By Stephen Valentino Jacques Torres is the host of the popular PBS show Dessert Circus and author of the companion book by the same name from William Morrow Publishing. Born and raised in a small town in the south of France, Torres is a man of passion who likes a challenge and lives his life, as he does his cooking, with extraordinary gusto. He began his training in Nice at the Hotel Negresco and traveled the world with renowned chef Jacques Maximum. Currently, Torres is the Executive Pastry Chef at Le Cirque in New York as well as at their new restaurant at the awe-inspiring Belaggio Hotel in Las Vegas.
Pastry is so technical.
It's a process like building blocks where one step builds into the next. My dad is a carpenter and the field of pastry is related. I shop for a lot of my tools in hardware stores and art shops. At the same time, there is an amazing amount of room for creativity and artistic expression in pastry. Serving dessert challenges me to wake-up a diner who is full and thinks they can't eat another bite.