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In his ‘younger days’, Ebow
worked at La Cocina Restaurant, in Brooklyn’s Park Slope, as assistant Pastry Chef to the late Craig Whitman, an adjunct
professor at Dadzie’s alma mater, New York City College of Technology. According to Ebow, "Working as an assistant
pastry chef at an Italian restaurant for five months, I learned something very important which is also beneficial for my upbringing.
I learned all the things I should not do when managing a restaurant."
At City Tech, Ebow earned his
Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management in January 2003. The training he received, particularly from Professor Francis
Lorenzini and Professor Louise Hoffman, gave him the foundation to develop his ambition and pursue a career in pastry arts.
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| (l to r) Chef Bernard Ramounad, Luc Jean, Ramond Rexach, Adreianne Denie and E |
Ebow’s motivation was
strong from the start, and at age 17, he traveled to France in his quest for knowledge, where he studied at Castera
Verduzan for three months, and interned at Restaurant Le Florida,
in Gers en Gascogne.
He recalls," During my internship
in the summer of 2001, I became a much more serious person coming back to the United States. I spent three months in the Southwest
of France, Castera Verduzan in the Gascogne. The restaurant I worked at was called Le Florida. Under the guidance of Executive
Chef and Owner Bernard Ramounad, I learned that are no short cuts to this industry and to be successful I should learn everything
this industry has to offer. Being in a foreign country and not being able to speak the language would be enough for anyone
to want to come back home. But practicing my four D’s that my coach Phil Zodda has taught me I was very,
Determined,
Dedicated,
Disciplined and had
a
Desire to want to learn
more."
When he returned to the U.S
at age 18, he moved into his own apartment, which he “flips” into a pastry shop at competition time, leaving his
neighbors to wonder why he has 80 pounds of sugar.
When Ebow is not busy thinking
and dreaming, he is reading (poetry & politics), dancing (Soca & Salsa), or running (by the water). In fact, before
his confectionary awards, Dadzie was winning medals for track and field.
At the 2001 Salon of
Culinary Art, for his first involvement in a competition, he made an occasional cake shaped like a stadium with a runner
in center, molded from one of his own trophies. According to Ebow, " This was my first year competing at the Javits Center.
Being a track athlete, I normally zone into my race, blocking out all competitors. This stadium replicates my thoughts as
me competing against myself." Following the competition, sponsored by the American Culinary Federation, he became a junior
chapter member of the ACF.
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| "MY STADIUM" Confectionery Competition 2001 |
Around this time, he started
teaching baking & pastry arts at the South Shore Adult Education Program, NY, instructing adults and children over the
next several years. Says Ebow, " I demonstrate basic dessert and cooking techniques that can be executed in the homes of my
students. Desserts demonstrated, vary from Éclairs, fruit tarts, and Napoleons to prepared food dishes consisting of
different types of rice, steaks, pasta dishes, meatballs and more."
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| "CARNEVALE" Confectionery Competition 2002 |
As a City Tech student
team member for the 2001, 2002 and 2003 Salon competitions, Ebow was able to hone his skills, and get a taste for a different
kind of victory.
In 2002, for the 134th Annual
Salon, he created a showpiece featuring a mask with another student, and as a team, the school won first prize for buffet,
the De Bands Trophy, and Gold Medal of the Salon. It was Ebow’s
first time working in chocolate. He says, "This was my second year competing at the Javits center. Being an angel to my partner
Joanne Gordon, we created a mask that replicated a mask you would see in Venice."
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In 2003, for the 135th Annual
Salon, Ebow and another student created "The Evolution of the Pastry Chef," a showpiece assembled of screened and marbled
chocolate, with nuts, bolts and gears taking the viewer from Careme to Lenotre.
About this transitional piece,
Ebow says,"This was my senior year competing at the Javits center. This show piece replicates myself from where I have started
to what I have achieved to become. The books on the bottom are books from Antoine Careme and Lenotre which represent the 1600s
to 1900s. The hour glass represents the time it takes for growth and the abstract figure of a the pastry chef represents the
outcome."
The school came in second
place in the race for the Grand Prize of the Salon for Buffet, and the Marc Sarrazin Trophy. That year, they won the Trophy of the Commanderie des Cordons Bleus de France.
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Also
in 2003, Ebow was the recipient of the Société Culinaire Philanthropique Scholarship Award, and one of a team of three 2003
Brooklyn Chamber of
Commerce scholarship recipients, for their “almond and butterscotch gateau” presented by the Brooklyn Alliance
at their annual food event, "Brooklyn Eats".
From left, City Tech hospitality management students
and 2003 Brooklyn Eats scholarship recipients Ebow Dadzie, Monica Ng and Peter Pinkhasov at work on their almond and butterscotch
gateau in the College's pastry arts kitchen. (Photo 1 by Luis Garcia )
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Almond And Butterscotch Gateau
Pastry Chefs ‘Monica’ Chun Hui Ng, Ebow Dadzie, and Peter Pinkhasov
Frangipane
9 oz Almond paste
9 oz Unsalted butter
9 oz Granulated sugar
6
large eggs
4 oz Cake flour
1. Butter and flour sheetpan and line with parchment paper. In mixer, using
paddle attachment, beat almond paste, butter and sugar together at medium-high speed until light. Add eggs, one at a time,
beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.
2. Add four and mix well. Scrape batter into prepared sheetpan and spread
evenly with spatula.
3. Bake at 325 F for 7 minutes, or until light brown. Cool completely.
Sponge Cake
6 eggs
7 oz granulated sugar
6 oz cake flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp vanilla extract
1. Slightly butter and flour a sheetpan and line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together dry ingredients together
3. Combine eggs, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl with the whisk
attachment and whip on high speed until thick, light and pale yellow in color.
4. Fold in the sifted flour in three stages being careful not to deflate
the foam. Spread onto the prepared sheetpan and bake immediately at 375 F for 8 to 10 minutes or until a tester comes out
clean.
Butterscotch Pudding
1.5 oz granulated sugar
3.5 oz cornstarch
½ tsp salt
3 whole eggs
1 qt whole milk
1 pt butterscotch syrup
1 oz unsalted butter
1. In bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and eggs until smooth paste
is formed.
2. In saucepan, combine milk and butterscotch syrup and bring to boil.
Temper cornstarch mixture and cook until thickened. Remove from heat. Whisk in butter and pass through fine chinois. Cool
over ice bath.
Caramel Glaze
8.5 oz heavy cream
10 oz granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
8.5 liquid
ounces water
1 oz cornstarch
3 gelatin sheets, bloomed
Almond Syrup
1 pt simple syrup (8 oz water & 8 oz granulated sugar, cooked to melt)
2 tbsp almond extract
Combine syrup and extract
Assembly
1 gelatin sheet, bloomed
2 liquid ounces heavy cream, whipped
to stiff peaks.
1. Trim edges and soak frangipane with almond syrup. Set aside.
2. Squeeze gelatin sheet dry and place in sauce pan with small amount of
butterscotch pudding. Heat until gelatin is melted. Add to remaining pudding and combine. Set aside to cool down and separate
into two halves.
3. Scrape first halve of pudding mixture over frangipane layer and spread
evenly. Invert sponge cake onto butterscotch-layered frangipane. Soak generously with syrup. Trim edges.
4. Fold the whipped cream into remaining butterscotch pudding and spread
evenly over sponge cake. Freeze until top layer is firm.
5. Portion with hot knife and enjoy.
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Brooklyn Eats "Almond Gateau" Recipe (PDF)
His first few years volunteering as a student for the 13th, 14th and 15th annual Pastry Competitions in 2002, 2003 and
2004, Ebow assisted the judges, cut and plated cakes and was able to get a good look at a the world he would soon enter
Back to School:
Ebow Inspires Students
@ his Alma Mater
Read More | |
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