Chef Spotlight: Chef Ursula XVII of DISSET CHOCOLATE

Chef Ursula XVII is a passionate chocolatier who has trained with world-renowned pastry chefs while working at several Michelin starred restaurants and shops in Europe and the United States.

A New York City native with family roots in Catalonia, Ursula spent most of her summers in Barcelona, where she embarked on any baking project she could find. After college, she decided to pursue formal training as a pastry chef.

While attending The French Pastry School in Chicago, Ursula staged at Blackbird restaurant. Upon graduating in 2012, she returned to New York City for an externship at Per Se, making petite fours, bonbons, caramels, pate de fruits and macarons.

Her first professional position was at Michael White's Michelin starred Ai Fiori, where she spent five years working with pastry chef Alina Martell, mastering presentation and creating plated desserts, including ice creams and sorbets.

After various stages, including at The Modern, Grace and NoMad, Ursula continued her training in Europe under chefs Albert Adria, Oriol Balaguer, and Jordi Ferrer, honing her gastronomic techniques and delving deep into chocolate. Her inspiration to use fresh, local ingredients, extracts and essences came while heading the Pastry team at the fine dining farm to table restaurant Ca L'Enric in Spain's Catalonia region.

In 2017, she returned to the U.S. and headed to the Hudson Valley's famed Mohonk Mountain House. As assistant pastry chef, she was involved in the resort's multimillion dollar renovation, spearheading recipe development, kitchen design and implementing a new bread and chocolate program.

Soon after, the farms and waters of the North Fork beckoned, and, Ursula found herself knocking on the door of the North Fork Table & Inn, working with chef Claudia Fleming, who encouraged her to start her own line of chocolates.

Ursula launched Disset Chocolate in November 2020. Disset means "Seventeen" in Catalan, Ursula's native language, and XVII (Seventeen) is her second name. (And because we know you're wondering, the number is associated with significant family dates, from birthdays to weddings, and is a favorite of her economist father).

Broadwayworld had the pleasure of interviewing Ursula about her career and Disset Chocolate.

What was your earliest interest in cooking?

I always loved to cook. I remember one Father's day, I woke up my dad and begged him to make tomato sauce from scratch. I still love that sauce, and I still beg him to make it! I think I was always playing in the kitchen. Funnily enough, I have a vivid memory of burning chocolate, although I don't remember what I was making, when I was around 10 or so. A rookie move, for sure, and I suppose that was when I realized that there's an art and science to chocolate making, and that I'd need to work at perfecting the craft.

Who were some of your career mentors?

There have been many people who've influenced me in my life and career. My godfather, before he passed away, was my first mentor, as he instilled hard work and discipline in me from a young age. Professionally, Alina Martel, with whom I worked at Ai Fiori, really helped to influence my palate and helped me understand the balance of composing a plated product. This is the approach I carry through here at Disset. Before I even had the opportunity to work with Albert Adria in Spain, he was the one who told me that my training must start at The French Pastry School in Chicago. All my teachers there set an undeniable foundation for success.

Are there any culinary styles or approaches that have influenced your career?

We take a "Farm-to-Bonbon" approach as our goal. We try to source as many ingredients as possible from local producers. For example, we have our "Ode to the North Fork" collection, which is the result of over a year of R&D in collaboration with eight local purveyors, like espresso from Aldo's in Greenport, bacon from 8 Hands Farm in Cutchogue, and more. My approach is influenced by chefs like the Rocas, Claudia Fleming, and an unforgettable meal at Faviken! I hope to take those disciplines and techniques and apply them to chocolate and confections. As far as creations, I really love to sculpt. I don't get a chance to do much of that, but last Easter, we made several large sculptured eggs as part of a scavenger hunt around the North Fork. That was incredibly popular.

What do you consider the most distinguishing features of your work?

At Disset, not only do we push for innovation and creativity, but it all starts with the fundamentals. Understanding the science of food and the composition of our ingredients, is the key to being able to step outside the box and get really creative. We take a Michelin kitchen's plating approach and combine it with a drive for community, traceability and bold flavors.

What is your favorite meal or meals? And what about dessert/your sweet spot?

I love when sweet and salty come together - like "stinky cheese" with jam! There's also the classic melon with Jamón. Even when I make pancakes at home, I finish them off with a touch of some beautiful finishing salt! Personally, I don't have much of a sweet tooth, and so we try to keep a delicate balance in our products - nothing is just pure sweet.

Tell me a little bit about your shop/company for our readers.

Disset is both an online shop where we ship nationwide, as well as a storefront, Atelier Disset, in Cutchogue. We consider ourselves chocolate couturiers - we introduce two signature collections a year, like a fashion designer, and retire the previous flavors each season. So we're constantly evolving, creating, exploring new techniques and flavors. At our "studio" in the back of the shop, we host workshops and classes - like chocolate canvas painting and Chocolate 101. We do private parties, make wedding favors, work with corporations, hotels, wineries, and other companies for custom projects. We're very excited about our newest project - a subscription chocolate box for customers to have a year round Disset experience wherever they live.

For more information on Disset Chocolate, please visit their web site at https://www.dissetchocolate.com/. With the holidays coming, explore their collections: Current Signature Collection, Ode to North Fork and the Halloween Collection.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Disset Chocolate and Chef Ursula XVII

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