The Asturias Pastry and Bakery Technical Institute (ITEPPA) was the venue chosen by Hans Ovando (so good #5, so good #11, so good #14) and Gustaf Mabrouk (so good #14) to launch their project, Pastry Chefs Cross the Borders. This is an initiative to harmonize and promote awareness of pastry starting from the basics of the trade, and all through a common language: “patisserie is our language, period,” says Mabrouk.
Pastry Chefs Cross the Borders was presented to the sector through a three-day course that brought together more than one hundred Asturian pastry professionals. Hans Ovando opened with a speech in which he outlined the factors involved in the creative process and his own criteria when designing a pastry piece, based on his own experience at Espai Sucre and El Bulli.
The Swedish chef Gustaf Mabrouk exposed his experience and knowledge of chocolate: the origins, its procurement processes, components, chemical and physical reactions that occur during fermentation, how its various components interact in a ganache or praline, the de-crystallization and re-crystallization of cocoa butter … Both chefs ended with the preparation and presentation of a festival of ideas and innovative recipes.
The first public experience of Pastry Chef Cross the Borders concluded in the satisfaction of all the attendees and the organizers, hoping to continue their tour around the world.
Photos: Viti Amieva