The Story of “Latin America's Best Pastry Chef 2018” Told by Jesús Escalera
Beginnings
When I started, I hated pastry making. They drilled into my head that pastry was something exact, millimeter-perfect, that if you were two grams over, it wouldn't turn out, and that stressed me out, until I did an internship. The first day I arrived, the head chef was there and asked me, "What do you prefer, sweet or savory?" I got so nervous that I said sweet.
How did you fall in love with pastry?
When you realize you can use vegetables in a dessert, you can use savory ingredients, when you start to break away a little from those super simple things, a vast field opens up for you.
The vanilla flower is a dessert that is very symbolic for us because vanilla is a very pastry-like ingredient, a very Mexican ingredient. You might say, “Tremendous combination, vanilla, whiskey, black olive, and caramel, that can't possibly taste good,” of course, it doesn't taste good because we don't have references for that dessert. But when people try it, they say, “I never imagined this combination could taste so much like vanilla.”.
How does it transfer flavors?
For example, a forest, what can a forest taste like as a dessert? Well, you go to the forest, many herbs, the forest is pure air, you breathe eucalyptus, pine, so with that we start forming little by little, we want to create a landscape of cacao, a landscape of Mexico, of agave, and then with the technique we know, we apply the textures.
How does Latin American pastry look?
I believe that in a few years, I see a big sweet revolution, just as there has been a savory one. Currently, the sweet one will take three years at most, the time for information to spread a bit more and for it to come out.
In the end, I also say this, pastry, if you take away Latin America from it, it loses vanilla, chocolate, many fruits, coffee; it crumbles. The global pastry cookbook, Swiss, French, it crumbles. What is pastry without chocolate, without vanilla? Imagine that. I think it's high time for Latin America to raise its flag high and say, "Here are the most recognized pastry chefs in the world.".
Where we want to focus much more is on what I was telling you about, creating a sweet culture and, above all, training and advice.
How do you feel after receiving this recognition
I've been in the sweet world for almost 14 years now, ever since I started as a teenager. I always watched this gala, the World Championship, the one in Latin America, and people I admire, people who have been my mentors, used to win it. So, the fact that I received it this year, honestly, I'm speechless. It's been so beautiful, and I feel immense pride, truly.