Firsts: Q & A with cheF Denisse sAlinAs

Culinary procedure

Q & A with chef Denisse Salinas

by Kara Pearson

Local chef Denisse Salinas, owner of Le Petit Chef Catering and co-owner of Hook & Press Donuts, serves up inventive plant-forward recipes to the table in her latest e-cookbook release in partnership with Bragg . I had the pleasure of visiting Salinas at her local donut shop on State Street to chat about her part in this new cooking venture and what it’s like to be a private chef within the Santa Barbara community . From inspiration to execution, let’s dive in with Salinas about how she curated and photographed 40 new recipes in just a little under a month for the Bragg Community E-Cookbook:

Q: What lights you up most about cooking food?

A: I’ve been cooking professionally for over a decade now, and a few years ago I might have answered differently, but lately it’s the simple act of creating — making something with my hands, keeping my senses stimulated and enjoying the meditative aspect of keeping my overactive mind focused on a single task .

Q: What led you to pursue cooking as your career?

A: After college I spent my early professional years working for local restaurants, catering companies, and wineries, getting a feel for different facets of the industry and developing a natural interest through those experiences . I always knew I wanted to work for myself though, which is what led to me establishing my private chef and catering brand, Le Petit Chef, in 2008 . Nowadays I’m heading further down the path of recipe development, food blogging, photography, and digital content creation for food brands, as well as co-founding Hook & Press Donuts in 2018 with my husband, John .

Q: What is the creation process like for your recipes?

A: My recipe inspirations often come from all over, whether it’s something I recently ate or saw on Instagram, Pinterest, a cookbook, or food publication . Sometimes they stem from a popular dish I’ve made for my chef clients that would resonate well with my blog audience, and food brand clients will often give me guidelines as to what kind of recipe they’d like me to create using their products .

Either way, I’ll research lots of similar recipes before creating a first draft of my own . Then comes testing the recipe and making notes . Generally it works out the first time, but sometimes tweaks and revisions are needed for more complicated recipes before landing on the final version .