Sweet Beginnings
Culinary Olympian and master chocolatier, Chef Helmut Mathae inspires his students to create great, edible works of art.
By Christy Boettcher
Spring is chocolate season. It starts with ornate chocolate sculptures entered in the Culinary Arts Salon competition and put on display the following week at The Forks Market. Then the Easter Bunny tempts young and old with crème-filled eggs and chocolate rabbits. Throughout April, building on this theme of chocolate celebration, Ciao!’s ChocolateFest offers dozens of delectable chocolate creations at restaurants across the city.
Much of the city’s passion for chocolate expression can be attributed to Chef Helmut Mathae, pastry instructor at Louis Riel Arts & Technology Centre. This intrepid chef is hard at work inspiring a new generation of eager students in the painstaking trade of pastry arts.
A week before the Culinary Arts, Salon Chef Helmut welcomes the editorial team into his cheery two-room kitchen with enormous bear hugs. Although it’s early in the morning, he is quick to hand out intricate chocolate truffles as he shows us his teaching space. The students are already hard at work on their submissions for the upcoming competition.
Chef Helmut modestly explains that after completing his year-long program, these students will have basic skills in pastry and baking and will be able to continue into apprenticeship or further education at Red River College. The term “basic skills” conjures up images of learning to make pies, cakes, breads and other simple treats. However, as the animated chef introduces us to each student and their project, we are impressed by the level of mastery that has already been attained. Tiny, perfect flowers made from royal icing dot one table as a student decorates a creamy-white cake. Beside her, another student works on delicate chocolate replicas of Faberge eggs. The piece de resistance is an architectural Phantom of the Opera sculpture. Three dark chocolate flutes suspend a white chocolate musical bar. Ornate red sugar decorations adorn the sides. Tiny painted musical notes float up the flutes. Truly, Chef Helmut’s program is anything but basic. His multi-media instruction includes sculpting with chocolate, lard, marzipan, salt and sugar. He even teaches sugar blowing-—the culinary equivalent of glass blowing—which is a traditional art form that has just begun to gain class demand in the industry.
The Louis Riel Arts & Technology pastry and baking program welcomes both high school and adult students. This year’s mix features mostly post-secondary adults looking to further their career in culinary arts. While some students enter the program without any knowledge in the area, others specifically seek out this talented chef/instructor, knowing his name is highly regarded in the industry. High school students can join the program for two semesters as part of their high school courses, getting hands-on experience in a profession they hope one day will become their career.
Working with students who are starting from the beginning is one of Chef Helmut’s favourite challenges. “I like it that way,” he smiles, “because they don’t have any bad habits and they learn the proper way.” He also encounters many students with self-esteem issues. They have had no success or encouragement in any area of their lives and are often floundering in school. Yet, many of these individuals blossom under the challenging rigours of the pastry program.
Chef Helmut says, “I talk to them and find out what they like to do. If they like baking cookies, I give them a very simple recipe that guarantees success.” With this positive reinforcement, he slowly stokes the student’s creative expression by giving them progressively more complicated recipes. Soon, the newly confident students are producing edible art with a passion that they have never exhibited before in their lives. This result, and a true devotion to his pupils, has brought many former students back to him seeking advice on everything from competition entries to work placements.
The 60-year-old chef steers us toward a student working on a blueprint for a sugar painting of a tiger. “Up until a few days ago, we had no idea he could do this. He loves art, but nobody has ever encouraged him,” Chef Helmut says solemnly. Once the blueprint is completed, the student will begin the painstaking process of sugar painting.
Not all students possess the skills to create such works of art. Once students settle into the program, their instructor asks them to draw a few pictures. Good drawings indicate a propensity for culinary sculpting and painting. Chef Helmut speaks in a reverent tone when discussing the teaching of these different skills. He feels that in Canada this kind of artisanal baking is becoming a lost art and he is striving to pass it on to the next generation.
A chef instructor at Louis Riel for five years, Chef Helmut didn’t begin his culinary career with the intent of becoming a teacher—he liked to create. Even as a child, growing up in Friedburg, Austria, he played around in his mother’s kitchen. While training as a chef and executive pastry chef and baker, the artistic young Austrian began to experiment on his own with food sculpture. Upon completion of his training at age twenty-one, he immigrated to Canada with his new bride Audrey. His brother’s beautiful descriptions of Canada’s landscape had convinced the couple to take the plunge.
After several stints in hotel and fine dining restaurants, he became Executive Chef with Cara Operations at the Winnipeg International Airport. This job required him to travel across western Canada training the company’s chefs. When a teaching position at Louis Riel opened up, his friend, Chef Hans Schweitzer of the Commercial Food Services Program, contacted him.
His attention to detail has also secured him a spot on Canada’s Culinary Olympic team four out of the last five rounds. The event, held every four years like its sports counterparts, showcases the best chefs and pastry chefs in the world. Chef Helmut has received a total of seven medals for entries such as a stunning American bald eagle made of blown sugar.
As we conclude our day, Chef Helmut observes two students completing their first attempt at a chocolate sculpture. His teaching-style is precise—knowing exactly when to step in and when to sit back. But his excitement over their accomplishment is infectious. As teacher and students laugh over freezing their hands with the chocolate-setting instant cold spray, we see just how devoted Chef Helmut is to teaching these young adults how to make pastry a passion.
