Cooking is as Easy as Pie

On the second floor of the Anteater Recreation Center (ARC) sat twelve eager teenagers. They awaited Chef Jessica Vanroo to arrive and begin today’s lesson on French desserts. This particular Saturday morning, University High School sponsored a free class for students interested in pursuing a culinary career. The teenagers split into four groups of three before the class began and made claim to their own table of friends. At table one, Cassie, Sandra, and Steve picked and prodded at the arrangement of fruit and various baking ingredients set before them. Cassie went so far as to take a bite into a miniature green apple. Her face cringed from its tartness.

“Welcome to an afternoon at une patisserie de France!” a female voice announced from the door. Vanroo, a 38-year-old woman with bright green eyes and a charming smile, entered the room adorned in a pastel pink apron. “You might want to save those apples for the tarte tatin we’ll be making,” she whispered into Cassie’s ear on her way to the front of the kitchen. Cassie turned as red as the strawberries in the center of ​​the table and set the apple down.

It took about another half hour for Vanroo to introduce herself and give a spiel on her culinary background. Vanroo diligently worked as she spoke. While telling the jittery high school kids about her solo month abroad in France after grad school, she laid out a cutting board, four apples, empty muffin tines, brown sugar, and a stick of butter onto the counter beside her. She sprinkled a handful of flour across the cutting board and rolled out five small balls of dough. All this time, she does not look up or stop talking about herself until a tall, athletic boy sitting at table three interrupted, “Excuse me! Are we supposed to be following along?”

Vanroo paused and a puzzled look passed her face for just a second. “Yes, of course,” she said. “What have you guys been doing then?”

Suddenly, there was a commotion of noise: chairs scraping, shoes squeaking, and loud chattering as the teenagers scrambled to their feet. The energy in the kitchen visibly rose; however, Vanroo remained calm and continued with her demonstration.

Teaching “comes naturally” to Vanroo. “Young and old, everyone loves food so everyone loves to cook,” she said. Vanroo had been teaching for 10 years now, five at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Raised in a half-Italian, half-Chinese household, Vanroo first experimented unique foods in the kitchen with her parents. She “couldn’t fathom the countless combinations of exotic flavors together,” which first sparked her interest in a culinary career. Vanroo went on to complete a Culinary Arts Associate of Science degree from The Art Institute of California, Orange County. Upon graduation, she taught at a local high school until the ARC hired here as master culinary director.

It took another hour for the class to prepare their apple tarte tatins and place the full tins into the metal baking trays. Vanroo carefully moved the trays into the ovens so as not to shift the contents, and within a couple of minutes, the aroma of warm butter and caramelized apples drifted through the kitchen. As the mouthwatering smell got stronger by the second, the kids at the table get antsy. Nathan, a blonde curly-haired boy with a wide grin, started popping the arrangement of balloons by the front door. He sat on them and busted out in hearty laughter each time a balloon gave out under his weight.

Vanroo said, “I love kids. I love teaching kids because they are so full of energy and ready to learn. But there are cons to every pro, right?”

Finally, the tatins were ready. A tangible warmth followed the desserts from the ovens to the tables, and it became apparent that the kids could not wait any longer to divulge into their treats. The crust on each individual tatin was a toasty brown, crispy to the touch. Once past the outer layer, the apples inside tasted sweet, a perfect combination of tart and sugar. The treats appeared to be mini apple pies the size of a muffin.

“That was amazing,” Chloe, a peppy brunette in pigtails, said on her way out the door. “I can’t wait to come back.”

Photo Courtesy of Philip Mendoza, Anteater Recreation Center.