Chef Harry specializing in croissants
Photo: Chef Harry specializing in croissants – at age 14
Former WHS student Harry Newrick loves cooking and after experimenting with pasta and bread making, he has decided to focus on croissants along with French pastries.
Not content with just making croissants for family and friends, he has been giving samples to local cafes and later in the year will be selling them at the Saturday market. Harry already has a customer base in Whanganui and one well- travelled couple commented that his croissants were “the best we have tasted outside of France”.
Not bad for someone who is still only 14.
It started about 18 months ago soon after he came to Whanganui from England with his parents – Henry and Kasia Newrick. He says, “I was influenced initially by my Polish grandmother on my mother’s side but her preference is for slow cooked dishes sometimes taking up to six hours. I’m not interested in that.” Instead his early focus was on home-made pasta dishes especially Carbonara (a favourite). Another specialty is Chicken Parmesan which his dad absolutely loves.
He moved on to bread making trying his hand at Ciabatta, an Italian white bread, and sourdough, which has better keeping qualities than most breads and is preferred for diabetics. Keen to do his research, he recently visited the local Sour Bros operation at the Lucky Bar and Kitchen but admits to making his bread using a dough attachment to the family’s Kenwood. Sour Bros do theirs by hand kneading.
But his first love remains French pastries and in particular croissants.
“I checked out methods on the net and watched a number of You Tube demonstrations”, he explains. “The process to make a croissant takes three days with about two to three hours work.” One website suggests you can make them “in 16 easy steps.”
However, he wasn’t satisfied with the results. They were OK, but something was missing. The butter kept melting into the pastry so he went with his parents to the French market in Parnell and discussed croissant making with a Patisserie owner who had emigrated from France. “I was told that New Zealand butter melts at a lower temperature than French butter, so I needed to keep the butter at a colder temperature.” He describes this tip as “the turning point.”
He makes about 15 croissants at a time and started to give samples to friends and business contacts of his father. He also did the canapés at a couple of seminar functions his dad held in Whanganui. The attendees loved his creations, especially the mini croissants filled with smoked salmon and cream cheese.
One contact placed an order for croissant based canapés for a large birthday party and followed it up by asking Harry do the catering for a formal dinner party.
Harry responded by providing a three course meal comprising vegetable tart as the starter, chicken parmesan with spinach/pasta and a berry cheesecake.
Following complimentary comments he and his father have been approaching cafés, providing samples and looking for business. There is competition in the market for croissants.
However, full production will be delayed as the Newrick family is heading off to Poland in July/August (Poland is Kasia’s home country) and Harry has to locate a suitable commercial kitchen. But in the meantime he is starting out in a small way.
Harry does his New Zealand schooling at home through Te Kura and is also studying towards the English GCSE qualifications, which having coming from England, he is more familiar with. While in Europe he plans to take a tour of the London based Cordon Bleu School of Culinary Arts.
When asked about the fat content of croissants (about a third of a croissant is butter) he responds “fat is better for you than sugar” and “everything is all right in moderation.”
As for his future, Harry is keen to study at the Cordon Bleu School of Culinary Art in London. It does come at a cost of $50,000 but his dedication is such that you can see him being very successful. His eventual aim is to set up a chain of patisserie outlets in England and possibly even France.
For more information on Harry’s creations and to see images go to www.ChefHarry.org. Harry can be contacted on 027 471 2242.
By Doug Davidson
River City Press 26/4/18
