Claudia Fleming
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Short description|American dessert chef}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Claudia Fleming
| image = Claudia Fleming on Valder Beebe Show.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Fleming in 2021
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1959|04|11}}
| birth_place = Brentwood, New York, United States
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = {{ubl| Dessert chef | Writer}}
| organizations = {{ubl | Union Square Cafe | Tribeca Grill }}
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works = The Last Course
| spouse = Gerry Hayden
}}
Claudia Fleming (born {{Birth based on age as of date|60|2019|November|5|noage=1}}) is an American dessert chef. She grew up in Long Island, New York, and initially pursued ballet. She instead became a professional dessert chef, releasing a book entitled The Last Course. The book attained a cult following, as well as critical praise. She has been featured on Beat Bobby Flay,{{cite news|url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/2017/06/27/nashville-chef-takes-bobby-flay-food-network-show/432581001/|author=Dave Paulson|date=June 27, 2017|title=Nashville chef takes on Bobby Flay on Food Network show|work=Tennessean}} Chopped, Barefoot Contessa,{{cite news|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3928019/|title=Claudia Fleming|work=IMDB}} and Top Chef: Just Desserts.{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/recap/top-chef-just-desserts-season-finale-winner/|author=Archana Ram|date=November 18, 2010|title=Top Chef: Just Desserts season finale recap: And the Winner Is...|magazine=Entertainment Weekly}}
Early life
Claudia Fleming grew up in Long Island, New York, born in 1958/1959. Her childhood dream was to practice ballet. However, by the age of 18, she found herself neither tall nor thin enough to continue, and chafed under traditional ballet's strict regimen. She then moved to New York City, aiming to become a modern dancer by the age of 25. In the meantime, she supported herself by working in the restaurant industry.{{Cite news |last=Moskin |first=Julia |date=November 5, 2019 |title=A pastry chef's book, and life, start again |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/05/dining/claudia-fleming.html |access-date=September 16, 2022 |archive-date=September 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220908211315/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/05/dining/claudia-fleming.html |url-status=live }}
Career
One of the first jobs she took was as a waiter at Union Square Cafe. The restaurant's owner, Danny Meyer, later wrote in the preface of Fleming's book that he hired her before she even sat down for the interview, commenting that "even from half a room away, I could feel her warmth, poise, and intelligence". She went from waiting tables to line cooking, and then found a job as a pastry assistant at Tribeca Grill. Fleming comments that "once I tried a pastry, that was it for me{{nbsp}}... I was hooked."
She received the James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Pastry Chef for 2000.{{cite news|url=https://www.jamesbeard.org/chef/claudia-fleming|title=AWARD WINNER|work=James Beard}}
Fleming released her first book, The Last Course, in 2001. The book sold poorly upon release, a showing largely attributed to its poor timing; The Last Course was released in the month following the September 11 attacks. However, the book was acclaimed among professionals; it began amassing a cult following, and Bon Appétit magazine called it "the greatest dessert cookbook in the history of the world". When the book went out of print, used copies began circulating on eBay for hundreds of dollars. The book was re-released in fall of 2019.{{Cite news |last=Puckett |first=Susan |date=January 15, 2020 |title=The greatest dessert cookbook in history is back |work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |url=https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/food--cooking/greatest-dessert-cookbook-history-back/nqRIKXKIjyPaozUiCxTzLP/ |access-date=October 9, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922004149/https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/food--cooking/greatest-dessert-cookbook-history-back/nqRIKXKIjyPaozUiCxTzLP/|archive-date=September 22, 2022}}
= Style =
Fleming's recipes are credited as being somewhat accessible. Newsday opines that her cookbook is "a great present for an ambitious baker", and that her recipes are time-consuming and involve many steps, if not necessarily difficult.{{Cite news |last=Muchnick |first=Laurie |date=December 9, 2001 |title=Sugar and spice |work=Newsday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109639110/newsday-nassau-edition/ |access-date=September 16, 2022 |via=newspapers.com |archive-date=September 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920163453/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109639110/newsday-nassau-edition/ |url-status=live }} The Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted that the recipes were organized around key ingredients, and complimented her Guinness Stout Ginger Cake as "fun to make, fun to eat, and, like the rest of the book, as stylish as it is timeless".
Personal life
Fleming married Gerry Hayden, a professional chef and her former boss at Tribeca Grill, in 2001. They moved back to the North Fork of Long Island in 2005, and started a food truck in 2010.{{Cite news |last=Novick |first=Susan M. |date=August 12, 2011 |title=A lunch truck in disguise |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/nyregion/a-lunch-truck-in-disguise-at-the-north-fork-table-and-inn.html |access-date=September 16, 2022 |archive-date=September 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920173010/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/nyregion/a-lunch-truck-in-disguise-at-the-north-fork-table-and-inn.html |url-status=live }}
References
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Category:American cookbook writers
Category:American women food writers