Ranch pastry chef loves creating food

There's an old saying in the cooking world: "The bigger the hat, the better the chef." Traditionally, the height of a white chef's hat, or "toque blanche" is said to denote the status of a cook in the kitchen. Folded pleats of a toque were first added to indicate the more than 100 ways a chef can cook an egg.

Hundreds of high hats populate the savory-scented hallways and classrooms of the prestigious Western Culinary Institute, in Portland. Now part of the elite Le Cordon Bleu Program, the nationally recognized school was founded in 1983 by Horst Mager, of the Rheinlander German restaurant family. It serves up a tantalizing curriculum of culinary arts training and boasts an international student body from more than 10 countries.

One such graduate is Sisters' own Kameren Doren, currently a pastry chef at The Lodge Restaurant at Black Butte Ranch. She graduated from WCI in 2001, earning her degree in Culinary Arts as well as a coveted Le Cordon Bleu diploma.

It's a rigorous program, whisking budding chefs, caterers, and restaurant owners through a dizzying labyrinth of cooking techniques and philosophies. Students are exposed to many different styles and methods of cooking, spanning the entire gastronomic range of French cooking.

"I love the process of making food, it's therapeutic for me, a way to unwind and be creative. Some of my happiest times have been centered around cooking food," Doren said.

Doren grew up in Medford, eating a typical middle-class, processed-food diet of mac-n-cheese, chipped beef on toast, and lots of pies and ice cream. "My mom made tapioca pudding every chance she got," she said. "The only vegetable she could get us to eat was an artichoke. My brother and sister would fight over who got the heart."

When questioned on her love of desserts, Doren remembers trips to her grandmother's house growing up.

"She would babysit us a lot, and we'd always end up baking pies and cookies," she said.

After graduating high school, Doren was contemplating several scholastic avenues, but it was her father's idea to check out cooking schools.

"He suggested the cooking school in Portland," she said. "It had a great reputation, so we went down and checked it out. Two months later I was enrolled."

The one-year WCI program is fast-paced and intensely comprehensive, with classes changing every two weeks. The majority of the detailed curriculum falls under the banner of classic French cooking and its proper methods.

"We cut pounds and pounds of potatoes just to practice our knife work. Russets, because they hold a nice slice," Doren recalled. "We were taught how to blow sugar for figurines and decorations, even the art of ice sculptures and melon carvings. I made an awesome turtle one time for an international buffet. It was really intricate and I made the head and feet out of a sweet potato and the shell from a watermelon. He sat in the middle of a big fruit display. I should have given him a funny name."

True passion for the art is critical to success.

"To be successful and get through the program, you have to love the kitchen environment and be passionate about cooking," she said. "You need to be able to improvise and be creative under pressure. All my friends at the school were very friendly and supportive. The teachers were all chefs and kept it light and fun."

Doren decided to focus on the pastry side of the kitchen because she felt it was more challenging. Her job as pastry chef at Black Butte Ranch Lodge gives her many opportunities to indulge her passions. She makes all the restaurant's desserts, as well as the pastries, cookies and muffins for the snack shop and espresso carts.

"Sometimes I get to do special desserts for weddings and dinner parties," she said. "I love it out at the Ranch. It's been one of my best restaurant experiences I've had. We all work together and put out some really good food."

One of Doren's creations, an individual cake, layered with milk chocolate and hazelnut-mousse ganache was so good, it's going to be on the new menu.

As for her personal favorites, she admits a simple Marionberry cobbler is one of her specialties.

When dining out, Doren has a taste for Italian and Thai cuisine.

"The only things I really don't like are oysters and pickles," she said. "That's one cobbler you'll never see me bake."