THEIR BIG KITCHEN AMBITIONS

Cooks stuck at home take the heat, tackle those tough dishes

Beth Erwin, like so many other San Antonians, is riding out the coronavirus pandemic from the comfort of her North Side home.

Erwin, who normally spends many of her days on the road visiting hospitals as an account director for a medical technology company, has used her work-from-home downtime to master a different skill: baking notoriously fussy French macarons.

“My kids like them, and they’re really expensive, and everyone said they’re really hard to do,” Erwin said. “When somebody tells me I can’t do something, that just makes me want to prove them wrong.”

Erwin is one of many area residents using the quarantinelike conditions to undertake ambitious cooking projects. For many, like Erwin, that’s meant learning a whole new set of skills.

Macarons, for example, require precise measurements made with a kitchen scale instead of teaspoons or tablespoons and a steady hand with a piping bag to achieve the ideal shape. The attention to detail goes far beyond the kind of baking Erwin was used to.

“I made banana bread. That’s all I did my entire life,” Erwin said. “I was bored and trapped, and why not? I figured I’d give it a try. I absolutely would never have done this if it hadn’t been for COVID.”

Erwin isn’t the only one tackling difficult baked goods during the coronavirus outbreak.

San Antonio-based photographer Wendi Poole is no stranger to the kitchen. She’s particularly fond of a detail-rich cookbook from the famed San Franciscobased Tartine Bakery and has successfully made

“The inspiration was there at the beginning, but I didn’t know if the stores would have milk or eggs.”

Wendi Poole, a San Antonio-based photographer

Kin Man Hui / Staff photographer Beth Erwin and her husband, Miles, mastered macarons during the COVID-19 outbreak. Recipe, Page E9.