Chef Advice: Information & Advice from Professional Chefs

In the following interviews, professional chefs discuss the importance of vanilla as both a central and supporting flavor in their culinary creations. These articles offer insight into how and why they use vanilla along with tips and tricks from these experts.

Chef Advice: Boulevard Restaurant's Executive Pasty Chef prefers PNG Vanilla
Executive Pastry Chef Jessica Sullivan works at the award-winning Boulevard Restaurant in the historic 1889 Audiffred Building on San Francisco’s Embarcadero waterfront.
As executive pastry chef, Chef Jessica works with the dessert basics of sugar, eggs, cream and vanilla. Boulevard Restaurant prefers the flavor of Papua New Guinea planifolia (bourbon variety) vanilla “because it is the best vanilla we’ve ever tasted,” she said.
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Chef Advice: A Conversation with Dave Ingram of Insalata's
Dave Ingram is the pastry chef at Insalata’s Mediterranean Cuisine in San Anselmo, California, just north of San Francisco. We talked to him one busy afternoon as he was preparing pastry delights for the season’s orders of holiday parties and catering.
The subtle flavors valued by pastry chefs, home bakers and restaurant guests make vanilla a powerhouse in the taste category. Pastry work often involves simple ingredients such as cream or butter and eggs with sugar. Often added to these delicate flavors is the pastry chef’s workhorse: vanilla.
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