12 AWP Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 November 22–28, 2019
RETURNING TO CITI FIELD
THIS WINTER
theworldsfare.nyc
Farine Creates a Delicious Viral Sensation
with South Asian Fusion Desserts
Queens Bakery Farine Creates a Delicious Viral Sensation with South Asian Fusion Desserts
There are dozens and dozens of South Asian
sweets to be had in the teashops and cafes of
Jackson Heights, from blocks of fudgy Indian
chum chum in day-glo orange and green and
grainy laddoo to red sugar-syrup soaked Bangladeshi
kalojam, but there are no South Asian
sweets quite like those made by Chef Michael
Mignano at Farine Baking Company. The Sicilian
American pastry wizard recently introduced
a pair of confections that combine South Asian
sweets with classic American desserts: a cheesecake
with an Indian flourish and cupcake with a
Bangladeshi accent.
The gulab jamun cheesecake came first, about
two weeks ago, when the former pastry chef of
The Pierre Hotel reprised a sweet treat he used
to make at the hotel for Indian weddings. At the
hotel it was served in individual cups, with the
sweet cheese ball hidden at the bottom. At the
bakery Mignano showcases the gulab jamun.
Each slice sports a cross-section of two gulub jamun.
After he introduced it two weeks ago, Chef Michael Mignano couldn’t keep his gulan jamun
cheesecake in stock.
Another of the golden brown orbs—topped
with gulkand, or candied rose petals—crowns
the whole slice. The cheesecake itself, flavored
with cardamom and a hint of rosewater, sits atop
a graham cracker crust. It eats like a South Asian
version of a classic New York cheesecake, but really
it’s the first ever Jackson Heights cheesecake.
“When I posted it on Instagram on Saturday
it went viral with a lot of my South Asian followers,”
says the chef who’d whipped up four cakes
that proved to be insufficient for the demand.
“On Sunday people were waiting on line at 7:30
in the morning like it was a cronut.”
Young second generation South Asian foodies
pass by colorful display cases of mithai as they are
known in Hindi or mishti in Bangladeshi and it’s
almost like they’re a dessert museum, Mignano
points out. By combining American and South
Asian sweets, the former Iron Chef winner has
given the new generation an exciting, delicious way
to enjoy treats that they previously may have only
associated with their grandparents. “Adding conventional
Desi sweets to conventional American
confectionaries is the new trend we never thought
we needed,” wrote Instagrammer @muslimfoodies,
after trying the cheesecake.
The second of Mignano’s South Asian fusion
creations takes two shopworn desserts—cupcakes
and pumpkin spice—and combines them
with Bangladeshi confectionery to create a treat
far greater than the sum of its parts. With its hot
pink frosting scattered with almonds it looks
many other fancypants cupakes, but the Kalojam
Pumpkin Cupcake has a secret. Cut it open and
you’ll find a ruby red core of kalojam at the center
of the pumpkin cake. And that pink frosting?
It’s flavored with Rooh Afza, a syrup made with
a medicinalgourd, various herbs, and rosewater
that is reputed to have a cooling effect in hot
South Asian summers. As cupcakes are to American
kids so Roof Afzah is to Bangladeshi’s of a
certain age who have fond memories of drinking
milk based beverages made with the syrup.
“It’s like a Bangladeshi Shirley Temple, says
Mignano who gave the new cupcake to own of
his Bangladeshi servers without telling her what
flavor it was. “The look on her face when she bit
it into was priceless,” he recalls. “‘It tastes just like
my childhood,’ she said.”
Address: 74-24 37th Ave, Jackson Heights
Phone: (718) 433-9830
Web site: www.farinebakingcompany.com/
BY JOE DISTEFANO
As the Culinary King of Queens, I’m
so very fortunate to live in the most
diverse and delicious destination in all
of New York City. Really I’m not royalty
though, I’m an ambassador, and a
hungry one at that. Today, we examine
an only in Queens dessert sensation, a
fusion of South Asian sweets and classic
American desserts as envisioned by a
classically trained French pastry chef
who hails from the World’s Borough.
This pumpkin cupcake has a delicious secret, a Bangladeshi sweet inside, and a frosting made
from Rooh Afza syrup.
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