5 minute read
Rachelle Larcombe Bakes up a Storm
Rachelle Larcombe Bakes up a Storm
Rosanne Fortier - News Correspondent
Vegreville resident Rachelle Larcombe entered The Greatest Baker contest by Buddy Valastro and she is now in first place of 50 contestants in her category. The grand prize winner will receive $10,000.
The contest began Nov. 27 and will end at the beginning of February. This contest is online and is fundraising for charities through online competitions. This year, funds raised will go to supporting the Andrew McDonough B+ (Be Positive) Foundation, which is the largest provider of financial assistance to families of children with cancer in the United States.
Rachelle described her life and journey with baking, “I grew up in Fort McMurray but I was born in Quebec. When I was 10, Dad accepted a position at Syncrude Canada in Fort McMurray.
My earliest memories are of baking with my paternal grandmother, Lillian LeBrun. I remember being around three-years-old and she would sit me on the table with her bread dough bowl and show me how to punch down the dough. My grandmother was an amazing lady and although she only went to school until grade five, she was brilliant!
She taught me the skills of baking and cooking using my senses: taste things to get the flavours right. As well, when I’m baking, I can judge the ‘doneness’ by the smell of the food as it’s baking in the oven. If you think about how something smells like when it’s burning when you’re cooking, you can also smell something as it is baking. I can tell by the aroma of the food in the oven whether it is finished baking, which is why I don’t typically use a kitchen timer. Also, she taught me to look closely at how my batter or dough looks; listen to the sounds as you are stirring, this helps determine the proper viscosity for cakes; and remember how it feels so you can recognize if your recipes are correct. She never measured her ingredients and she taught me these skills. To this day I use these techniques when baking, rarely using a recipe.
I made my first book purchase when I was in grade one. I was six. It was a cookbook for kids. I wore that thing out.
We would return to Quebec every year to visit our relatives and my grandmother’s house was where I would stay. We cooked and baked together every day. As I got older, I realized that not only did I truly enjoy baking, but I was good at it. People enjoyed my food.
As an adult in Fort McMurray, I baked bread, buns, cookies, and cakes or made chocolates for silent auctions for various charities. I made and sold wedding cakes as a home baker when I was in my 20’s and early 30’s.
I worked as an educational assistant and taught a Life Skills course for students of various ages with developmental disabilities and a large part of that course was cooking, baking, and nutrition. This was something I thoroughly enjoyed! My students loved cooking and sharing their food with family and friends.
When I moved to Vegreville, I worked briefly as a health care aide, then applied for a position with VALID, where I am currently working. I have not taken any formalized training in culinary arts, so I guess I owe my skills to my grandmother, my mom, and a natural ability.
My favorite things to bake are our traditional family ‘recipes’ that have been passed down throughout the generations. For example, I like to make French Canadian Tourtiere (meat pie), raisin pie, cake doughnuts, butter tarts, and sugar cookies. I especially enjoy working with sculpted cakes and fondant.
I think what encouraged me to enter this contest was the challenge behind it. I’ve been encouraged by some of my family, friends and customers in the past, but never did enter.
I think my secret to baking is it’s a combination of being creative, patient, and passionate about baking. Not being afraid to take risks and try things helps too! You do learn from your mistakes in baking, too.
If I win this contest, I think I’ll use some of the winnings to upgrade my baking supplies, and maybe invest in some organizers for those supplies. I’d also like to take some of those winnings and take my husband and my aging parents on a trip together. My parents have always wanted to visit Alaska and I’d like to make that happen for them.”
