Priscilla Martel
Priscilla Martel is an award-winning[1] American chef, food writer, and consultant notable for desserts, baking, pastries and fireplace-cooked meals. Her recipes appear in magazines such as Food & Wine. She is a contributing writer at Flavor and the Menu Magazine.[2][3] She teaches and has written textbooks including ebooks[4] used to teach students of the culinary arts.[5] She is recognized as an authority on artisan baking, confectionery, cooking food in sealed plastic bags with water or steam called sous vide, and spa cooking techniques.[6] In 2016, Martel is teaching a course in food writing at GateWay Community College in New Haven.[6]
Priscilla Martel | |
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Priscilla Martel | |
Born | Priscilla Martel October 22, 1956 |
Education | Andover Brown University |
Spouse(s) | Charlie van Over |
Culinary career | |
Cooking style | Mediterranean |
Current restaurant(s)
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Website | priscillamartel |
Martel married prominent Connecticut restaurateur and chef Charlie van Over, and the couple often collaborate on recipes and cooking. Martel and van Over have cooked for 60 Minutes reporter Morley Safer, Chef Jacques Pepin as well as Broadway actor Peter Kapetan at their home in Connecticut.[7] Martel and van Over were co–owners of a restaurant in Chester called Restaurant du Village.[8] Her cooking often reflects a Mediterranean emphasis.[9] She has a particular interest and expertise in almonds and desserts of the northeast. Martel and van Over hold patents regarding baking processes.[1]
Martel attended Phillips Academy in Andover and graduated in the school's first co–educational class in 1974. Her classmates included jazz Grammy–winner Bill Cunliffe, software financier Peter Currie, actor Dana Delany, painter Julian Hatton, poet Karl Kirchwey, writer Nate Lee, television producer Jonathan Meath, editor Sara Nelson, and sculptor Gar Waterman. She graduated from Brown University in 1978. Her love of writing was influenced in part after taking a course at Wesleyan called Portraits of People taught by Anne Greene, in the 1980s.[10]
Martel and van Over opened a Chester, Connecticut restaurant which they named Restaurant du Village in 1979 and sold it in 1990.[11] In 2010, they own a firm called "All About Food" which holds baking patents and collaborates with food manufacturers and restaurants on such matters as menus, marketing programs, and new products.[1]
Martel and van Over were quoted in the New York Times about doing rotisserie cooking using a fireplace; on occasions, Martel and van Over have cooked for fellow Chester resident and 60 Minutes reporter Morley Safer.[7] The couple would cook a multicourse meal in the fireplace while having sing–a–longs which sometimes included dancing, and their dinners often included quail, duck, venison or porterhouse steak.[7] At one point, Martel and van Over lived in a house with six[11] or seven fireplaces.[7] Martel said the fireplace cooking experiences "brings out the best in people."[7] They grow vegetables and other foods in their garden for some of their meals.[9] The dining table often has beautiful flowers such as zinnias and snapdragons and meals are often served with wine.[9] Martel and van Over advise restaurants about such matters as how to create a brasserie.[12] Beef steak and veal stew are cooked using a Tuscan grill.[11] Martel and van Over argued in their book "The Best Bread Ever" that the best way to make the perfect loaf is to use a food processor.[11] Martel's recipes entitled Cod with creamy nut sauce and Chicken Almond Curry with Apricots appeared in Food & Wine magazine.[13] She is co-author of culinary textbooks On Baking: A Textbook of Baking and Pastry Fundamentals and On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals.[6] She works as a consultant in product development to create international seafood chowders and Italian regional soups for Borden.[6] For Absolut Vodka, she is a spokesperson and developer of recipes.[6] She wrote over 150 columns entitled All About Food in Connecticut newspapers.[10]
Publications
- On Baking: A Textbook of Baking and Pastry Fundamentals, by Sarah Labensky, Priscilla Martel and Eddy Vandamme ISBN 978-0-13-157923-1
- Sampler Companion Website for On Baking: A Textbook of Baking and Pastry Fundamentals ISBN 978-0-13-504653-1[14]
- On Cooking: A Textbook Of Culinary Fundamentals, by Sarah Labensky, Alan M. Hause, Steven Labensky, Priscilla Martel; book/CD [15]
- The Best Bread Ever: Great Homemade Bread Using Your Food Processor by Charles van Over and Priscilla Martel (1997)[16]
References
- "PRISCILLA MARTEL". Flavor Trends. 2010. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
Priscilla Martel ... holds several baking patents and collaborates with food manufacturers and restaurants to create innovative products, menus and marketing programs.
- "sentimental sweets". Flavor-Trends. 2010. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
... Diners will want to see which version they like better.Priscilla Martel (see page 108)
- Priscilla Martel (2010). "Rustic Revolution". Flavor Trends. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
Big Dish: Clay pots, skillets, pottery and pot pies served at the table are less-fancy ways to present this rustic fare. — PRISCILLA MARTEL
- Sarah R. Labensky; Priscilla A. Martel; Alan M. Hause (March 19, 2010). "Pearson eText for On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals, 5/E". Pearson Higher Education. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
Format: Electronic Book; 1320 pp
- Sarah R. Labensky; Priscilla A. Martel; Alan M. Hause (February 8, 2010). "Pearson Test Kitchen for On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals, 5/E". Pearson Higher Education. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
Sarah R. Labensky, Priscilla A. Martel, Alan M. Hause, Fabulous Food
- Stephen Fries (January 5, 2016). "2016 food forecast: farro, fermented fare, savory yogurts, boozy desserts". New Haven Register. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
...Martel ... is an expert in artisan baking, confectionery, sous vide (food sealed in plastic bags and cooked in a water bath or by steam) and spa cooking techniques....
- ELIZABETH MAKER (December 11, 2005). "CONNECTICUT AT ITS BEST; On an Open Fire, Much More Than Chestnuts". The New York Times. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
Charlie van Over of Chester,... wife, Priscilla Martel, throw in fall and winter for guests who include Morley Safer of 60 Minutes and the chef Jacques P?n, both of whom live in Chester. '... the Broadway actor Peter Kapetan, ...
- CAROLYN BATTISTA (January 1, 1989). "Chefs Hunt Up a Delicious Time in Chester". The New York Times. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
'You have a busy kitchen, Charlie, he said to Charles van Over, the co-owner of the Restaurant du Village, with Priscilla Martel. Mr. van Over was cooking sausage in a pan.
- MOIRA HODGSON (May 31, 1992). "THE SETTING IS CHESTER, CONN., BUT IT looks like Provence". The New York Times. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
Our menus revolve around the sort of food you get around the Mediterranean," says Mr. van Over.
- LUCY GELLMAN (January 26, 2016). "Food Writer Cooks Up A Gateway Course". New Haven Independent. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
...By the time Priscilla Martel took Anne Greene’s “Portraits of People,” a creative nonfiction course taught at Wesleyan University in the 1980s...
- LARY BLOOM (February 10, 2008). "Lessons From the Founding Fireplaces". The New York Times. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
It’s true that Mr. Van Over, at 70, has been much more widely known for his advice in the kitchen than other parts of the house. He served as a restaurant consultant even before he and his wife, Priscilla Martel, opened Restaurant du Village, which helped make Chester a destination. (They sold it in 1990).
- STEPHANIE LYNESS (October 14, 2006). "A New Brasserie That Knows What It Is". The New York Times. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
... (Mr. Van Over, a Connecticut chef and the original owner, with his wife, Priscilla Martel, of Restaurant du Village in Chester, was a consultant on the creation of the brasserie.)
- Priscilla Martel (October 20, 2010). "Recipe search". Food and Wine. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
- Priscilla Martel (2009). "Sampler Companion Website for On Baking: A Textbook of Baking and Pastry Fundamentals". Pearson Higher Education. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
- "On cooking". otoku-money. 2010. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
Mastercook cd for on cooking, 4/e; sarah r. labensky; alan m. hause, fabulous food; steven r. labensky; priscilla a. martel, the center for the culinary arts; ...
- Charles van Over and Priscilla Martel (authors) (1997). "The Best Bread Ever". Bookstores.com. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
The Best Bread Ever: Great Homemade Bread Using Your Food Processor (1st Edition)
External links
- Martel dessert page
- Almond and Mixed Berry Shortcakes online recipe posted by Priscilla Martel
- On Cooking Update textbook by Martel, Labensky and Hause
- Article by Martel in The Gourmet Retailer
- Author Priscilla Martel to Teach Food Writing Course announcement