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My Humanities 105 Web | E-mail Karen S Dear Classmates, On Saturday, November 20, 1999, I visited a chocolate laboratory . This delightful business is in the private home of Roxanne Sebastian Young, Cacao@hotmail.com., in the Greenbrier area of Chesapeake. Her work relies on art more than technology, but one couldn’t happen without the other. However, I learned that one couldn’t possibly do what Roxanne does without some natural talent. The passion she has for her work is obvious in it quality. It takes more than skill. Like I said in my very first assignment: there is a spirit in quality art. It cannot, I believe, be duplicated by machine. Roxanne Young is the mom of one of my French students. She recently helped us during the celebration of National French Week. We were selling crepes, bread & cheese, quiche, and croques- monsieur (a type of grilled ham and cheese sandwich-delicious). She had offered to bring some authentic French food to sell, and of course, we were delighted. I knew that she worked as a corporate chef, but had no idea what an artist she was. I am making a link from this letter to photos of her and some of her work for your enjoyment. I am getting ahead of myself here. Let me go back a moment. When her daughter was a little girl, she used to watch cooking shows on television, and would tell her mom about some of the shows, especially the jokes. That is actually how Roxanne got interested in the art of cooking, baking, and designing food. She is a graduate of Johnson & Wales, where she was first in her class in 1990. Her first chocolate rose was held up as an example during a meeting of many chefs. She was embarrassed, but pleased to have the recognition for something she enjoyed so much. Since her graduation, she has made quite a name for herself, not only locally, but also on the national and international scene. She will be doing some of the main art/cook work for a benefit dinner in February for the St. Jude’s children’s hospital, which will help many suffering children. She is often called upon to do specialty chocolate work. Recently, she covered in chocolate some pistachio-filled dates now being sold locally. She has been first-place winner in the culinary olympics (please see link to her photo with the medals & display of sugar sculpture, chocolate guitar, and more). Her pistachio/chocolate cake is out of this world, being of true European vintage-not to sweet to ruin the flavors, but sweet enough to compliment all the ingredients and enjoy before an nice café expr?s. Although Roxanne currently runs her private chocolate business out of her home, she will soon be moving to a custom-designed home with a kitchen made to her delight, especially for her culinary talents and use. Her family shares her with several major corporations for which she is a consultant/corporate chef/food broker. She is the Director of Culinary Service and Corporate Chef of Buzzcrown Enterprises. Two of her current clients are Nestle’s and Tyson’s. She also reviews scholarship applications for culinary schools. The technology for what Roxanne does is, she says, quite simple. She showed me some tools which she likened to a carpenter’s woodgraining tools. These were a paddle knife, chocolate dipping tools, and a spatula. She puts warm chocolate, 2/3 of what she is using (from a tempering machine which brought to mind a very large crock pot) onto a tablier, a slab of marble around 2’ x 21/2’. There, she works the chocolate with her paddle knife to stabilize the fats for smooth consistency, making the chocolate ready to use. Returning the chocolate to the tempering machine, she mixes it all together. She can do as well with a double boiler, but must be very careful not to allow steam to get into the chocolate, because water ruins the chocolate. Roxanne’s extensive travels have given her exposure to some of the top chefs in the world. She especially likes Gaston Lenotre, the world’s greatest pastry chef, from Paris. He is only 80 years old, so still has much love and life for his art. If you go to Paris, be sure to go to Lenotre, his famous pâtisserie. He and others have generously shared chef secrets with her. She invited me to tag along on one of her chocolate competitions, which would be a great adventure, though one only looks and can’t taste. Oh well, Paris is Paris. I’d be happy to live on bread and water just to be there again for a while. Another study was with Ewald and Susan Notter (German & English) in Switzerland. She learned an art form of sugar and chocolate. Sugar comes in big cones. From these, one make a pastillage, which is a sugar dough which hardens. She makes bubble sugar for a lace wall. She uses straw sugar for pulling into shiny ribbons. There is a pouring of sugar into a form and it is placed into a warming case or under a sugar lamp. Sugar is brought to the boiling point (295 degrees) in a copper pot. In order to prevent crystallization of the sugar, one must brush the sides of the bowl/pot with water. She works the sugar on lightly oiled marble, twisting and pulling, putting air into it for shaping. She makes ribbons, sugar woven baskets, and wine bottles. The wine bottles are sometimes used in films when someone gets hit over the head with a bottle. It is just sugar! If you ever had the pleasure to eat dinner at Casa Ferello’s, you will appreciate how honored Roxanne was when his family brought his king size mixer to her as he had directed before his death. Its honorary place in a corner of her eat-in kitchen makes it a great item of interest for her guests, and keeps his memory warm in her heart. She uses it for various occasions when preparing for large groups. Well, I must say that this was one of the most interesting field trips I have ever taken. The art of cuisine is truly a labor of love. The usefulness of this art form is aesthetic as well as practical. Without a fine presentation, one cannot fully enjoy food. Most of us fall somewhere in between troughing at a fast-food restaurant and truly dining in elegance on food prepared by artists of cuisine. Preserving the work is nearly impossible, so one must use pictures to remember the beauty. I hope you will enjoy those which I have linked for your viewing. Until next time, I am Sincerely yours,
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