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1. Highlighting NYC's Culinary Talent with the 2010 New York Rising Stars
Read about what sets this year's new and talented crop of New York Rising Star chefs, pastry chefs, mixologists, and sommeliers apart from their peers. Delve into their diverse culinary styles, backgrounds, and passions with biographies, recipes, and interviews.
http://www.starchefs.com/cook/chefs/2010-new-york-rising-stars
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5. This Year's ICC Schedule Released!
The entire schedule for the fifth annual StarChefs.com International Chefs Congress has been released, and tickets for the September event are still available. Get yours now, and find out when you can catch Dan Barber, Johnny Iuzzini, Charlie Palmer, and more at this year's Creativity: Art vs. Craft-themed ICC.
http://www.starchefs.com/cook/ICC-2010-schedule
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6. Photo Galleries: Latest Photos from Our Recent Tastings
Photos from our recent pastry tastings in New York, Baltimore, DC, and beyond, including the StarChefs.com 2010 New York Rising Stars!
http://www.starchefs.com/cook/photo-gallery
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8. Featured Cookbook: Natura: elBulli Desserts
Albert Adrià
October 2009
elBullibooks
Natura features portraits of organic, otherworldly pastry landscapes, works of textural and visual art created by former elBulli pastry chef Albert Adrià. Starting with "snow cristal," created in 2003 to honor visiting Japanese restaurateurs the Hishidas, Adria has compiled years of creativity into this homage to the craft of pastry. "It is not my intention for Natura to be a style or line of work for professionals to find inspiration in," says Adrià in the book's afterword. "My only aim," he insists, "is to show the beauty of this trade." But inspiration seems inevitable when perusing the pages of Natura, with its detailed, close-up photographs of Adrià's freeform, nature-mimicking creations. Composed in the catalogue style of the elBulli yearbook, Natura focuses on 49 desserts-or morphs, as they are called at elBulli-born out of Adrià's unchained, fertile imagination. A DVD contains recipes for every morph and in the afterword Adrià describes his experience with the main techniques. Whether he's using dehydrated egg powder and a "minted" water cloud to make an ethereal "moss" or cocoa streusel powder to coat and flavor plain cookie crumbs for a vividly realistic "volcanic earth," Adrià pushes the boundaries of pastry texture, flavor, and composition. Natura at once celebrates and exemplifies the unbounded potential of the craft of pastry. http://www.starchefs.com/cook/cookbooks_keywords/natura
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10. Featured Pastry Chef to Know: Heather Chittum of Hook - Washington, DC
3241 M St. NW
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 625-4488
RESTAURANT FACTS
Seats: 198
Weeknight Covers: 200
Weekend Covers: 400
Check Average (with Wine): $65
Tasting Menu: No
Kitchen Staff: 3
CHEF FACTS
Cuisine: Playful, seasonal American
Born: 1973
Began Career: 2001
Culinary School: Fundamentals of Pastry Arts, 20-Session Program, L'Academie de Cuisine, Gaithersburg, MD
Grad Year: 2001
Work History: Washington, DC: Notti Bianchi, Dish, Equinox, Circle Bistro, Michel Richard Citronelle
Mentor(s): Lisa Scruggs; Michel Richard
Awards: 2006 StarChefs.com DC Rising Star Pastry Chef; 2006 Washingtonian Best New Restaurant; 2006 RAMW Pastry Chef of the Year Nomination; 2003 Chaine des Rotisseurs Mid Atlantic Jeune Commis Competition Winner
Affiliations: SOS
Languages Spoken: Some Spanish
NOTABLE DISHES: Big City S'mores; Goat's Milk Cheesecake with Port Poached Seckel Pears and Almond Florentine
FAST FACTS
Restaurant Recs: Montmartre for any form of their hanger steak
Kitchen Tool(s): Offset spatula because it's a multitask workhorse
Interview Question: What type of desserts do you like better: chocolate or fruit?
Flavor Combo(s): Caramel and Salt
Fave Cookbook(s): The Last Course by Claudia Fleming
Chef to Cook for You: Living, it would have to be Thomas Keller-I would love to try his cuisine. Dead, James Beard, for obvious reasons.
Culinary Travel: I love Italy. Their traditions are very much how I like to eat and cook; with open markets, the fresh produce, bread and cheese, you can't go wrong.
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 11. Recipe for Pane Dolce from Chef Iacopo Falai of Falai - New York, NY
Adapted by StarChefs.com
Yield: 170 10-gram rolls
INGREDIENTS:
500 grams organic all-purpose flour
500 grams organic bread flour
70 grams sugar
60 grams fresh yeast
450 grams water
20 grams salt
200 grams butter, at room temperature
Canola Oil
METHOD:
Mix flours and sugar in mixer bowl. In a separate container dissolve the yeast in 300 grams of the water. Add the water and yeast to the flour and mix until the dough begins to come together. Add the salt, keep mixing, and add the butter in stages. Adjust the dough with the remaining water in order to achieve the right texture and elasticity.
To Assemble and Serve:
Proofing and baking times and temperatures vary. Potential fillings include red beet, fennel and onion, rosemary/raisin, and black cabbage.
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