The holiday of masters who make everyone’s favourite sweets, Pastry Chef’s Day, is celebrated in Russia annually on May 3rd. An alumnus of South Ural State University, professional pastry chef, prize-winner and winner of the largest Russian and international culinary contests Igor Tumarkin shares the story of his career, talks about major projects and specifics of work in a pastry shop.
– Let us get to know each other a little: could you please tell us about your path in the profession of a pastry chef? How did you start doing this sweet craft?
– I became interested in pastry business in childhood. My grandmother was a pastry chef, she was always cooking something at home, and I helped her. Then I grew up and began to go to her production, helped her and began to acquire basic skills. Thanks to my grandmother, I entered school No. 102, studied there for 3 years and received the profession of a pastry chef. Then I completed advanced training in the “Technician, Technologist of Public Catering Products” speciality, graduated with 2 diplomas with honours, which is very surprising, because at school I had received only satisfactory grades.
Then I enrolled in the Faculty of Commerce at SUSU and obtained the profession of an engineer-technologist of public catering products. Already during my 3rd year of studies, I began to work as a cook part-time, and then got a job at the Viktoriya Hotel with Đorđe Kostić (honorary president of the Serbian Chefs Association) and began to acquire new knowledge as a pastry chef.
I represented the university in the first culinary championship in Moscow, where I took the honourable last place. The first try is always troublesome, but I liked it, and the second time appeared to be more successful. There also were youth championships in Kazan, Chelyabinsk and other cities, where I won prizes. Then I began to take part in international competitions that took place in Turkey, France, Switzerland, Serbia, Germany, China, and in many other contests. Sometimes I attended 2 world championships within one and the same year.
Later I worked as a production director, a pastry chef, and now we are running our own business, a small family business. We work, produce sweets, and make cakes to order.
– Watching cooking shows, we see a variety of designs made of sugar, animals made of chocolate, and cakes the size of a person. What large works do you remember making the most and why?
– Probably, the works from the world championships were the most memorable ones. There I had to work with sculptures made of chocolate, caramel, and ice. I had to learn the basics of ice sculpture and various techniques for working with it on my own. Making something out of ice was the most unusual for me and very difficult physically. One block weighs 400 kg, you have to manage it, move it, saw off the excess, and transfer it to the exhibition in the freezer, where the judges will examine it.
There were many interesting projects. We had large cakes, moved them to other cities, and transported them in parts. Each project is interesting in its own way: even if it is a small cake, you still treat it as if you are making it for the first time, you always learn something new. It almost never happens that we repeat cakes, there are no typical desserts. Each cake is made individually.
– Many of us remember the 80-kilograms SUSU anniversary cake. Different layers of the cake, Prometheus and Nike on the facade of the building. Please tell us how this idea came about and was implemented?
– The idea was generated by a big team, which included Abduvali Dzhabarovich Toshev (Head of the Department of Technology and Organization of Public Catering of the SUSU Institute of Sport, Tourism and Service). We discussed a lot of different ideas, we even wanted to cook something to get into the Guinness Book of Records. In the end, we decided to make such a festive cake, consisting of 3 parts. It was very large and heavy. Designers, IT specialists, sculptors, and masters also worked on creating it. It took about 5 days to make the blanks. The trick is to assemble it, secure all the facades within a few hours so that the cake does not melt and it can be transported while maintaining its appearance. The area of the cake is large, it was quite labour-intensive to match it with the timing and present the final version. It turned out very interesting, neat, and most importantly, delicious.
– One of your latest major works is a cake for the closing ceremony of the Student TEFI festival, which was held at SUSU. This not only looked but also tasted impressive! Please tell us about the difficulties of making this product.
– Usually, false tiers made of polystyrene foam are used to create tall cakes to give the desserts volume and solemnity. I do not really like polystyrene foam, it is not tasty. That is why we made a cake of 3 different layers, quite tall. Of course, we had to use engineering inserts so that it would not collapse under its own weight. The TEFI statuette itself was made of chocolate. Using my own technology, I made a mould, then cast it from chocolate, sharpened it, and applied gold leaf in layers. The sculpture itself turned out to have a very interesting texture. The geometric patterns of different colours that we applied with a spray gun through stencils also looked great. It looked very beautiful against the background of the banner.
.jpg)
– Now students will definitely want to become pastry chefs after this interview! What qualities and skills, in your opinion, should a pastry chef have to successfully build a career in this field?
– Like any other person in any other profession: hard work, interest, and love for your work. A person should not be arrogant and think that they know and can do everything, but on the contrary, they should constantly learn and understand that everything in the world is changing and something new is happening.
– Let us wrap up our dialogue with a question about the future. What ideas would you like to implement?
– Participation in championships and contests is not so relevant to me now, but perhaps I will return to this in a few years. As for development, we are planning to open our own branded department. We have literally recently moved to a new premises and launched production, and the next step would be to open a new sales point.
If you wish to become a professional pastry chef, like Igor Tumarkin, then the Institute of Sport, Tourism and Service of South Ural State University invites you to study in the 19.03.04 Production Technology and Catering Organization speciality, Technology and Organization of Catering Enterprises major.
Students studying in this speciality will learn the theoretical aspects of public catering industry, as well as the practical application of skills in the educational process. Professional disciplines are aimed at gaining knowledge about the basics of the direction of preparation, design, organization of production and maintenance at catering enterprises, as well as technologies for working with raw materials, catering materials and biologically active additives.
Duration of training and mode of study: full-time – 4 years, part-time – 5 years.
Admission examinations:
Unified State Examination in Mathematics and the Russian Language, and in subject of choice: Biology/Physics/Chemistry.
SUSU examinations (for graduates of secondary professional education institutions) in the Russian Language, and the Principles of Processing Raw Materials for Catering.