Indulgence

NDULGENCE

Finding Home in Food Pg. 26

QUick and easy Ingredient substitutions Pg. 31

A chef’s journey to rediscover his roots

Rising fortunes Pg. 12 How a Texas bakery has risen from the ashes

Salted Caramel cupcake recipe

Pg. 17

She Ballin’

6

LASA’s Piece of the Pie

11

Raking in The Dough Mixing It Up Page 2

20 25 Indulgence

Rising Fortunes

12

Caramel Dream

17

Finding Home in Food 26 Quick Ingredient Subsitutions 31 Indulgence

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Biographies Billy Thompson loves to collect trading card games but not play them. He has over 6,000 Pokemon cards, 2,000 Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and 8,000 Magic: The Gathering cards, and hasn’t played a real game with any of them in over a year-and-a-half. He enjoys playing DOTA 2, Pokemon, and Fire Emblem. He has a poodle named Teddy.

His favorite food is sweet onion.

Telesmar Sanchez is an avid musician and has played classical guitar for 8 years and jazz guitar in the school jass band for 1 year. He enjoys riding his unicycle, telling really bad jokes, and playing video games. He has two french bulldogs named Bert and Sadie. His pet peeves are playing music from cell phones in public areas, flat brimmed hats, and people who wear too much longorn-themed clothing.

His favorite video game is Okami and his favorite movie is Spirited Away.

His favorite food is bacon pizza.

Kyla Hayworth’s main hobby is drawing. In her spare time, she tries to blog on Tumblr on blocked Wifi. She has a habit of breaking her electronics and then having to explain how she broke them. Her favorite things are high definition pictures of food and movies Nicholas Cage is in, otherwise known as every movie ever made. Her favorite food is lobster.

Alex Kovacs’s favorite thing is going to dentists’ appointments during school hours. At home, she watches obscure shows from the UK and “Rick and Morty,” but hasn’t seen the season finale. She’s one of those people. She wants to go to Santa Fe University.

Her favorite movie is the “Star Wars Christmas Special.” In her spare time, she goes into an alternate dimension to hang with her real friends. She hates everyone from this dimension.

She’s one ballin’ gal. Her favorite food is cream cheese.

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Indulgence

Letter From the Editor From the depths of the greatest kitchens in the world, the gang and we bring you the latest and greatest issue of Indulgence magazine, fresh out of the oven!

All new recipes, articles and more have been excavated from Austin’s tastiest restaurants and compagnies. Our mission since the beginning has been to deliver mouth watering articles about all things sweet, and this is is proof we have you craving more. We want to deliver all the quality our readers deserve, so get ready for your just desserts! In this month’s issue, the Indulgence team brings you tantalizing new recipes of

Indulgence

cupcakes, cakes and more! We take you on a culinary adventure of a lifetime, from classic Texan bakeries, to the Big Apple itself! But that’s just the icing on the cake! Answers to difficult questions ranging from ingredient substitutes, to LASA’s own favorite bakeries, all can be found tucked in the pages of this magazine. Peer inside the mind of one of the best chefs in the Big Apple, figure out what its like to run a bakery, and much, much more! Put on your oven mitts, you’re in for a treat!

-Indulgence Team

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She Ballin’ J

uggling a family as well as a nearly-24-hour job is tough, and almost any mother would agree.

And yet, the owner of the baking company “SugaPlump”, Jocelyn Harris, manages the world on her shoulders, while still being there for her children and family.

“I’m home most of the time,” Harris said, “I thinks that’s good for them, that I am actually in the house with them. Now, am I available most of the time? Probably not.”

By: Alex Kovacs

Harris has found a healthy, growing income in the baking business, though she faced many challenges throughout her new career., one of those being the low budget that she started on.

She laughed jovially when asked what was the hardest thing about opening up her own business, responding simply with, “Money.”

a thousand dollars, it was all I had to start buying pans, business cards, and advertising. That was the smallest

“I had all these amazing recipes my mother and grandmother passed down to me.”

-Jocelyn Harris

“I didn’t start here. I started at my house and I started on

budget I started my business on. And I could not afford a kitchen at the time, so it was

All pictures rightfully obtained from Suga Plump and other sources.

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just out of our house for the first year, year and a half.”

Harris said. “And then finally, we started to pick up more business so I was able to move into a more proper kitchen.”

Currently, Harris resides in a shared kitchen. Basically, it’s like an apartment, where she pays rent for each hour or so she spends there rather than every month. “Kitchen prices I would say range between eight dollars an hour to twelve fifty an hour,” Harris said, “depending on how

Indulgence A dozen cake balls for a birthday party.

Jocelyn, an Oklahoma native, has honed her extensive culinary skills over the last 20 years, where she began baking as a child in her grandmother’s kitchen.

All pictures rightfully obtained from Suga Plump and other sources.

Special family recipes were shared and passed down by her grandmother, who helped develop Jocelyn’s love and passion for baking and cooking.

An honors graduate from Le Cordon Bleu, she has extensive training in pastry design and culinary. Jocelyn has worked for Disney World’s Boardwalk Bakery, and more recently a large public owned catering company, which inspired her to form SugaPlump Pastries.

SugaPlump, one of Austin’s premier companies, has a broad clientele in states throughout the Southwest.

They specialize in cater-

ing various functions that range from small, intimate settings to large scale events. long you come in, or the time of day that you come in.”

The logo for Suga Plump All pictures rightfully obtained from Suga Plump and other sources.

Inspiration comes in many and in Harris’s case, her inspiration resided in her family; mainly, her mother and grandmother. “I had all these amazing recipes my mother and grandmother passed down to me. Plus the fact that there was a lapse in home cooked food or soul food, which is kinda where I came from. I was sorta pushed a little bit into opening up my own company,” Harris said.

When she first opened, she was surprised to see that her friends and family were

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Page 7 Nearly completed french vanilla cakeballs.

All pictures rightfully obtained from Suga Plump and other sources.

Fresh cake balls on their way to happy customers.

All pictures rightfully obtained from Suga Plump rather supportive, happy to and other sources. help in any way.

“I had no issues, it was all encouragement,” Harris said. “They were very helpful, caring, and they stayed up with me all night dipping cake balls.

Its kinda ended up being a really good family bonding project.”

million bakeries and sweet shops, so we really needed to find out where we fit in; what was our niche.” Harris said.

“I made my first cake ball six months into my business. That ended up being my niche, that wasn’t actually in my business plan, but that ended up how I got my start and that is what has kept me going. It was probably about three years ago that I made my first one.”

“Eventually, I won’t be a storefront, I will be delivering out to other restaurants and companies.”

-Jocelyn Harris

“The first thing I did before I opened up was we wrote a business plan,” Harris said, “and the second thing was to just try to figure out what our niche would be; try to figure out where we would fit in. In Austin there are about fifty

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Cake Pops for a charity event

Cake balls, as Harris says, are one of Austin’s most popular pastries. The problem,

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All pictures rightfully obtained from Suga Plump and other sources

Fondant in the process of being molded by Jocelyn. though, is the price.

“I thought, ‘why the hell are people paying three dollars a cake ball?’ and I just tried to make them cheaper for people to order. I think that was my driving force on the matter,” Harris said.

dent business. She runs a bakery that she hopes will turn into something called distribution.

All pictures rightfully obtained from Suga Plump and other sources.

“Eventually, I won’t be a storefront, I will be delivering out to other restaurants and companies.

They will be able to have my food frozen and ready to go for their restaurant or for other places,” Harris said. “You see, consumers are very seasonal, while businesses are all the time. It makes more sense for me to aim at businesses because it gets me more money in the long run.”

“I didn’t start here. I started at my house on a thousand dollars.”

-Jocelyn Harris

Harris sells her cake balls for a dollar seventy five each, which is almost half the price of regular priced Cake Balls.

This practically rocketed her business, but, unlike one would expect, Harris does not run a customer-depen-

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Page 9 Fresh made rainbow Cakeballs.

Simply the best for your recipe

Don’t have one? Find yours at SallySugars.com

Sally Sugars

LASA’s Piece of the Pie

by Billy Thompson

Students were asked about their favorite bakery around Austin. 5 bakeries stood out among the rest. They are: Russell’s Bakery on Balcones Drive, Upper Crust Bakery on Burnet Lane, Tiff’s Treats on Nueces Street, Quack’s Bakery on 43rd Street, and Tous Les Jours Bakery on N. Lamar Boulevard.

4, 12%

7, 21%

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4, 12%

Upper Crust

7, 21%

Russell's 7, 21%

5, 15%

Tiff's Treats Quack's Tous les Jours other

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Rising Fortunes

By Telesmar Sanchez

How Texas French Bread is making a rapid comeback

I

n 2006, Texas French Bread, an old bakery opened in the early 80’s, was nothing but a stale old building- No one inside the kitchen, no breads in the windowsill, and the lack of attention made the building in desperate need of a facelift.

It was a dump. A shell of what it once was.

However, later in 2006, things took a turn for the better. Ben and Murph Willcott, the sons

of the original owner of TFB, bought the building and decided to revamp their mother’s business from the ground up, with a large remodel, a dinner menu, and a bar. Nowadays, TFB is making a rapid comeback.

When Ben and Murph Wilcott’s mother first opened Texas French Bread in 1981, her business entailed selling artisan bread from her kitchen on 33rd Street to

various restaurants and stores.

Q: Your website said that your mother began your business when she started selling french bread. Where did she learn how to make her bread?

A: “She learned how to make bread first from her mother in law, and then in the 70’s, she started writing letters to Julia Child, and she responded. And then, she just made it by trial and error, and then she went to a baking school in paris.”

How have you exercised baking outside of your establishment?

Artisan style breads, such as the ones shown, are Texas French Bread’s Specialty

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“Well, I grew up in it, so I was always around it, so when I was a little kid I started learning how to do it, it was already here. And I worked in other restaurants, but only one other bakery.”

What occupations did you have before you inherited your parents’ bakery?

“I played a little music, but I didn’t do it a lot. I did it for a while.

I was a teacher, I taught in asia, that was fun, and I wrote for the Austin Chronicle and magazines for several years, and that was fun, and I worked for Dell Computers, and that wasn’t fun, that was horrible, that was boring.

Photo from sxc.hu

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Photo courtesy of Mike Sutter at fedmanwalking.com

Although Texas French Bread’s menu is continuing to grow larger and larger, the restaurant still continues to boast its artisan style of cooking.

Photo by Beck

Texas French Bread offers a variety of baked goods, from muffins to pastries to cookies.

I worked in restaurants all over New York and San Francisco.”

Asia? What did you teach in Asia?

“I taught english as a second language, from helping little pre-K kids all the way to teaching adults

in the evenings. I worked with a lot of high school students, I did SAT prep, I did a princeton review in Taiwan, I did a college student course where we studied a lot of literature, so we got to do a lot of different things. It was fun.”

For a while, Texas French Bread was one of the most popular bakeries in town, boasting 11 locations in its prime.

Everyone in town flocked to Texas French Bread for their wonderful artisan breads and pastries.

However, as whole foods, starbucks, and other competing bakeries and hangouts started opening

Photo by Stu_Spivack

Texas French Bread has a rapidly fluctuating dinner menu that changes slightly every day and a lot each season, so they always have something new for you to try. From pasta to soup to salad to meat, Texas French Bread is sure to always bring something new to the table.

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in Austin in the late ‘90’s, Texas French Bread had to close its doors as business got worse and worse.

In 2006, when Ben and Murph Willcott took over the restaurant, their main goal was to expand the menu and reinvent the restaurant to bring in as much business as possible.

What made you want to inherit your parents’ bakery?

“You know, I have always loved to cook, so I kind of inherited the passion for cooking. And for me, it’s more about the food than it is about the baking side. So, I’m kind of more like the chef around here. I kind of got the gene from my parents, and I just kind of wanted to do it. So, when I was away from austin, and I wasn’t working here and I didn’t own it, I was still doing a lot of cooking and thinking about cooking, so when I got the chance, my brother and I came back and bought the bakery from my mother.”

What is it like working with your brother?

“It’s a pain in the ass! Nah, just kidding.

I don’t think everybody

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could work with their sibling. There’s a long history of family-run restaurants where people work together, but I think some people are cut out for it and some people aren’t.

He and I have always been really close, and we kind of compliment each other.

And we sometimes argue, but I think in some ways we communicate better than we could with other people because we know each other really well.”

What is your favorite dessert served at your bakery?

“You know, it’s probably our rustic tarts.

We do apple, and we do cranberry in the fall.

Those are my favorite.

They’re very rustic and very simple. They have a really buttery tart dough, fruit, and just a tiny bit of sugar, so they’re not very sweet.”

What is the most popular dish served at your bakery?

“It’s probably this chocolate cake we make called the Hyde Park fudge cake.”

How healthy are the foods you prepare in terms of ingredients?

“You know, that’s a good question. I would say for one thing, we’re increasingly tuned in to making them healthier. I would say, it’s hard to give a short answer to that, traditional breads are very healthy. Traditional as in artisan breads, that are made with natural leavening, or starter, you know?

Bread is one of the only foods that’s a completely balanced food, as in it has enough vitamins and minerals to allow you to survive on bread for a very, very long time without anything else. so, bread is very healthy. Deserts are not healthy. Sugar is poison, it’s an indulgence.

Now we do a lot of dinnerstyle food, and the food we do is very healthy. It has very healthy ingredients.

The breads we make, our artisan breads, don’t even have gluten. When bread is made traditionally with whole wheat and grains, the only ingredients it has are flour, salt, and a leavening agent, so it’s very healthy.”

Photo courtesy of Mike Sutter at fedmanwalking.com

Texas French Bread’s Artisan-style foods were kept in mind during their remodel, as shown by their earthtone building’s new earthtone colors and interior design.

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You have another brother, Teo. What does he do for a living?

“Teo works for Apple. He’s been with them for many, many years.”

Is he involved much with the bakery?

“No, he comes in and he eats and brings his kids. That’s about it.”

As Texas French Bread continues to rise in popularity, Ben is continuing to expand his bakery into a fully-fledged restaurant. With the recent addition of a dinner menu five nights out of the week and a large renovation to the building, Texas French Bread is continuing to evolve from a small bakery to something much larger in scale. The additions don’t stop there, as Ben Willcott plans on adding a bar to his establishment.

Why did you choose to renovate your restaurant/bakery?

“Well, we were overdue. The building kind of needed a facelift.

I dunno, we were kind of excited to convey kind of what we do with the design, because the design was kind of generic.

I mean, it’s an old building but there were lots of design elements from different periods in our history, and if you look around, what we’ve done is put up a lot of wood, we’ve exposed a lot of brick, to convey this sort of farmhouse, rustic feel, because what we do is very artisanal, very old, very simple, so we wanted the whole building to convey that sort of simple rustic feel.”

Your parents have opened other locations in the past, but they haven’t worked out. How do you feel about trying to open another location again some day?

“It’s possible, but it’s really fun to just have one store. It’s easier to focus just on making the food. It’s less managing, and more hands on stuff.”

How do you plan on expanding your menu?

“We’re going to change the lunch menu.

I’m working on that right now. So right now, it’s just sandwiches and a few salads, and we’re gonna have a much more extensive lunch menu. A lot more choices, while still staying very casual. We’ve been doing this dinner menu that’s very seasonal, it changes all the time depending on what we can get, so we’re gonna- start doing that with lunch. It’s fun, and it’s nice getting to use the local farmers rather than buying California produce or something, but it is also kind of healthier to eat what’s in season, providing more of what your body needs.”

As Starbucks and whole foods continues to spread like a virus all over town, taking over every classic cafe and hangout in town, Texas French Bread continues to thrive despite all of the hardships the store has had to overcome.

What does this say about the food they prepare?

There’s nothing special about it. In fact, Texas French Bread’s simplicity is what makes it so unique. The simplicity that Texas French Bread demonstrates shows that it is more important in baking.

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Auntie Anne’s Finely rolled fondant

6004 Crocker Avenue

Eat Our Food

6th Street Farmer’s Market

All organic. All the time.

Every sunday on 6th Street

Caramel Dream

Courtesy of Michelle, The Brown Eyed Baker, here’s a simply sinful recipe for chocolate caramel cupcakes! Tested by the “Indulgence” staff, we’ll tell you first hand that these delicious treats are spectacular! With a rich chocolate base, and garnished with decadent caramel sauce, these cupcakes are simply to die for! Try it for your self, and indulge!

DIRECTIONS: 1. Make the Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard-size muffin pans with paper liners.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and hot water until smooth. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

3. Combine the butter and sugar in a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is smooth, and the butter is completely melted. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-low speed until the mixture is cool, about 4 to 5 minutes.

4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and then the cocoa mixture, beating until smooth.

5. Reduce the mixer speed to low, and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix each addition until just incorporated.

6. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared liners, filling each about two-thirds full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

INGREDIENTS: For the Cupcakes: ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon hot water 2¼ cups all-purpose flour ¾ teaspoon baking soda ¾ teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar 3 eggs 1 tablespoon vanilla extract ¾ cup sour cream For the Salted Caramel Frosting: 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature ½ cup salted caramel sauce 4 cups powdered sugar To Garnish: Salted Caramel Sauce Flaky sea salt

7. Make the Frosting: Beat together the butter and cream cheese on medium-high speed for 5 minutes.

Pour in the salted caramel and beat until combined.

Reduce the speed to medium-low and slowly add the powdered sugar, a little at a time, until it has all been incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for an additional two to three minutes, until light and fluffy.

8. To finish: Pipe frosting onto the top of each cupcake, drizzle with some additional salted caramel sauce, and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt.

Courtesy of Michelle, The Brown Eyed Baker Indulgence

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Breaderick’s Fine loaves and pastries.

2222 Erisol Boulevard

4892 Fairview Boulevard Austin, Texas 78766

Photo courtesy of Julia Schmitz

At Sweet Treets Bakery they work their hardest to create your perfect cake, no matter what you want.

Raking in the Dough

J

ulia Schmitz and Jackie Mcgrath opened Sweet Treets bakery in 2010.

“I’ve always loved baking, I’ve been doing it my whole life, and I love helping people create the perfect cake and then getting to bring it to life, there’s nothing else like it!” Julia

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by Billy Thompson

“I love helping people create the perfect cake and then getting to bring it to life, there’s nothing else like it!”

-Julia Schmitz Schmitz said. “I especially enjoy seeing their faces when they see their cake.”

They bake extravagant

cakes for all around the Austin area. Sweet Treets is most famous for their wedding cakes, of which they have won The Knot

award for best of weddings in both 2012 and 2013.

Before opening Sweet Treets bakery with Mcgrath, “I baked a lot at home for family and friends and enjoyed trying out new or challenging recipes,” Schmitz said.

She was able to hone her

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Photo courtesy of Julia Schmitz

The “Leaning Tower of Cake” one of the hardest cakes Schmitz had to work on over the years.

Photo courtesy of Julia Schmitz

“Our red velvet cake balls are very popular, it’s hard to keep them in stock!”

The bourbon chocolate dessert is another one of the popular desserts at Sweet Treets Bakery.

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Photo Courtesy of Julia Schmitz

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Chocolate Cupcakes with raspberry-buttercream icing are one of the many popular desserts served.

craft and even create new recipes for her family to try. She and Jackie decided to name the bakery Sweet Treets Bakery because, “We bounced around a lot of ideas but this one was perfectshort, sweet, and to the point!” Schmitz said.

In addition to working with their customers to create the perfect cake, they also run a bake shop serving cupcakes, cake balls, and cookies. “Our

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“In order to run a sucessful bakery keep a consistent product and take customer feedback into account, and always have a good attitude.”

-Julia Schmitz red velvet cake balls are very popular, it’s hard to keep them in stock!”

Schmitz said.

They plan on expanding their menu. “We are currently researching and developing additional des-

serts like cheesecakes and mini pies,” Schmitz said.

They also offer substitutions for people who are gluten free, vegan, or have food allergies.

“In order to run a sucess-

Photo Courtesy of Julia Smchmitz

ful bakery keep a consistent product and take customer feedback into account, and always have a good attitude,” Schmitz said, “People will remember you if you’re friendly and accommodating.”

Schmitz described her and Mcgrath’s bakery as, “Always an adventure! We get to create a lot of different designs which always keeps things interesting,” Schmitz said.

Indulgence

Chad’s Cheesecake Bakery

1204 Bushy Ln

Cacahuate Farm

We can satisfy your veggie needs (if you’ll lettuce)

Find us at 4656 Obamanos Drive

Mixing It Up

By Telesmar Sanchez

Cooking is a timeless art with infinite possibilities. Everyone who prepares food has their own little flare of individuality in their repertoire of recipes. Although not everyone cooks, those who do often have radical new ideas to show to the world of deserts. Here are the most delicious tips around.

I bake chocolate cake and I add a touch of cinnamon and salt to make it special.

-Jacob Dornhofer

I bake cookies, and they’re special because I put more sugar than they tell me to in them.

-Fiona Graham

I cook pancakes all the time, and I add cinnamon to make them spencial. I also seperate the eggs... and I beat the egg whites to make them fluffier.

-Mathilda Nicot-Cartsonis

I like to bake chocolate chip cookies. I put oreos inside my cookies, and it’s really bad for you, but it tastes amazing.

-Jennifer Walker-Gates

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I make chocolate chip cookie pie and I add butterscotch chips to make it delicious.

Photo By Keegan Berry

-Aiden Henderson

Photo By Jamieanne

Photos By sxc.hu

I bake cookies, and my secret ingredient is orange juice.

-Jonah Shaukat

Photo By veganbaking.net

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A Chinese inspired stir fry that is a common dish at many American Chinese restaurants.

Finding Home in Food How a chef created home in the dishes he cooks

D

oron Wong knew from the start that it was going to be his passion. Or rather, he knew that it would make him money.

“I just really needed to get a job,” Wong said. “I needed

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to see what a job was like.”

But in addition, he was extremely interested in cooking because, “I really just wanted to see how to make it, how to do it. When you’re a kid, you don’t really know how

to make something or do something,” Wong said, “I really just wanted to see how to make it, how to do it.”

Wong did learn how to cook, not going to college in the beginning to discover his craft

By Kyla Hayworth

and simply jumping into the career. He was able to get a job in the industry due to his connections to professional chefs. He did, however, go to Amhurst College of Liberal Arts later, to improve his basic cooking skills.

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“I was trained for Western style cooking, and then when I went to Singapore, it showed me Eastern style cooking,” Wong said, “I was traditionally trained Western, and when I went to Hong Kong and Singapore, I was trained in the way of the Eastern kitchen, which was completely different.

I learned a lot of different techniques, and a different type of product there, even.”

Wong attributes the way he cooks to the trip to Singapore and Hong Kong, because while living there for several years, he learned a lot of things.

“What was most inspiring was living with the culture while I was there, and that was how I connected. Anyone can cook Chinese food, but when I went there, it was more of a cultural experience. You connect with the food a lot better.”

Though Wong had been trained to cook in a Western style, it was inevitable that he would eventually start cooking with an Eastern style.

Photo by basegreen

A few years after training under professional cooks, he went on a trip to Singapore and Hong Kong to discover how to cook the food he had grown up with.

There are two different, distinct styles of cooking, Eastern and Western style.

Eastern style consists of food from Asian countries and Western is from European countrires, with American food falling under Western as well.

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“My mother raised me on Chinese food. And it’s more comforting to me, I know what it tastes like, and I like it,” Wong said.

In fact, he continues to enjoy the Chinese cuisine that he grew up with.

“I still like Chinese food, even though I cook and eat it all the time,” Wong said. “I don’t get sick of it.”

This duality in culture contributed to him deciding to combine Eastern and Western style cooking.

“I started in very western

cooking, but what felt normal was eastern food. Because my mother raised me on chinese food,” Wong said “And it’s more comforting to me, I know what it tastes like, and I like it. And it was just, connecting on the food that I enjoyed.”

His favorite food to cook, however, is not set in stone.

“I go on different phases. I go on phases. One week I like to stir fry everything. I’ll go to markets with other chefs and we go there and find the freshest and most seasonal product available out there,” Wong said.

Courtesy of Todd Leong and Doron Wong

Doron Wong is a New York chef that lives in Long Island with his family.

“My mother raised me on Chinese food. And it’s more comforting to me, I know what it tastes like, and I like it.”

-Doron Wong This helps contribute to the freshness of his dishes.

“I’m constantly trying to recreate myself,” Wong said.

He tries to vary his style of cooking as much and as often as possible, so that he may discover new things about himself.

While recreating himself, he has also created many interesting dishes, such as cheeseburger spring rolls.

Spring rolls are a Chinese inspired food, consisting of a thin wrapper around meat and vegetables that is fried.

Doron Wong combined this already somewhat Americanized dish with something truly American, the cheeseburger.

“I really invented them for a children’s menu. They were

always meant to be a gimmicky kid’s item, but adults just couldn’t resist,” Wong said.

They were originally created

by Doron at a restaurant he worked at called Delicatessen. Though he no longer works at the Soho restaurant, it is a dish that they continue to serve.

Wong has worked at many restaurants, the most noteworty including restaurants in New York called 71ate LLC, Shang, and several hotels.

Wong now works at as the Executive Chef at TOY Restaurant in New York City, where patrons that view the website are told that he will, “excite your taste buds with TOY’s fun Asian fusion cuisine.”

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Photo by NatalieMaynor

A farmers market has fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season, a must for a chef like Doron Wong. His inspiration for his favorite dish of the week is based on the foods that he can find here.

“I really invented them for a children’s menu. They were always meant to be a gimmicky kid’s item, but adults just couldn’t resist.” and accept all types of criti-Doron Wong cism, because even people Wong attributes his success in the kitchens of these restaurants to the open-mindedness that he has about criticsim that others are able to offer to him.

“I try to keep an open mind,

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that dont know much know something that you don’t know. And by keeping that clear mind, you’ll be able to grow,” Wong said.

Wong had parting advice. for all chefs, for both experienced chefs and those that

are just beginners.

“As long as you say to yourself, ‘I don’t know everything’, then you can learn from everybody,” Wong said.

Courtesy of Todd Leong and Doron Wong

Doron Wong in action, preparing dishes in his kitchen.

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What Wong has to say:

“Tianjin Style Steamed Red Snapper with lily bud, wood ear, cloud ear, goji berries, pea shoots, preserved vegetables. Tianjin is a city on the coast of Northern China that has a distinct style of preparing seafood to preserve it’s natural flavor by surrounding it with bold flavors that help complement the main ingredient. The main flavors in Tianjin cooking are salty and sweet. The rich broth is made from pork, chicken, dried shrimp and emulsified with chicken fat for a velvety texture.”

Courtesy of Todd Leong and Doron Wong

“Golden Shrimp Dumpling with Chinese celery and Surryano ham broth. Whole shrimp is mixed with Chinese celery, Surryano Ham, wood ear mushrooms and filled into a wonton wrapper and served with a broth made from pork bones, Surryano Ham and roasted garlic.

Garnished with 24KT gold leaf.”

Courtesy of Todd Leong and Doron Wong

“Mala Spiced Hampshire Pork Belly with slow cooked egg and braised kale. ”Ma” meaning Numbing “La” meaning Spicy. We made a sauce out of broad bean hot chilies and green Szechuan peppercorns which give it a numbing and spicy feeling on the palate and serve it with pork belly that has been braised until tender with star anise, Chinese cardamom, ginger, scallions. It is accompanied with a soft cooked egg that has been cooked at 135 degrees for 45 minutes.”

Indulgence

Courtesy of Todd Leong and Doron Wong

Page 29

Sam’s Cakeria For all your cake and minicake needs

9876 Boulevard Dr

Help! I forgot to buy...

By Kyla Hayworth

Everyone’s forgotten to buy something at the store at one point. It’s an inescapable situation, especially when you have to whip something up quickly. Here are a few quick substitutions for when you’re baking.

Butter

Try 1/4 cup silken tofu pureed, 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, or half a banana mashed with 1/2 teaspoon baking powder for 3 tablespoons of butter Photo by Steve Karg

Photo by Justus Blumer

Photo by Steven Vance

Corn Syrup

Photo by Scott Bauer

Try honey or granulated white sugar and increase the liquid in the recipe by 1/4 cup

Hazelnuts

Try either macadamia nuts or almonds with the amount stated in the recipe

Photo by Fir0002

Photo by Daniel Schwen

Photo by Renee Comet

Photo by Ned Jelyazkov

Photo by Gmoose1

Photo by Sanjay Acharya

Sour Cream

Try plain yogurt with the amount stated in the recipe

Egg

Try 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons water for one egg

Sources: http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-andhealthy-eating/in-depth/healthy-recipes/art-20047195 http://allrecipes.com/howto/common-ingredient-substitutions/ http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/IngredientSubstitution.html

Indulgence

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MOTHER. FUDGING.

CHOCOLATE. 1234 EPIC ROAD