Marta González arrived in Lanzarote in 2018 from Uruguay and, knowing that the sector that provides the most work on the island is hospitality, she took many pastry courses, which had been a hobby of her youth, before arriving.
She started as an assistant at the Dreams Playa Dorada hotel and is now its head of pastry. González explains in an interview with the radio program Más de Uno Gourmet from Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero how the pastry department of a five-star hotel works.
- How did you get to Lanzarote and how did you land in pastry?
I am from Uruguay and in 2018 we decided to come and live on the island. Some friends who had come before had told us that the sector that is most active here is hospitality.
- And did you have experience in the sector?
In Uruguay I had not worked in hospitality. As a girl, I used to make Sunday cakes and family birthdays. I always liked making small and sweet things.
- How were you trained?
When we decided that we were going to come here in a year, I started taking all the courses that were available, such as 'Petit four' and 'Petit gateau', all nice little things, and when we came I started looking for work in that field and I joined the pastry shop at the Hotel Dreams Playa Dorada.
- Now that you are head of pastry, how many people are in your charge?
I have five, we are six in total. The hotel offers two large buffets and four a la carte restaurants.
- What changed when you went from assistant to head?
Everything. To begin with, there were no restaurants when I arrived. There were only the buffets. So, we worked a lot with frozen products, with ready-made pastries.
But we didn't want that for the restaurants. All our desserts in the restaurants are homemade. And in the buffet we were adding homemade products as well.
- How do you create the dessert menus?
With the chef, who is the one who directs us all. For example, he tells you: "in a few months we are opening the Asian restaurant and you have to present different dessert options."
Then we propose between three or four desserts. One of them always has to be gluten-free and we have to be more careful with allergens.
We make a presentation for the Management and so far, luckily, they have always accepted them.
- I understand that the desserts must be related to the theme of the restaurant...
Yes, everything has to be thematic. It takes time, luckily we know it well in advance. So we are investigating, testing and then there is the issue of getting those products here.
We have to talk to the purchasing department to get the products we need, do the tests and after the presentation they are implemented.
- What has been the most complicated dessert?
One from the Asian restaurant, not so much because it is Asian, but because of its preparations. It is called chocolate textures. It is very beautiful and tasty, but it has seven chocolate textures that require seven different preparations. And it's not just making it, it's assembling it.
- How many desserts do you make throughout the day?
The midday buffet has seven varieties of desserts and the evening buffet has 10. Then, each restaurant has three desserts. And each of them has several preparations.
In eight hours it is almost impossible to prepare everything, so there are parts that we prepare one or two days before.