Acclaimed pastry chef John Cook returns to delight at the Hilton Head Island Seafood Festival
Sweet simplicity
Story By Leslie T. Snadowsky
Executive pastry chef John Cook whips up 15,000 handmade desserts a week at The Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville. From Passion Guava Panna Cotta, Caramelized Orange Tarts, Crema Catalana and Bourbon Banana Pudding, he creates scrumptious sweets and oversees an indulgent pastry team that literally places the icing on the cake for every meal served at the inn’s eight restaurants and lounges, in-room dining and banquet operations.
Chef Cook will once again join the celebrated chefs at the Hilton Head Island Seafood Festival (February 17-23) to tantalize taste buds and satisfy sweet tooths with his selection of bonne bouches.
“I plan to prepare simple, light desserts,” Cook said. “I’m thinking refreshing citrus that always cleanses the palate and chocolate desserts because that’s my main specialty. After you enjoy a big seafood experience, you just need a little sweet bite. I like to create flavors that are rich and have a nice acidic balance based off of what the meal offered.”
Cook is a Florida native who excels at infusing decadent complements to Southern meals, but he likes to keep things uncomplicated. His personal favorite delight is a slice of Pillsbury angel food cake with sliced fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream. He says keeping desserts simple is the sweet spot to his success.
“I don’t like to make weird desserts,” he said. “I think there’s always a time and a place for those items. I like to create classic desserts that bring you back to your childhood, but with a twist and flare to make it new and fresh.”
From Peach Trifle and Strawberry Brûlée to Nutella Peanut Butter Bars and Chocolate Hazelnut Crunches, Chef Cook says he likes to mix different flavors and genres and craft vegan and gluten-free delicacies. But chocolate remains his cherry on top.
“I was always fascinated with chocolate,” he said. “When I was a kid and I got into culinary school, I remember saying to somebody that I was going to be a chocolatier. They laughed, but, oddly enough, I became a chocolatier for more than 15 years. It just blows my mind every time I make it. In my desserts I always include something that’s chocolate even if it’s just a little garnish on top that makes you say, ‘Wow.’”
Chef Cook earned degrees in culinary arts and international baking and pastries from the Florida Culinary Institute in West Palm Beach. He also studied at the Cocoa-Barry School of Chocolate in Montreal. Cook was recognized as the Pastry Chef of the Year at the U.S. Pastry Competition in 2017.
Formerly the executive pastry chef of Norman Love Confections in Fort Myers, Fla, Chef Cook is also a chocolate consultant for his wife Molly’s chocolate company Marble & Steel Craft Chocolates. The handmade craft chocolate online boutique specializes in chocolate bonbons, chocolate bars, custom orders and a variety of chocolate specialties.
Replicating Chef Cook’s dessert aesthetic is no cake walk, but the award-winning chef reassures that making show-stopping pleasures at home can be as easy as pie.
“If you’re going to make a dessert that stands out, keep it simple, and ensure that each item in that dessert is as perfect as it can be,” Chef Cook said. “People are returning to more natural, more simplistic styles, more simplistic flavors, and they are becoming more aware of where their ingredients are coming from. They are looking for locally grown ingredients and using specific fruits from their region. There are a lot of revisions on old classic desserts, but they are being made more simply and more naturally.”
Chef Cook is also a natural at gingerbread. He has judged the National Gingerbread House Competition that’s held each year at The Omni Grove Park Inn, and he appeared on The Food Network’s “Haunted Gingerbread Showdown.”
“We have a massive gingerbread house that we build each year out in the lobby of The Omni Grove Park Inn,” he said. “We’ll start about a month in advance, and my team and I build all the tiles, sugar windows and all the icing. Everything is 100 percent edible. We don’t use any glue. It’s all real food. We also make anywhere between 15,000 to 18,000 gingerbread cookies by hand each year that we sell.”
If Chef Cook had to make one last dessert, he would focus on his favorite confection.
“It would definitely be a chocolate dessert,” he said. “I’m always a huge fan of a freshly baked chocolate tart with something sharp and fun on top, like fresh raspberries or passion fruit,” he said. “When you make a fresh chocolate tart and it hasn’t even gone in the fridge yet, it’s just nicely set… there’s nothing like it.”
The Omni Grove Park Inn, perched in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains, opened its doors in 1913 and has since become a landmark of Southern hospitality. Renowned for its grand Arts and Crafts architecture made from locally sourced granite, the inn has hosted an array of notable figures, including U.S. presidents and many celebrities.
