Born in Alma-Ata, Sergiy Borodkin served in the army in Israel, worked a year in a French bakery and then studied at Le Cordon Bleu. The pastry chef loves cooking meat dishes like Uzbek pilaf and Beshbarmak.
I was born and grew up in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. I spent my childhood in a sunny city high in the mountains, surrounded by the apple orchards of the Zailiyskiy Alatau. The scent of apple blossom, the taste of meltwater from mountain springs and the roar of the wind in the gorges have made me strive for beauty my whole life.
Ever since I was a child, I have been drawn to the mix of traditions and cuisines in this multinational region. My brightest childhood memories are the smell of my mother's baking and cooking our national pilaf and unique manti together with my father.
For the last 16 years I have been doing what I truly love, and doing it with tenderness. I started my career as an ordinary kitchen helper. Life brought me together with people who were genuinely passionate about their work, people who were not afraid to experiment both in the kitchen and in life.
Working alongside them, I watched a new, fresh mindset take shape in the culinary world. I'm glad I contributed to this difficult process.
After I repatriated to Israel, I was called up for military service. Luckily, I served in the same unit as Jean-Luc, a repatriate from France whose family owned small bakeries in Paris. We spent a lot of our time in the army talking about cooking.
Jean-Luc often wrote to his relatives in France about a guy from faraway Kazakhstan who talked about culinary culture with such reverence and love. When our service ended, we received an invitation to work at one of his father's bakeries in France. After a year there, I had earned enough money to enroll at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school. It was the best investment of my youth.
The tastes I formed in my youth hold an important place in the way I think about food. I have great respect for Asian cuisine, but I by no means underestimate European cuisine, and each has its own strengths. I prefer meat dishes and love cooking traditional Uzbek pilaf, manti and Beshbarmak.
My culinary career is inspired by art, because a cook is a creator and an artist in his own field. I never miss a chance to see the best theater performances, and I bring the energy I receive from the actors on stage into my fine cuisine.
I would like to wish readers to find inspiration, to do what they love and not to be afraid of experimenting. Try something new, let the results surprise you and give pleasure to the people around you. The kitchen is your territory!
Gugelhupf is the southern German, Austrian, Swiss and Alsatian name for a marble cake made with yeast. The combination of eggs, butter and sugar gives it a rich taste. In Jewish cooking, the Gugelhupf has a counterpart called babka.
