By RODNEY HO, filed Sept. 14, 2010
On "Top Chef," the chef who tries to make desserts often ends up going home. And when a dessert becomes a challenge, the contestants often groan collectively. Why?
Cooking a tuna tartare or a chicken mole negro takes a different skill set (and mindset) from making a cinnamon custard layered with oatmeal crumble or a vanilla basil bavarian with chocolate cake and bing cherry gelee. There is a certain level of exactitude about fine desserts that is unsparing.
That's why Bravo has created a second spin-off of "Top Chef" called "Top Chef: Just Desserts" with Gail Simmons as host. It debuts Wednesday after the "Top Chef" finale. Yet again, Atlanta is represented on a cooking show. (We're on a roll!)
Heather Hurlbert, a Korean-born 40-year-old who was adopted by an American woman in Pennsylvania when she was eight, is executive pastry chef at the ultra-luxe Cherokee Town and Country Club in Atlanta, which has about 3,000 members. She's lived in Atlanta for 14 years and is married to a vet technician.
"I felt like I was getting a crash course in a pastry class," she said, of her experience on the show. "I felt like I was going back to school again. I learned a lot from 'Top Chef.' "
She clearly knows her pastries, which was obvious in the first episode I screened. (The Bravo publicist on the line was very strict about her saying anything about being on the show, more strict than most networks.)
Fortunately, Hurlbert is a seasoned competitor, having been in at least a dozen culinary competitions. She won National Pastry Chef of the Year in Orlando last year sponsored by the American Culinary Federation. Her proudest moment: being on the U.S. team that came in third during the Culinary Olympics in Germany six years ago.
The biggest challenge on a show like "Top Chef: Just Desserts" is the limited time for each challenge. "It's always in the back of your mind," she said. "That clock is going down every second. I never got a chance to watch what everybody else was doing." (One contestant in the first Quickfire challenge didn't even finish her dessert on time.)
Hurlbert agrees that pastry chefs, compared to regular ones, "are a different breed. For one, we tend to be more anal. And we tend to be more creative. We tend to be more precise, yet more emotional."
The difference, she said, between a good dessert and a great dessert could be a change of five degrees in the oven or whipping something five seconds longer.
She grew up loving cooking but didn't embrace it as a career option until partway through college. She graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, Ill. but didn't do pastries until she came to Atlanta when it just came along as an opportunity at the Atlanta Athletic Club and felt right.
She has worked at several country clubs in town. "They are a great environment for pastries," she said. "They're run like hotels. We're able to make our own breads, do plated desserts. We do wedding cakes and special amenity platters."
Desserts have be both pretty and tasty. She said while looks are important, she focuses on taste. "I've had so many beautiful desserts taste awful."
Shows such as "Ace of Cakes" and "Cake Boss" have made customers more creative about the types of cakes they want. She's done a huge hot-dog shaped cake and a 3-D cake that resembled the bride and groom's dog Gracie. But she doesn't watch the shows.
"If I see something done wrong," she said, "it irks me."
ON TV
"Top Chef: Just Desserts," Bravo, debuting after "Top Chef: DC" at 11 p.m. Wednesday. Will at at 10 pm. Wednesdays thereafter.
Join my Facebook fan page and Twitter.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
