I met Plinio Sandalio at Johnston Middle School back in my hometown of Houston, Texas.  He has always been an eccentric soul but who knew he would channel his talents into dessert? We drifted once we were both in high school but recently I read an article about him in the Houston Press. The Press calls this twenty-something one of the biggest pastry talents in Houston: “..the whimsical and utterly beguiling desserts satisfy a range of palates, from the traditional (a bold chocolate torchon) to the adventurous (sweet potato beignets with bacon ice cream, or pound cake with apple butter and blue cheese ice cream… He’s currently experimenting with Pisco sours lined with Pop Rocks and a fried chicken ice cream made with roasted chicken bone stock and Guajillo honey, a dish that’s at once savory, sweet and staggeringly delicious.” I was totally blown away by Plinio’s creativity and his career. Now pastry chef at Textile,  Plinio took a break from his busy schedule to indulge my curiosity.

PRK: We’ve known each other since we were twelve. Were you always interested in cooking or baking? If not, when did this interest begin?

PS: To be honest, I never knew there was a career in cooking. I would always watch my grandma cook and really loved her food, but as far as food goes, I thought that was it. I didn’t think about restaurants until college. After high school I had a full scholarship to go the Rochester Institute of Technology for Mechanical Engineering. Two years into college, I hated it and dropped out. [While in Rochester] I met a really great friend who was going to Pittsburgh for pastry arts. It sounded very interesting and after a year, I moved back to Houston and enrolled in culinary school.

PRK: What made you decide to turn cooking/baking into a career?

PS: The idea of sitting in a cubicle and doing paperwork never really appealed to me. I was told in engineering school that after we graduated, we would work as assistants for 10 years or so before we were able to do our thing. This didn’t suit me.   I always liked working and creating with my hands and creating.   Pastry arts are very meticulous; it requires a lot of focus and attention. You have to understand how your product works and how the addition of specific ingredients affects the result.

PRK: Granted, we are based in New England. But if people want to take a trip down south, can you tell us what the food scene like in Houston?

PS: Aside from the abundant steakhouses and chain restaurants, Houston has a small but very diverse food scene. You can find just about any cuisine in our neighborhoods. There are a handful of restaurants that are foodie destinations. Being in the south, most restaurants do comfort foods which is never really a bad thing. There are a small amount of chefs who do progressive and innovative cooking: I’m in that small lot.

PRK: You’re well-known for taking risks. What has been your most successful risky ingredient?

PS: Most successful would have to be my corndog dessert. I am actually thinking about entering it next year into the Texas State Fair, birthplace of the corndog. So many people shy away from it [corndog]. They are even scared to taste it but once they do, they are hooked! The dessert is fried corn cakes that are rolled in powdered sugar, served with hot dog ketchup and yellow mustard ice cream. All the flavors of a corndog, but with a little amount of sugar! I think people were afraid of it because of the mustard and the hot dog but when you think about it, all the elements in the corndog are sweet. Hot dogs, corndog batter, ketchup, yellow mustard: it only made sense to make a dessert out of it!

PRK: Do you feel diners are ready to take risks with dessert?

PS: Yes. I even started offering dessert tastings at textile. I offer 10 courses and my tasting menu is designed very much like a savory tasting menu. I start with savory desserts; followed by a cheese course; finishing with sweet desserts.

PRK: How do other cuisines inspire your savory as sweet palate?

PS: In most Asian cuisines sweet, sour, salty and bitter is used in one plate. I try to do the same with my desserts. In addition, most of their proteins are cooked with sugar and citrus. I love that! Because they use sugar with proteins, I thought why not make it a dessert?? For example, I recently made pork adobo ice cream for a benefit dinner in Houston.

PRK: What has been your biggest disaster dessert-wise?

PS: Actually, today I will be doing a vegan dinner. Last night I tried to make a fake bacon ice cream with tofutti bacon strips and soy milk. It was terrible! Terrible! Instead I’m offering sweet potato beignets with guajillo honey and roasted pear tart with mushroom iced tea. The fake bacon ice cream was to be served with the beignets, but I’m omitting it.

PRK: Do you have an interesting recipe to share with our readers?

PS: Shocking but true; I do not like the flavor of eggs in desserts. I especially do not like the flavor of eggs in ice creams. To fight that i have developed an eggless ice cream recipe.

Plinio Sandalio’s Eggless Ice Cream

8 oz fat*

2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/8 cup light corn syrup

pinch sea salt

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

*you can use any fat to flavor your ice cream. I use this recipe to make all my ice creams. So far I have done: roasted foie gras, bacon, salted butter, mustard, buttermilk, gouda, blue cheese, malted chocolate, potato, goat cheese, and spam.