Tourists love the Peabody Orlando for its twice-daily duck parades. People with a penchant for desserts also repeatedly flock to the hotel to satisfy sweet cravings. The Peabody’s pastry chefs oblige, turning out cakes, breads, pies, ice cream, chocolate creations, showy centerpieces, and signature duck cookies—all part of upholding the brand’s long-time reputation for top-of-the-line, freshly made desserts.

Now the hotel is bolstering its capabilities in this hallmark area of excellence. By this time next year, the Peabody Orlando pastry kitchen—along with the rest of the hotel property—will have nearly doubled in size. The development is part of a massive $450 million expansion project that will see the property grow to 1,641 rooms, up from 891. Meeting and exhibition space will grow to 250,000 square feet. At the same time, the hotel will add three restaurants—one full-service eatery and two gourmet take-out locations—to its six existing food outlets.

The Peabody Orlando’s centralized pastry kitchen is responsible for all pastry and baked items served at the hotel’s food outlets and catered functions. The current pastry kitchen, with a staff of about 10 working on an aroundthe- clock shift schedule, can supply desserts for up to 8,000 daily covers.

CONSISTENCY PLUS EFFICIENCY
To ensure consistency and improve training, all newly hired workers at the Peabody are assigned a mentor that they shadow for 14 days as they learn the pastry kitchen ropes.

“For me, that’s essential to the success of our pastry team,” says Corporate Executive Chef Karl Edlbauer, who has relied on the mentor program for 15 years. Another tip to improve consistency is simple yet critical: “I am adamant that everybody taste what they’re cooking,” Chef Edlbauer says, noting that the practice helps avoid gaffes such as a recent oversight that left a key ingredient out of a large batch of cookie dough.

While the Peabody makes all its desserts and breads in-house, it does purchase a number of pre-made components such as tart shells, chocolate shells for truffles, and graham crusts to enhance efficiency and consistency. “In this economy,” Chef Edlbauer notes, “you have to consider savings everywhere possible.”

But even the most efficient of kitchens needs a plan “for times when we might be called to serve more than 8,000 people at back-to-back events,” Chef Edlbauer says. He has met with several high-quality patisserie and bakery companies to serve as backups in the event of crunch times, labor shortages, or equipment glitches.

KITCHEN TOUR
The 5,065-square-foot footprint of the new pastry kitchen will more than double the current space. The kitchen layout was a collaboration between Chef Edlbauer and the Peabody’s former Executive Pastry Chef Alan Vergnault.

Perhaps the most critical upgrade lies in expanded walk-in cooler and freezer space, which will more than triple in size. In all, the blueprint calls for three walk-in freezers, two walk-in coolers, one blast freezer, and two dry storage areas. Refrigeration upgrades include double doors for easier access and a temperature monitoring system to automatically track and record temperatures.

Starting from the prep side and moving clockwise up to baking and cooking, the new kitchen will include:

Mixing Station: Batters for such popular confections as cheesecake, sweet potato pie, red velvet cake, and German chocolate cake, as well as bread and cookie doughs, are all prepared at the mixing station by one pastry chef. The station’s mixer line-up features two 80-, a 60-, and a 20-quart mixer, plus a 250-quart bread mixer.

Ice Cream Station: An ice cream machine and a pasteurizer churn out rich, creamy frozen delicacies from the corner of the kitchen. The ice cream base, supplied by area dairies, is flavored, churned, and frozen into such memorable and unique offerings as pineapple coconut cake, banana rum, and mango strawberry, along with more standard flavors.

Baking Stations: The Peabody’s signature— and labor-intensive—duck cookies are created here. To make them, workers pipe a line of almond paste around the cookies’ edges, bake them, and then fill the centers with raspberry jam. The final step is to dip the lower half of each duck into a “pond” of chocolate. A deck oven and convection oven anchor the baking station lineup. The deck oven handles most of the kitchen’s breads and crème brûlées, while the convection oven is used for smaller quantities of baked goods. Two electronically controlled, steam-injected rack ovens are used for the duck cookies, as well as for cakes, pastries, and rolls.

Chocolate and Decorating Station: This key area, which produces the molten chocolate for the duck cookies, showpiece displays, the Peabody’s signature truffles, and much more, merits its own room. Individual temperature controls keep the air as cool as necessary. Just outside its doors, desserts are readied and plated for serving on six generously sized stainless steel prep tables.

Proofing and Sheeting Stations: A full-sized proofing cabinet sits away from the cooking action in the corner, while the sheeter, used for croissants and Danish pastries, is located against a wall near the mixing machines.

Sauce Station: A duo of steam kettles—of 12- and 40-gallon capacity—are used to cook milk-based desserts, compotes, fruit fillings, and puddings. Next to the steam kettles are two four-burner range units, used primarily for caramels, sauces, and purées.

• Slow-churned Plugrá European-Style Butter with less moisture, optimal 82% butterfat—the secret of professional chefs worldwide.

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