Pastry : Love & Inspiration
Food at its core will always be about its flavour more, than being about its form or presentation. Yet, at Ô Craquelin we were aiming for both. As a Chef the priority has always been the flavour. If you cannot believe in the flavour personally, your customer would not believe in it as well. At the same time, it is quite difficult to ignore the design and presentation aspect of the product too.
Among this bi aspect, there has always been clarity about Perfection. We never tried to achieve the Perfection. Because achieving perfection would have meant not working on it anymore. Every time we worked on a new pastry product, the ending thought was always “what should we do next time”. If you love what you do, this thought process is quite rewarding & satisfying and never frustrating.
Our hearts and soul were always at the centre of any creation. It is indeed true; the secret ingredient is always love. But even with love & passion, it is quite possible to arrive at a point where the new ideas would refuse to present themselves. There are certain thought process & techniques I would use in those instances to spark up my creativity. I am hoping that the following might help someone during creative mental roadblocks.
Be a curious & creative customer. During your regular visits to a supermarket or to a nearby bakery or while treating yourself to a luxurious afternoon tea, observe if there is a pastry that you like or dislike. Question yourself in that moment, “what will I do if I have to re do it” or, “I like this & the reason behind me favouring this particular style or flavour is…”. Taking mental notes in that moment would not only present you with the realisation of how a customer thinks but will also push your thoughts to think in a new direction.
Cultural Influence. Your own cultural and heritage background will always play an important role while creating a new dessert. But something you must also stay updated about is the food cultures of different parts of the world.
Think in colours. Many times, when I reached a mental block, I would start to think in colours. Is there a colour I have not worked with in a while. For example, I have not worked with orange colour in sometime. I would then decide that I need to make a dessert whose final colour would be orange. This would push me to think of orange colour fruits, orange colour spices and so on.
Thinking from heart. Are you thinking about a flavour combination that has stayed with you for far too long, but you are afraid what your family, boss or your customers might think about it. Do it anyways. This risk might just be worth it.
Fear & Creativity. Fear and creativity should not work hand in hand. Are you afraid that your ambitious plans of making this dessert are too difficult, and the result might be a failure. Have you tried it 100 times? If not, then tighten up those Aprons and let’s do it one more time!
Working too hard. Have you been doing extra work hours and feeling the pressure of it. Take a break. This is something I have learned the hard way in life. Giving yourself the time off that you deserve will create more space in mind where new ideas can flourish.
Give some of the ideas here a try and see if any of the above helped you in some way.
Thank you so much for your time today and reading our article. Please send us an email if you have any follow up thoughts on the topic or send us a DM on Instagram. Please find us at @ocraquelin on social media.