncommon flavours.
In a chat with City Express, she shares some of her experiences in Bengaluru:
The roots
I came from a family of business entrepreneurs where financial gains are the measure of success. I turned my back on this, quit my job as a marketing professional for a large multinational company and took a diploma course in Culinary Arts instead. At the age of 23, armed with a diploma in pastry arts and a kitchen the size of a single car park space, I found myself making wedding cakes. Beautiful sugar flowers surrounded me for years and inspired me to learn more.
I consumed books, magazines, and visual inspirations from cake artists, florists, architects, interior designers, and fashion designers. I drew inspiration from them, combined ideas and concepts, eventually making original wedding cakes for my clients to mark their special day. I look up to chefs like Ferran Adria, Pierre Herme and Paco Torreblanca to name a few.
The journey
I became a consultant pastry chef for Nestle, developed recipes and provided training and support to their clients and also became a pastry chef instructor. I knew exactly where I wanted to be but also took the opportunities that came my way, eventually paving a path to where I am now. Even before I had graduated from the culinary school, the then Executive Sous-Chef of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Melbourne mentioned that a major refurbishment was happening and there was a plan of building a bigger pastry team in the next few months. Without batting an eyelash, I applied for the position, got the job, and abandoned a flourishing wedding cake business. After three years at the Grand Hyatt, I was ready for the next challenge and so I moved from the pastry kitchen to a chocolaterie. Eventually, I found myself running a team of chocolatiers and managing the chocolate production kitchen of possibly one of the busiest fine chocolate producers in Melbourne.
The present
When I reflect back on the last decade, everything that happened didn’t seem like it was meant to be. But things unfolded. So here I am, a consultant pastry chef and chocolatier. I worked and travelled, participated in national competitions and continuously soaked up new culinary concepts, techniques, and methods from different experts from around the world to bring back and inject into projects for clients. For me, most of the joy is in being able to share my skills and my knowledge and help innovate the industry.
Mentors and heroes
In my career, I have had several mentors who have helped and challenged me to reach my goals. While they are not all chefs, they all have similar traits in them and they have inspired me to see what I am capable of (sometimes even when I can’t see it myself) and have helped me along.Their support and guidance goes beyond the walls of the kitchen.
They have pushed me and sometimes very hard, but with the best of intentions.My sister encouraged me to go for a less travelled path of becoming a chef and my previous boss at Cacao Fine Chocolates has made it possible for me to attain a very high level of skill in chocolate making, both in production and creative work.
Signature dishes
It’s difficult to be recognised for only one dish as my work revolves around innovation, constant improvement, creativity and new experiences which excite me. I also travel around a lot and for me the art of cooking is a living art. Tastes can evolve through experiences. Improvements, methods and practices are constantly changing. However, one thing is constant. My cooking style of using the best possible ingredients for my creations. I love cooking, creating cakes, pastries, making chocolates. Best of all is seeing people’s expression when they are amazed with my creations.
Robust flavours
The people here are warm, welcoming and hospitable. I love your wide array of spices and robust flavours. I find them really interesting. The balance that you find in them really gives me a lot of opportunity to play with them.
Also, I’m amazed at the wide variety of flatbreads available. It’s on my bucket list to try making a roti or a dosa while I’m in India. The other thing that I love is the spiced chai that is available here.
I have it daily! I used Indian spices in my dishes because I had the Indian palate in mind. I ate Indian food all the time and this is how I get a sense of what would be liked. There are also plans of creating a luxurious afternoon tea menu for the lounges with a selection of miniature pastries (petit gateaux, tarts) freshly baked scones, in-house teas and tea sandwiches.
The future
I want to contribute to the improvement of my industry, to rebuild, reinvent and redefine processes and help teams apply it to daily kitchen operations.
In the future, I envision being able to build an organisation where we can study and learn techniques to create products and best practices for my clients.