Jessica Brown‘s Sweet Success

May 23, 2007

Creme Caramels with real mint leaves.  Signature Lemon Tarts with powdered sugar.  Fresh Profiteroles (also known as creme puffs.)  Delicately hand-crafted chocolates with exotic flavors like Jasmine Peach tea, Michigan maple syrup, and passionfruit.  Spicy Black Chai and Honey Lavender ice creams.
Who’s responsible for all of this gourmet decadence?  Well, in Northern Michigan, that would be Jessica Brown, the resident pastry chef/chocolatier at the Galley Gourmet in Bay Harbor and a culinary talent in her own right.
Brown, who grew up in Brighton, graduated from Schoolcraft College in Livonia in 2005, and now lives in Boyne City with her husband, Jeremy, a fellow Schoolcraft student.
“Jeremy was the incredibly intimidating upperclassman,” she chuckles, “when we met at school, he and his team had just won the American Culinary Foundation’s student competition, and I was the novice.”
The Browns moved up north and married shortly after graduation, with Jessica going right into her job at the Galley Gourmet. Jeremy worked at Tapawingo before moving on to the Hidden River Golf and Casting Club, where he’s now the executive chef. 
And they prove that you can take your work home with you, if you truly enjoy it - the Browns also cook together at their house, in a big kitchen that they’ve filled with spices and professional-grade cookware. “I love cooking with Jeremy,” Jessica smiles.
 
CHOCOLATIER CLASS
While at Schoolcraft, both of the Browns completed a full culinary program - one that was surprisingly lacking in courses in the pastry field that Jessica would soon specialize in.
“I took the chocolatier class at Schoolcraft,” she says, “I just love chocolate, and it wasn’t long before I was really excelling in that class, even though there was only one. I also took all of the pastry classes, although the school only had two - but pastry and chocolates ended up being the things that really clicked with me.” 
Pastries of all varieties were part of Brown’s life growing up, too, which is where much of her interest in cooking came from. 
“I was home-schooled from the 7th grade forward,” she says, “which gave me extra time to both cook at home with my mom and work outside of the house.”
Brown worked at Aleko’s Italian Restaurant near Detroit, where she grew even more fond of life in the kitchen, and continued her culinary efforts at home.
“We made regular meals, of course, but we also made lots of cookies, pound cakes, bundt cakes, everything.  I would get creative with some of the cakes and put flowers on them for decoration, which my dad thought was silly,” she laughs, “and once, I made the mistake of putting peonies on a cake, which was a bad choice as the peonies were full of ants.” 
 
RAVE REVIEWS
Brown isn’t putting ants in her creations any more;  instead, she’s doing a lot more palatable experimenting that is drawing her raves across Northern Michigan, especially regarding much of the work she is currently doing for the Galley Gourmet. 
She handcrafts individual gourmet chocolates, making them fresh with real eggs and butter and natural flavorings, and rendering them via unusually-shaped chocolate molds. Many of the chocolates are hand-decorated with paper-thin colored cocoa butter transfer sheets and special garnishes, giving them the appearance of little chocolate gems in their lit display case.
It’s hard to choose which tiny chocolate treat to try first - the Classic French Double Caramel with Pink Sea Salt, the Espresso Ganache in its tiny white chocolate cup, the Sesame Seed with its caramelized sesame seed brittle filling, or the spicy Aztec, a southwestern-influenced chocolate flavored with chipotle chilis and decorated with a fire-red Mexican pattern.  And those are only a few of the choices.
“I like the ganache fillings the best,” Brown enthuses, “and I really enjoy coming up with new ideas for the chocolates.  I get inspired by ideas from recipe books, and from what other chefs are doing.  It’s a lot of fun trying things, and it’s a challenge to work with the chocolate molds themselves.” 
EASY DOES IT...
The chocolate molds - made of hard plastic - are such high-maintenance that they have to be polished with cotton balls; one scratch on a mold can ruin the finish of a chocolate, and the chocolate itself has to be properly tempered. 
Brown also excels at chocolate sculptures - a recent effort was rendered in a volcano shape and surrounded with globes of brightly colored chocolate and molded chocolate flowers. Globes are one of the hardest chocolate shapes to make, but Brown’s gained high marks.
Ice creams and sorbets have been another challenge that she’s taken on as part of the Galley Gourmet team. 
“Ice cream has been a whole new thing for me,” she explains, “we were, of course, taught the general procedure for making ice cream at school, but it’s totally different when you’re creating your own formulas.  You have to consider sugar content, water content, and balance the flavors properly.” 
Her experiments with these cold treats are obviously another success for the chef, as her creations are a big hit at the Galley Gourmet’s Espresso Cafè. Customers stop-ping in for the cafè’s exceptional espresso drinks (grounded by their import of Chicago’s Intelligentsia coffees and executed by their skilled baristas) are often also drawn to the ice cream cooler, where Cinnamon, Almond Coconut, Espresso Coffee Bean, Pumpkin, Amaretto Toffee, and Green Tea ice creams share space; even the vanilla isn’t typical, as Brown’s is a special Tahitian Vanilla that is rich yet light.
 
CAKE CONNECTION
All of these accomplishments are only the beginning for Brown, who feels that she’s only just begun to hone her craft.
“I also like doing cakes, especially wedding cakes,” she says, “I’d like to do a lot more of those. I like to make cakes that are simple but extremely good, and I like cakes with fillings like puddings or jams as opposed to merely cake and buttercream frosting. I will probably take a class on fondant at some point as well - you can make amazing cakes with fondant.” 
But for now, it’s the Galley Gourmet that is the beneficiary of her skills. 
“I really enjoy my job. I love that we get to do things from scratch with such good ingredients.  And I love the variety of what I get to do there - it’s not exactly the same every day, and I’m given a lot of creative freedom, which I really appreciate.” 
Brown’s dedication to her craft is apparent, and she doesn’t show any signs of slowing down in her quest to make the most of her culinary talents. 
“Eventually, it would be great to be able to pick and choose the projects I’ll do,” she says.  And with the effort she’s put forth so far, it probably won’t be long before Jessica Brown will be able to do just that.
 
Jessica Brown can be reached via email at cookiemonster8765@hotmail.com for special projects;  clients needing an immediate treat can purchase Brown’s creations at the Galley Gourmet at 4181 Main Street in Bay Harbor, telephone 231-439-2665, and at the Galley Gourmet Espresso Cafe, two doors down.