Dossier Dessert, the cherry on the cake of the Identità Milano congress, turns 9. In little less than a decade, desserts have been the protagonists of an unprecedented evolution – in the kitchen as well as in pastry workshops. Pierre Hermé, Frédéric Bau, Christophe Michalak, Yann Duytsche, are only some of the great masters who have climbed on the stage of the congress, guiding us to an extraordinary horizon of creativity. This will happen, once again, on the afternoon of Tuesday February 11th, on the stage of Identità Golose thanks to the partnership with Valrhona and the Ecole du Grand Chocolat, the school of specialization in pastry and chocolate with locations in Tain l'Hermitage, Versailles and Tokyo, that has been capable of training the greatest pastry-makers on the planet, every year, for over twenty years.

Thierry Bridron, executive chef at Ecole du Grand Chocolat Valrhona
This year, at
Identità Milano, a thrilling journey of discovery of creative pastry-making in all its most innovative and tasty forms awaits us, with particular attention to desserts served as a dish. One after the other, the topic of pastry-making will be covered by
Corrado Assenza of
Caffè Sicilia in Noto (Siracusa),
Thierry Bridron, executive chef at the
Ecole du Grand Chocolat Valrhonasede in Paris Versailles,
Julien Ochando pastry chef at
Grand Hyatt Hôtel Martinez in Cannes,
Giovanni Passerini patron chef at restaurant
Rino in Paris (soon to change location) and
Gianluca Fusto, today a globetrotter consultant and for years the only Italian teacher at the
Ecole Valrhona, an experience that has given this pastry chef rigour, technique and an international vision.
From the pastry-kitchen in one of the French hotels most filled with charm and history, to the experience of one of the most en vogue bistros in Paris – born out of the idea of an Italian, by the way – from Sicily, centre of the world, to those who travel across the world every day, having chosen teaching at the highest level as their profession.
To understand the value of the team of pastry-makers who will take part in the game, it is sufficient to illustrate the steps in the professional career of Bridron, a chef who summarizes pastry experiences learnt in extraordinary places and at a time that he himself defines as a sort of golden age. The fact he’s been a pastry-chef from 1984 to 1989 at Fauchon, when Pierre Hermé was in charge, makes Bridron say of that highly motivated and exceptional team: «The rigour, the discovery and the opening were our daily bread. The fact I have lived in a unique time for the evolution of this profession still seems to me as a privilege».

Julien Ochando, pastry chef at Grand Hyatt Hôtel Martinez in Cannes
Fauchon didn’t happen by chance: the sweet adventure of
Bridron had begun years earlier among the mirrors of the legendary
Hôtel Scribe, behind the ticking clockwork organization; he then became chef pâtissier of
Hôtel Lutetia working together with
Philippe Renard, leading 15 young toques. «It was a very productive time, thanks to the total freedom we had when finalising the products for the points of sale. The pleasure of sharing the clients’ satisfaction, the savoir-faire accumulated year after year, the pride of a finely executed work were my engine. And most of all, seeing that the people I have trained now share their knowledge, represents for me the best reward for those years of work».
In 2006 Bridron started his adventure at the Ecole du Grand Chocolat, the ideal haven for a multifaceted talent who, among ovens and palettes, has always looked for professional exchange in the first place. The same type of pleasure for sharing and for quality that has always feeding all those who are invited to get on the stage of Identità Milano with new energy.