Decadent & Notorious pretty much sums up Mindy Crosato.
She's the force behind Decadent Creations and the creator of Notorious B.A.G.E.L., two very different expressions of the same obsession: making food interesting.
On 50 Tastes Of Gray, Matthew Gray sits down with Mindy for a wide-ranging conversation about macarons, champagne, unconventional bagels, food waste, culinary creativity, French food, family and building food businesses.
Mindy talks about the precision behind her macarons, including her memorable “happy elf” meringue test, and why she personally still makes roughly 1,000 macarons a week.
Then there's Notorious B.A.G.E.L.
Mindy explains why she created a separate business around her bagels and why she deliberately went in an unconventional direction. Chicken soup bagels, Frito pie bagels, furikake, kimchi egg and inventive cream cheeses are part of the mix.
The conversation also gets into champagne and sparkling wine, including Mindy's love of Spanish traditional-method sparkling wine, her reputation as a food snob, and the memorable story of her “divorce bottle” of Dom Pérignon.
One of the most fascinating parts of the conversation is Mindy's approach to food waste. Her bakery has developed what she calls “carryover pathways” and “utilization pathways,” finding new uses for products that might otherwise be discarded. Brioche and croissants become bread pudding. Cookies become crumble. Whole leftover pies can become filling for cinnamon rolls.
Collective Market
Portland food and baking
Macarons and meringue technique
Champagne and sparkling wine
Notorious B.A.G.E.L.
Unconventional bagel flavors
Brisket and “salt beef”
French culinary culture
Cooking for family
Her cookbook
Food photography and creative direction
A French-Pacific Northwest supper club
Farmers markets and building a food business
Culinary classes
Food waste and creative reuse
And then Mindy takes over the interview.
She turns the questions on Matthew, getting into what he cooks at home, his spice pantry, roasting coffee, Hawaii and the years he spent building Hawaii Food Tours.
It's a conversation about food, but it's really a conversation about how people think, create, build businesses, and decide what makes life worth tasting.
This is 50 Tastes Of Gray.
00:00 — Decadent & Notorious
00:39 — The early-morning baker
02:09 — Champagne, dosage & Spanish sparkling wine
05:01 — What does “decadent” really mean?
06:02 — The divorce bottle
09:03 — Working with your husband
10:00 — When the dishwasher catches fire
14:47 — French food culture & being a food snob
18:15 — The art of making macarons
19:37 — Mindy's “happy elf” meringue test
21:24 — Why macarons cost so much
22:44 — The fight against food waste
23:05 — Mindy's utilization pathways
26:16 — The Raccoon Baker
28:14 — Mindy's first food memory
29:36 — Burgers, fries & beef suet
32:31 — What do you do with peach skins?
33:15 — Collective Market
36:03 — Mindy's secret smashed-potato seasoning
38:05 — Cooking for people you want to impress
41:32 — The ultimate dessert for her husband
43:09 — The French-Pacific Northwest supper club
46:03 — Speaking French
47:28 — The blended family
49:30 — The next generation of cooks
51:06 — What's Mindy eating today?
53:07 — What makes a great bagel?
54:51 — Notorious B.A.G.E.L.
56:29 — Brisket and salt beef
57:36 — The cookbook & creative life
01:00:19 — Squab, binchotan & French tomatoes
01:02:19 — Mindy takes over the interview
01:02:42 — What does Matthew cook at home?
01:03:13 — The spice pantry
01:04:05 — Roasting coffee the homemade way
01:06:14 — Hawaii Food Tours
01:10:40 — Mindy's cooking classes
01:12:39 — What will Aurelien think?
01:16:10 — Mindy's final pitch
