Dan Widmann has been a Pastry Chef for 25 years, working primarily in four star luxury resorts across the United States including Park Hyatt, Intercontinental, Westin and Ritz Carlton hotel companies. Teaching professionally for 12 years Chef Widmann is one of the esteemed Chef Educators and Lead Pastry Arts Chef Instructor at the Escoffier campus in Boulder, Colorado.
Who inspired you to pursue a career in culinary arts? We hear you started as a child prodigy at the age of 10!
My mother. She was a terrible cook and hated cooking. An elderly Irish aunt raised her during the depression and her cooking reflected it. It was kind of survival mode. I have four brothers; we all learned to cook and still do most of the cooking in our homes.
Was there a particular instructor from your own education who stands out in your memory?
Chef Vehrule. For him teaching was his retirement. He had grown up in Austria and started apprenticing right after the war. He had great stories and could just rattle recipes off the top of his head like it was nothing. It was like spending time with a very strict grandfather, once you got to know him and he saw you were serious, he would just give you all of his knowledge.
What do you love or find most rewarding about being an educator with Auguste Escoffier?
Being able to share my experience and get the students where they want to go. Give them the tools, light the fire and stand back – just awesome. I love what I do and get to do what I love, which is pretty sweet… excuse the pun.
You’ve worked for the Park Hyatt, InterContinental, Westin & Ritz-Carlton hotel companies, what advice do you give your students hoping to follow a similar culinary career path at four- star luxury resorts?
Get serious, work hard, learn all you can and enjoy the ride. It is a great way to see the world.
Do you partner with any local culinary organizations in Boulder?
Not personally I’m too busy.
Chocolate dessert at Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts.
What can you tell us about your (slight) obsession with chocolate?
I always liked to eat it, but not so much working with it, kind of scary. I finally decided it was time to get serious and face it head on. I then took every class, demo and seminar I could find to learn as much about as I could and now love it. A few years ago I was on a food and wine tour of Italy and France with the school I was with at the time. My wife met me in France and was shocked that I had bought half a suitcase of chocolate on my travels1 When we got back to the States about a month later, one evening when we were enjoying some of the chocolate, she turned to me and said, “You should have bought more!”
How would you describe your baking philosophy in five words or less?
Sense of humor is invaluable.
What are some of your favorite local ingredients to work with right now?
Kale, heirloom tomatoes, beets, arugula and zucchini from my large garden at home.
What was the last dish you made at home?
Sunday morning breakfast: I almost always make a family Sunday morning breakfast. My dad started this tradition and I have kept it up.
Which (if any) podcasts, magazines or chef TV shows do you enjoy keeping up with. Do you follow any chefs on Instagram?
Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods. Years ago when he first started he was all about the shock value of “watch me eat this” but now he has turned it into a more native, farm-to-table type segment from around the world, which is very down to earth and real.
