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cheese is definitely on the menu.
Overall, be it a holiday or not, any day in Israel is a
celebration when it can be enjoyed in good health, with
When it comes to cakes and pastry, Inbal Executive Chef
Moti Buchbut really knows his stuff. Literally. “When I
taste a piece of pastry, I can tell you every ingredient
that’s in it,” says the 42-year-old award-winning chef.
In fact, he says, whenever he visits a new city, he goes
to the best pastry shop, buys a sample of every item,
takes them back to his hotel room and tastes each one
to evaluate its content and quality.
“A pastry chef should know all the ingredients in a cake
and understand how each one will react with the other
ingredients,” he says. “If I know how each ingredient
behaves, I can create a new product,” he explains.
And creativity is the name of the game for Buchbut. “In
my kitchen, all the cooks learn to think. If they need
to make something new, they have to know how to
think in a different way,” he says. They have to learn
to create, not just to follow a recipe,” he asserts. And if
they make an error, so much the better, as he teaches
them to turn a mistake into a cake.
“You don’t just throw it
out,” says Buchbut, “but
you find a way to salvage it
and, in so doing, you create
something new.”In essence,
experience gives one the
expertise to experiment.
“It is very exhilarating to
make something new,”
says Buchbut. “A chef
needs to feel happy to
create something new. He
needs to find new things
to make the change.” For
Buchbut, the world around
him is a constant source of
inspiration, and the smallest
thing can spark a new
culinary concept.
Before he develops a new
cake or pastry, he first
draws it on paper and then
designs it on the computer
to see how it will look.
After that, the fun continues
when he puts together
the recipe and turns his
daydream into a dessert.
The Inbal Jerusalem Hotel
Spring-Summer 2011
31
good friends, good weather and a good helping of your
favorite dessert.
Compliments of the chef
Gluten Free
For guests of the Inbal who require or prefer to have
their food gluten-free, the chef is adept at preparing
dishes, from starters to dessert, that have no traces of
gluten. “I prepare the same recipes as the rest of the
menu, but I don’t use flour or any product that has
any form of gluten in it.” Using ingredients such as
potato starch, cornstarch, soy milk and brown rice,
he creatively prepares gluten-free dishes that would
delight any guest.
In the creative process, Buchbut draws on another one
of his talents as well. Having studied drawing for three
years, the chef can draw any image on a cake. “I can
just look at a picture and reproduce it freehand,” he
says. Armed with a cone filled with icing and different
sizes of nozzles, he can draw virtually anything on any
size cake to decorate it or personalize it for a special
event.
Born in Jerusalem, Buchbut
has many years of experience
studying his craft and
working in some of the finest
hotels in the country. The
winner of many international
competitions, the chef has
garnered five gold medals,
as well as a host of silver
and bronze awards. He
is also a judge at all the
culinary schools in Israel.
In that capacity, he tests
the students, assesses their
work and proudly presents
them with their diplomas.
Thanks to Buchbut, we can
be assured that the next
generation of chefs will be
well versed and well trained
in the fine art of haute
cuisine.
Inbal Executive Chef, Moti
Buchbut presenting one of his
confectionary creations