Carrot Cake Donuts

With Buttered Pecans, Carrot butter and a Cajeta Glaze from Sour Duck Market

Ingredients:

A note from Sour Duck Market, We try to always keep a donut on the menu and, for this one, pastry chef Suzie Querejazu wanted to reimagine the carrot cake she enjoyed each year for her birthday while growing up. Cajeta takes the place of sweetened condensed milk, which her dad always kept in the fridge, ready to spoon onto just about anything. Have your mom try before serving!

Process 85 g of carrots in a food processor until a salsa like consistency. is achieved.

In a stand mixer, combine the oil, egg, 125 g sugar and processed carrots. Beat with paddle attatchment on speed 1 for 2 minutes.

Put wet ingredients in food processor and sift in flour, baking powder, 1.5 g cinnamon, 3.5 g baking soda, salt and nutmeg, then pulse in processor until homogenous.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Let chill for at least 1 hour.

Chop 165 g of carrots into chunks. Cook with 12 g of sugar, 10 g of butter, water, 1 g of cinnamon, and ginger in a saucepan over medium heat for 20 minutes, covered.

Preheat oven to 300 F. Melt butter and sugar in a sauté pan. Add in the pecans and cook untill combined.

Roll dough to ½-inch thick on a floured surface. Use a donut cutter or two round presses (one 3-inch, one 1 ¼-inch) to cut donuts.

Spread on a non-stick baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees F until toasty. Once cool, process into granola sized pieces and store in an airtight container.

Remove tender carrot mixture from heat, blend the dog shit out of it and season with honey to taste. Chill.

Dissolve the baking soda into water. Bring the goat milk and sugar up to a boil. Whisk in soda water mixture and cook down untill caramel colored.

11)

Fry donut for 2 minutes on each side at 350 degrees F. Drain on paper towels,

Glaze with a thin coat of cajeta and place in a small bowl. Fill the donut hole with 1 ounce of carrot butter using a pastry bag. Garnish with buttered pecans.

Restaurant Education:

It’s Kind of a Big Dill

n a classical brick building, Austin chefs are immersed in their work, preparing intricate meals to be tasted by customers and critics alike. The spacious walls are filled with shiny metal appliances, as the aroma of baked pastries, seared meats, and fresh produce lingers in the air. A lead chef surveys the commotion, giving instructions and advice as dishes receive their final touches. But, this isn’t a restaurant, it’s a school. Between sessions in the kitchen, students filter through the campus in telltale red attire. One of these students, Cage Smith, detailed his experience attending the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts. He explained that “the first couple days are just like the first day of any school, it’s nerve racking a lot of the time, and like high school, it took a while to get comfortable.”

Fortunately, Smith acclimated well thanks to the welcoming environment Escoffier fosters. “You’re in your class with anywhere between ten to about sixteen people, you get the opportunity to make a lot of friends, and it’s fun, you get to trade recipes, maybe even work with some people at a restaurant,” Smith said, regarding Escoffier’s curriculum. During the sixty-week Associate of Applied Science Degree Program in Culinary Arts at Escoffier, students explore a variety of culinary industry roles in settings such as restaurants, country clubs, resorts, hotels, and many other food service opportunities. The program aims to provide a foundational set of skills in food service preparation, operations, and

management.

Additionally, the aspiring chefs have the opportunity to work on local farms and fulfill Escoffier’s traditional Farm to Table Experience, a six-week endeavor. The Farm to Table Experience focuses on the value and importance of sourcing ingredients and the connection between producers and the table. Furthermore, students continue their trajectory from culinary basics to regional and classical cuisines via a required externship component. Over a span of twelve weeks, the mentees work in real industry environments to reinforce their culinary theory and prepare for their journey into the culinary industry.

While culinary school offers many benefits, it can be difficult for students to afford programs which vary in length from a few months to an entire four years. According to Shawn Cirkiel, the Chef-Owner of Parkside Projects and alumni of the Culinary Institute of America, wages in the hospitality industry aren’t always “matched up with what is paid for school, and that’s slowly changing.” As a result of financial difficul- ties or other complications, many students opt to pursue their culinary education through more active means instead. Jack Gilmore, Owner of Jack Allen’s Kitchen and Salt Traders, is a prime example of this. “I just skipped school and went right to work with some really solid people,” Gilmore said, who was trained by three German MasterChefs, MasterChefs being the highest level of certification a chef can receive. Gilmore’s mentorship experience gave him “all the tools that [he] need- ed” in order to enter the workforce and eventually manage seven restaurants. Given his unique education, Gilmore is inclined to look for enthusiasm rather than experience when hiring new candidates.

“The first question I ask somebody in an interview is ‘I want you to describe the best meal you’ve ever had’,” Gilmore said, “now, how do you do better than that.” He believes that motivated and inspired chefs will perform best in the kitchen, and by engaging his interviewees and challenging them to recreate their favorite dishes on a daily basis, he can appropriately place applicants in a job that fits their strengths.

Cirkiel, whose hiring team’s goal is to “find people who care, who want to get better and who want to be a part of something,” shares a similar opinion. While the necessary talents and specialized skills will differ depending on the position, Cirkiel aims to employ “people who can grow.” Formal education often takes less precedence, and many head chefs value personality and personal incentive over traditional experience in the hopes of cultivating innovation. Not only are these qualities prevalent in potential staff, but they constantly inspire their employers as well.

For many chefs, seeing the joy and laughter of customers is one of the most fulfilling parts of the job, especially when working hours can become unpredictable or hard to manage.

“It used to be that in hospitality it was very much based on how hardcore you could be,” Cirkiel explained, and the “old fashioned chef’s life” often constituted working 6-7 days a week. While Cirkiel and Gilmore

If my goal is to have a better quality of life at home, then I can create it myself by hiring the right people and training them correctly.

- Jack Gilmore

aim to reduce stress for their staff and generally avoid asking extra of their employees, it’s “still a lot of nights, so that is definitely a lifestyle adjustment for some people.”

Tactics to maintain a healthy work-life balance can vary between chefs. Gilmore invests much “ef- fort into getting the right people and putting the time up front with them, so that when you do hand off the keys and the baton, they’re ready to go.” Smith, who studies in a content-condensed culinary program that can be overwhelming at times, advocates for asking questions and “making the move, being selfish and doing what you need to to make yourself happy.” Ultimately, Gilmore believes that, in terms of time management, “everybody can control their destiny, it just depends on what they’re after.”

Whether practicing technique in a classical brick building or training under the instruction of three German MasterChefs, Austin alimenters are constantly shifting perspectives and exploring the industry. In the case of Escoffier students, they continue to adapt and learn through externships in the last twelve weeks of the Associate Degree in Culinary Arts program. As the final week of Escoffier brings his time as a student to a close, Smith is “excited to take what [he’s] learned out into the industry.”