Glorious Brownies

Glorious Food wrote the book on upscale catering in New York City in the 1980’s and 1990’s, when it was the caterer for events at the city’s museums, cultural institutions, and other large venues.

It was also an amazing place to work. The kitchen on East 74^th by the FDR drive, was clean, well-organized, and had the look of a serious professional kitchen with everyone in full chef’s uniform, including classic tall chef hats. The days were extremely long, but even with multiple parties for hundreds of guests in the works, we sat down for a multi-course one hour lunch every day. This was quite different from my previous position where lunch was takeout wolfed down standing up or sitting on a flour sack.

The owner chef, Jean-Claude, exercised command over the kitchen by force of personality and knowledge, with no need for yelling, as was common in many kitchens. He was at every major event through dessert, and when the entire crew was in the kitchen late at night prepping, he was there right along with us.

Being at Glorious Food meant being part of special New York events, which was exciting even from our vantage point. All these years later, I remember so many of them, along with the glitches and Jean-Claude’s unique way of doing things. Among them:

• Walking into the Winter Garden in Battery Park NY in 1989 the night of a formal dinner for Princess Diana and seeing the magical space and spectacular table settings.
• Driving at daybreak to the reopening of Ellis Island in September 1990 via New Jersey and seeing the morning light rise over the lower Manhattan skyline.
• Looking down a long row of banquet tables filled with silver trays holding dessert adorned with sparkling spun sugar, a signature Glorious Food finishing touch.
• Piped out whipped cream was another finishing touch on many Glorious Food large event desserts, such as the Praline Souffl© and Ice Cream Bombe. However, Jean-Claude preferred to whip the cream on-site, so there we would be, in a hallway at the Met, or in the back of the truck at Caramoor, with a wire whisk and big metal bowl, hand whipping up to 10 quarts of heavy cream.
• Walking into the Polo Restaurant kitchen on Madison Ave at Christmas time, to ask the pastry chef to lend me a Christmas tree and star cutter. A furious hostess at a party on Park Ave had discovered that the tea sandwiches on her menu, which were supposed to be cut in holiday shapes, were in the standard rectangles. The exhausted pastry chef barely listened to the story, he just handed me his bin of cutters, and told me to take what I needed.
• Bringing six metal catering cabinets of food for a corporate dinner to an upper floor at the Citicorp building, only to find that the party was across Lexington Ave, at a Citibank office. Back down at the loading dock, seeing an empty Conran’s truck, I gave the driver $40 to drive our cabinets around the block. 

While Glorious Food menus were often derived from classic French cuisine there many events, especially larger ones, that featured sophisticated comfort food. The best example of this were the pot pies, either Pheasant or Quail, served in polished copper oval dishes along with killer mashed potatoes. I bought two copper ovals for myself years ago in Zabar’s and whenever I use them, I still think back to the hours spent rolling out and placing the pastry on hundreds of those pot pies.

In the dessert realm, a star comfort food was the Glorious Food brownies. Countless dessert buffets and passed dessert receptions included these round chocolate delights, lightly dusted with confectioners’ sugar, sitting on fancy serving trays. Such a simple thing, but it was all part of the Glorious Food look.

In the kitchen cutting rounds out of an 18†by 26†sheet pan was always a happy time for the staff, as the inevitable scraps were a great afternoon pick me up with a cup of strong French press coffee.

The original 60 egg recipe has been scaled down as much as possible. It will make two 8†by 8†brownie pans. They freeze beautifully.