I talk about cupcakes with pretty much anyone and everyone, and often when I meet a friend of a friend I become "the cupcake girl." My reputation preceeds me. This naturally means that I'm always curious about my friends' cupcake consumption, so I asked my friend Jackson West, who helped me bake cupcakes this weekend for an article to be revealed next year (I want to tinker with it a bit more), to take our cupcake interview.
Photo by Tim Shey
Name: Jackson West
Age: 30
Location: Brooklyn
Occupation: Sassbacker
URL: http://www.jacksonwest.com
When did you start baking and who taught you how to bake?
I used to mess up the kitchen making the german pancake (pfankuchen) recipe from The Joy of Cooking in a cast-iron griddle on the stove top. My mom and my grandma focused that energy on learning stuff like beating and folding egg whites, leavening with baking soda and eventually advanced topics like yeast breads.
How'd you come to know so much about science and baking?
My brother from another mother back in college used to ask me to teach him how to cook, and I'm like, "You're a photographer, it's a lot like developing a photograph." How do you know when diced onions are caramelized? Why does acidic Balsamic vinegar "deglaze" that pan? How do you control the carbon dioxide output of yeast and how it plays with the gluten in the flour? It's the same sort of intuitive understanding of practical chemistry and biochemistry that chefs had before chemists existed. People like Marc Powell of Foodhacking.net take it to a deliciously illogical extreme.
You're a San Franciscan temporarily living in New York; if you've had a chance to compare them, can you tell us your thoughts on each city's cupcakes?
Here's the thing, I'm a savory person. Give me cured pork products, cheese and pickles or give me death! That said, I think the reason New York foodies love cupcakes is because there's no inherit ingredient disadvantage. Organic, artisanal flour is organic, artisanal flour the world over. There's not really a debate between Domino and C&H sugars. But if San Francisco figured out a way to use California's growing season to an advantage (edible flowers, pollens, varietal honeys, wine reductions and fresh, uncured nuts, anyone?) it would totally fucking kick New York's ass.
After I brought some sugar Sweet sunshine cupcakes to your party, you wrote to me: "I now understand that the whole appeal of cupcakery is that people make them for you. But then, that's one of the many reasons I'm not now nor will never be a true New Yorker." What do you mean by that?
I privilege a home-cooked meal over almost anything. When I finally got a room in Brooklyn, the first thing I did was whip up some pasta because I'd been eating in restaurants four or five days straight. But that meal, and most to follow, cost me just as much if not more in ingredients than I would have spent eating out. I understand the economy of scale that restaurants offer (and the low wages paid to the immigrants that generally prepare them), but I just can't stand the loss of nutritional control. I am what I eat, right? So why would I choose to be something made by other people just because it's cheaper and more convenient?
How often do you eat cupcakes?
Whenever I hang out with you, Rachel!
What's the best thing about eating cupcakes?
Giving sugar addicts the frosting and keeping the rich cake for oneself.
What's your favorite type of cupcake?
Cheesy, bacony cornbread.
How do cupcakes compare/contrast to other baked goods for you?
Honestly, I'd give up cupcakes for life if it was either sweets or crusty bread.
Is there any innovation you'd like to see made to the cupcake that would improve it for you?
Fresher ingredients. Even just a few geranium petals would serve to help convince me I wasn't just wasting calories.
Do you bake your own cupcakes? Or (even better) have someone who bakes them for you?
Friends and family are my only cupcake sources⎯commodifying cupcakes feels dirty.
What's your first cupcake-related memory?
A birthday at a Mexican restaurant, where cupcakes were served in lieu of regular cake. Presumably before I'd turned twelve.
What's the most fun you've ever had with a cupcake?
Making them, even if they ended up a bit dry!
Do you have anything else to add?
I just hope that an obsession with cupcakery turns one toward a more intimate understanding of the who, what, when, where and why of food, generally.
Photo by Tim Shey
Name: Jackson West
Age: 30
Location: Brooklyn
Occupation: Sassbacker
URL: http://www.jacksonwest.com
When did you start baking and who taught you how to bake?
I used to mess up the kitchen making the german pancake (pfankuchen) recipe from The Joy of Cooking in a cast-iron griddle on the stove top. My mom and my grandma focused that energy on learning stuff like beating and folding egg whites, leavening with baking soda and eventually advanced topics like yeast breads.
How'd you come to know so much about science and baking?
My brother from another mother back in college used to ask me to teach him how to cook, and I'm like, "You're a photographer, it's a lot like developing a photograph." How do you know when diced onions are caramelized? Why does acidic Balsamic vinegar "deglaze" that pan? How do you control the carbon dioxide output of yeast and how it plays with the gluten in the flour? It's the same sort of intuitive understanding of practical chemistry and biochemistry that chefs had before chemists existed. People like Marc Powell of Foodhacking.net take it to a deliciously illogical extreme.
You're a San Franciscan temporarily living in New York; if you've had a chance to compare them, can you tell us your thoughts on each city's cupcakes?
Here's the thing, I'm a savory person. Give me cured pork products, cheese and pickles or give me death! That said, I think the reason New York foodies love cupcakes is because there's no inherit ingredient disadvantage. Organic, artisanal flour is organic, artisanal flour the world over. There's not really a debate between Domino and C&H sugars. But if San Francisco figured out a way to use California's growing season to an advantage (edible flowers, pollens, varietal honeys, wine reductions and fresh, uncured nuts, anyone?) it would totally fucking kick New York's ass.
After I brought some sugar Sweet sunshine cupcakes to your party, you wrote to me: "I now understand that the whole appeal of cupcakery is that people make them for you. But then, that's one of the many reasons I'm not now nor will never be a true New Yorker." What do you mean by that?
I privilege a home-cooked meal over almost anything. When I finally got a room in Brooklyn, the first thing I did was whip up some pasta because I'd been eating in restaurants four or five days straight. But that meal, and most to follow, cost me just as much if not more in ingredients than I would have spent eating out. I understand the economy of scale that restaurants offer (and the low wages paid to the immigrants that generally prepare them), but I just can't stand the loss of nutritional control. I am what I eat, right? So why would I choose to be something made by other people just because it's cheaper and more convenient?
How often do you eat cupcakes?
Whenever I hang out with you, Rachel!
What's the best thing about eating cupcakes?
Giving sugar addicts the frosting and keeping the rich cake for oneself.
What's your favorite type of cupcake?
Cheesy, bacony cornbread.
How do cupcakes compare/contrast to other baked goods for you?
Honestly, I'd give up cupcakes for life if it was either sweets or crusty bread.
Is there any innovation you'd like to see made to the cupcake that would improve it for you?
Fresher ingredients. Even just a few geranium petals would serve to help convince me I wasn't just wasting calories.
Do you bake your own cupcakes? Or (even better) have someone who bakes them for you?
Friends and family are my only cupcake sources⎯commodifying cupcakes feels dirty.
What's your first cupcake-related memory?
A birthday at a Mexican restaurant, where cupcakes were served in lieu of regular cake. Presumably before I'd turned twelve.
What's the most fun you've ever had with a cupcake?
Making them, even if they ended up a bit dry!
Do you have anything else to add?
I just hope that an obsession with cupcakery turns one toward a more intimate understanding of the who, what, when, where and why of food, generally.
Comments
Very Fun interview!
=) sandra