Pastry chefs are a unique breed. They’re the chefs who have chosen to focus their entire careers on one specific course – dessert. While many ‘normal’ chefs often turn their hand to the sweet side of their menus as well as covering starters and mains, pastry chefs are true experts in their field. And amongst all the pastry chefs in the UK you’d struggle to find someone more accomplished than Simon Jenkins, which is lucky for restaurant owners – he’s currently working as a consultant, swooping into kitchens and sharing his knowledge with the staff.
After deciding to become a chef over joining the forces or studying carpentry, Simon headed off to catering college to learn the basics. But while pastry wasn’t much of a focus, he fell in love with it. ‘There’s just more finesse and artistry involved, and I love how precise it is,’ he says. ‘It’s also very scientific, which I like – you have to understand the processes behind what you’re doing so when something goes wrong you know why. So many factors can change the end result.’
Simon’s first job was a bit of a lucky break – after writing to various restaurants he got a job working with John Burton-Race in a two Michelin star restaurant. ‘It was a very disciplined kitchen but you were made to be creative with things like the petits fours, which had a huge effect on me. From there I went to The Waterside Inn, which was very classical and I learnt so much about pastry and the different derivatives. After that I was at Le Manoir, which helped me realise the bigger picture. It was the first place I’d worked where the pastry teams were split up, so you relied on each other to get things done.’
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Simon Jenkins: the life of a pastry consultant