Oriented on making people closer

Ashgabat. Yunus Restaurant. ORIENT is visiting one of the best pastry designers, founder of the Yunus brand and participant of the Russian culinary show "Pastry Chef" Byashim Soltanov.

— We are in my restaurant. Everything here is made by me: design, decoration — I invented everything. In general, I am an artist by profession, I started drawing from an early age, went to the Byashim Nurali Art School in the 80s. After high school, he studied at a college, and then he received a higher education — he entered the Institute of Culture as a designer. And since childhood, it so happened that I loved baking. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, I messed around... of course, my relatives laughed at me, well, you know how it happens. And that's how it went.

— And yet: is it better to draw or bake?

— At the moment, I'm doing better: both at the same time. I want to say that no one really believed in me — they told me not to go down this road. They said, they say: "go fix the cars better," or "why draw? To what?". You understand — it is perceived as a profession not very serious. No one pushed me to do this, I chose my own path.

— Name the features of making desserts that distinguish, say, your cakes from others.

— I had the most fashionable cake and it is still popular since the distant 2000s. It was the most popular cake that everyone liked and still likes. This is "Charlotte", or rather, the cream in this cake with bird's milk, which everyone loves. That was my thing and that's where I started. Everyone said "Yunus Cake", "Byashim Cake" and to this day it is ordered, although almost 25 years have passed. And the composition, the recipe is completely invented by me. It was my "classic". In general, I loved sweets very much, especially protein meringue, for example, as a child. But now I'm not a sweet tooth, it's all gone…

— In your opinion, what mistakes do Turkmen housewives make when preparing desserts?

— I noticed that over the last, probably, 3 years, our people do not have time in the technology of dessert preparation. Let's say many of our housewives can add ingredients to the whipped butter that still cannot be added. They confuse, it happens, but everything has its own technology. I have a lot of old Soviet textbooks on dessert making technologies, and I see these small mistakes, and the most common is the addition of tea soda. It then slightly acidifies and gives a specific smell. But, of course, there are a lot of those who really try and cook well.

— And what desserts do you prefer?

— His own (laughs). Well, I love eclairs, tiramisu, classic cheesecakes of my own.

— Desserts are, as a rule, harmful. Do you have any useful or at least harmless sweets that are allowed for diabetics or those who are on a diet?

— A cake for a diabetic is unlikely to work… In any case, it is necessary to use sugar. Of course, you can limit the amount, but from the fact that we reduce the sugar, it will not make the cake dietary. It's like in Turkey, where they make dietary baklava. But it can't be that in any way: there's one dough and syrup! In general, the word "sweetness" and "desserts" are not compatible with the diet, in my opinion. Of course, you can use substitutes, but they are even more harmful, this applies to any substitutes, they are not natural.

— How much can you eat Byashim Soltanov's desserts?

— Once or twice a week, probably…

— You bake celebrities. Please tell us about your last job.

— My last job was Khabib Nurmagomedov, and he came out just gorgeous, it was an impeccable job. In a couple of days I will make a new one again, I choose for the soul. When I make cakes out of order, I use a special dummy. But at the same time, I also made, let's say, the character "It" and successfully sold two copies – women ordered husbands for their birthday.

— And how to cut them? Difficult?

— There are different ways. Calmly. In general, I make cakes. For example, Khabib Nurmagomedov's torso was a cake, and his head consisted of an empty chocolate ball with an external molding of plastic chocolate. At the same time, the head itself can be safely drunk with tea, this is ordinary chocolate ... Another technology is a sketch on mastic.

— How long does it take for such a cake?

— To tell the truth, from the idea to the finished cake, I can start in the morning and finish at night, my hand is fast. And if you calmly, take your time – then literally 2-3 days. But in general, I can do it in one day, as for portraits. Now I'm doing it [Wednesday], I've already watched 4 episodes, I also love the TV series "Paper House". I started it yesterday, finished it today, but I haven't posted it yet, the portrait is already ready for it. It will come out beautifully. In general, since my youth I have loved to draw portraits, although this is the most difficult type of drawing.

— Which celebrity did you get the tastiest of all?

Gulshat Gurdova… She was very happy for her birthday.

— And everything in your cakes is edible?

— Absolutely everything except the metal holder in the middle, which is the basis of the cake. And so, everything that you visually see on the cake is edible. I very rarely use small food wires, I order them in Moscow. I use them for decorating cakes, they are used by pastry shops all over the world. It interacts well with food by itself, without causing any harm to products, like food wrap.

— When did they start making such cakes?

— When the pandemic started all over the world and borders were closed. I decided to do cakes, you can say recently, just two years ago. It was boring, I didn't go out. I was the first to mold myself. It came out delicious.

— Have you done much already?

— Quite a lot. Orders are pretty stable. They order daily for weddings and so on, but paintings are rarely ordered, mostly classic cakes. But, of course, I am interested in making these statues, because I make them, and I trust my team in the workshop. And when the orders are serious, I "stand" myself. I have a strong team of confectioners, I chose all of them myself.

— A little bit about the prices: How much does it cost to order a cake from you?

— Ordinary custom-made cakes: 300 manats per kilogram, with all the decor and so on. It's very strange for me when customers ask: "Is this the price with the decor?", because I don't understand when some charge for the decor separately, and for the cake separately, even for the wires sometimes a separate surcharge. On average, the cake comes out 3 kilograms. And painted portraits start from 7-8 thousand manats, and with a head like Habib's, from 12 thousand.

— Masterpieces of painting have been preserved for centuries. Don't you feel sorry to watch the fate of your works?

— No (laughs), actually, there are a lot of people who ask me this question, especially in the comments on Instagram. Some at the same time note that I draw very beautifully, but it cannot be spread to food. That's how it went for me — a new branch of art, so to speak. I haven't painted pictures for a long time, sometimes it happens. Angelina Jolie would have drawn, Beyonce was already there.

— Does the price of the cake depend on the attractiveness of the client?

— No (laughs). There is no such thing. But, I admit, if you make a person full-length, then a lot of material will go.

— You participated in the show "Pastry Chef", how do you assess your success on this show? And do you plan to participate anywhere else?

— To be honest, I participated for fun. I agreed to go only because of interest, before that they wrote a lot: "You need to go to Agzamov's show!". They wrote a lot... but when I went, of course, I realized that it was not my level. I was told that there would be very strong competitors, but after arriving, I did not see any. But it was still nice. Interesting…

And the fact that I won or didn't win, it wasn't even a shame, it was a good experience. I am not fighting for their medal and I do not plan to participate somewhere yet, although many offers come from Europe on a global scale. In general, my fans are waiting for a surprise, a very important news came from the UK, but I will not disclose it yet. They are often invited to master classes…

— They say, the first pancake is lumpy, as we saw, you turned out beyond praise. How is it?

— I made myself one-on-one in size, proportions. The reaction was violent, it gave a lot of strength, I wanted to do more and better. This gives meaningful support.

— You have your own brand of confectionery, original cakes and your own restaurant. Why are they called "Yunus"?

— That's my third son's name. While he was born in 2002, I started promoting my business by actively baking. And I decided to name the cafe after my son. I used to have points, but later I closed them. I plan to open a dessert shop.

— What inspires you when you choose the next character for your cake?

— I don't like characters, but images. I am very selective in this regard. Of course, new films are released every day, stars appear. But I love bright images.

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— Once in one of the fragments of your interview on the show, you said that you look more like a butcher, not a pastry chef. Are you interested in any other culinary business besides confectionery?

— Well, I like to cook, and it turns out well, and so, of course, I do not plan to change my business.

— Is your pilaf delicious?

— Well, no, pilaf is not very good…

— How to achieve success in the culinary field?

— Purposefulness. I had enough of it, despite the fact that many people were against my hobby as a child. I liked to do the hardest things, I liked it. And I did it. While some have average standards, mine were very high. For example, I am inspired by abstraction, surrealism, Picasso, Dali, history — it inspires me, because I really like it. I think maybe even make a Mona Lisa, it will be interesting…

There were people in my life who supported me and my endeavors, but in general I relied on my knowledge and skills. Since childhood, I have read cookbooks and studied recipes. There was no such thing as being allowed to help mom or grandma. They scolded, of course, without this in any way (laughs), I translated the products… But that was then.

The first thing I cooked well was a honey cake… It turned out delicious… It was according to the book, I don't remember what it's called, the distant 80s. It was really good. It's also so tedious to cook it: roll-roll. I haven't done it for a long time now, rarely.

— How many hours a day do you work?

Roughly speaking, 5-6 hours, when and how. Well, for example, when responsible orders — I can spend the whole day in the kitchen.

— Are you a strict boss?

— Yes, strict. I have my own confectionery shop, a team. And I'm a strict leader, it just so happened (laughs).

— Are your children fond of cooking?

— Yes, they are starting slowly, they like it. And this is very good.

— Who do you see yourself in 15 years?

— a 65-year-old man. Let's see... I can say for sure: I will never leave Turkmenistan, although there have been many invitations from abroad over the past year. Moscow invites you. But I will not change my homeland for anything, this is not discussed. How can you leave your native country? I don't live for today, I have a lot of goals. If I go up for some other activity, then most likely it will be painting.

— Are you happy?

— Yes.

— Thank you very much!

Our outwardly formidable and brutal interlocutor turned out to be as good-natured as on the TV screen when the whole country was rooting for a pastry chef from the Turkmen capital. He was thoughtful, but at the same time he answered all questions vividly, showing compassion and interest, which once again proves his openness.

The paintings, busts, atmosphere and design of the restaurant in which Byashim put his soul spoke about the refined taste of an outstanding cook. We were glad to introduce fans of Byashim Soltanov's work and ORIENT readers to his life and work, slightly opening the screen of his kitchen.

Arslan MAMEDOV

Photo: instagram.com / @y.cakes.by.byashim