Chef Marjorie Perotti-Brewster has enjoyed a lifelong love affair with cooking and baking. She started teaching at her own kitchen store and cooking school in 1978, and remains an active chef and cooking teacher today.
This website showcases her latest project, recreating the large-batch fine pastry recipes from her father’s baker’s journal, handwritten in the 1930’s. She has scaled down and refined the formulas to make then manageable for the home cook, adding history, resources, and tips on technique.
Marjorie studied at École de Cuisine La Varenne in Paris and at Marcella Hazan Cooking School in Bologna, and worked as an apprentice for two years in a Marin County French restaurant. She went on to work for a year as a menu consultant at Perry’s in San Francisco, developing new menu items as well as instructing kitchen staff.
Later, Marjorie developed her own line of biscotti and bread mixes, Perotti’s Italian Mixes, which were sold nationwide and available from major retailers, including Starbucks Holiday Catalog and Food and Wine Magazine. The line received glowing reviews from the Chicago Tribune and the San Francisco Chronicle.
She has continued through the years to teach cooking in both Italian and French cuisine. In 2018, Marjorie was honored to be a guest chef at David Verzullo’s Cooking School in Lucca. She was the October guest on Napa’s Tony Kilgallin Show, Wining and Dining in the Napa Valley.
About Me
This website is and will continue to be a tribute to my father, and his career as a baker. But, in order to be a true tribute, I need to go beyond there to how his love of life centered around his love of good food, good wine, and sharing that with family and friends. My mother was an excellent cook, and was of that generation where you cooked the food that your husband liked. Fortunately, my Dad liked really good things, so there was never a problem.
My siblings and I continue in this tradition, and whether it is nature or nurture, have passed it down to our children, imprinted it on our spouses, and have found like minded friends. To say that our get togethers are centered around food and wine is an understatement.
As time goes on, this site will broaden from old world pastries, and branch out to contain many of the dishes of my childhood, dishes that I have made part of my life, and dishes I have found in my travels. Like my Father, one of my greatest joys is sharing good food, teaching people about and how to cook good food, and lastly, eating good food.
Get more of the story behind the Flour & Fig recipes >