Title: A Baking Cookbook Draws Inspiration From Bodegas

Alison Stewart: This is All Of It. I'm Alison Stewart. We spent the month reading, everybody, and now it's time to gather and discuss our latest Get Lit With All Of It book club pick. I'll be at the New York Public Library, Stavros Niarchos Branch tonight at 06:00 PM where I'll be in conversation with author Erik Larson and you. We'll be talking about his new book, The Demon of Unrest. We'll take audience questions and we'll hear a special musical performance from Sons of Town Hall. It starts tonight at 06:00 PM. The tickets are sold out, but if you're in the area, there may be some on standby. You could try that, or you could try the live stream, of course, available for everyone. Head to wnyc.org/getlit. That's wnyc.org/getlit for more information. That's later tonight. Now, let's get this hour started with Bodega Bakes.

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Alison Stewart: We've talked before on the show about bodegas, where you can pick up your basic home supplies, candy, sandwiches, pet a cat. Now we're going to talk about a new cookbook called Bodega Bakes: Recipes for Sweets and Treats Inspired by My Corner Store from baker and community organizer Paola Velez. She grew up in the Bronx, where Bodegas helped her connect to her Dominican roots and where she fell in love with sticky buns, Thick'em cookies, fried gonjas and a number of members of the flan familia, she calls it. I must know more about the Dulce de Leche Babka. I must know more. Paola Velez joins us in studio to talk about Bodega Bakes. Nice to meet you.

Paola Velez: It's so nice to meet you, Alison. Thank you so much for having me. I can't believe I'm back home.

Alison Stewart: Hey. Listeners, what are your favorite bodega baked goods? Give us a call, 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC, to tell us about what pastries or cookies or other sweets you look forward to at your local corner store? Or do you have any other questions about Dominican and Afro-Latino inspired baking for our cookbook author Paolo Velez. The number is 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. All right, so while people are getting ready to call in, let's start a little basics here. You cite different versions of the corner store around the world, konbinis in Tokyo, Tabacs in France. What makes a corner store a bodega to you?

Paola Velez: At least to me, I actually saw a thread this morning that was like, why do people call them bodegas? They're corner stores. I'm like, okay, corner store bakes, you know? I really do think that in the essence of it, a bodega, a deli, a corner store, what makes it that place very special in my eyes is that it's a third space, right? It's where the community meets. When you're hungry, when you're sad, when you're happy, when you're running to work, when you're coming home from work. That kind of meeting point of intersectionality happens, right, for all New Yorkers of all walks of life.

It's something that we hold fast to even once we move out of New York. I had to move out of New York to support my husband in his career, but I'm a New Yorker at heart, and everything that I have done, everything that I have envisioned for pastry and even as a United States culinary diplomat now, what I do is I make sure that I am representing the essence of third spaces for people when they can't come to New York. They've never been to New York, and they don't know how cute the bodega cat is.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: You said that the bodega for you was a place that allowed you to connect with your Dominican roots.

Paola Velez: Yes.

Alison Stewart: What's a strong memory or two that you have about a connection you felt at the bodega?

Paola Velez: For me, there's two. I learned how to do very quick math when I was young, because I had a dollar and I needed to buy all the candy. Luckily, back then, there was, one-cent candy, five-cent candy, ten-cent candy, if you were balling, you know what I mean? Like, if you were out of control balling like, wow. You know, then you would like, oh, I want the 15-cent candy, but that wasn't me. I was like, give me the peppermint candy for one cent. Give me the Dominican mentas, because I don't know why, but Dominicans love Menta Halls, like Halls, like cough drops. I don't know why we like it, but we like it [laughs].

I was able to figure out how to pick the things that I like to eat, I want to eat, and how to make a dollar stretch as a kid. It's very whimsical, very magical at that time when you're growing up and you have all of these possibilities and all of these combinations. If you wanted to be really, really cool, you would figure out how to include that 25 cent jug, that 25 cent bag of chips, and then divide your 50 cents left over into candy. Then another one for me would be like, when I think of-- I had two neighborhood bodegas. I had one that was--

I lived in the Van Cortlandt Park area, and we had one down, like some stairs that was like a Mexican bodega. I would have, like, tamarind candies covered in chili. I would have. I know, right? I would have, like, so many different things, like, you know, masapang and all these things that I just didn't grow up with because I'm not Mexican. I was exposed to at a young age. My brain started already firing off on all cylinders that the world is bigger than the two faces that I see in the morning. You know, my parents, right?

Then I had, right across from my middle school, the Sheila MacIntyre school, I had a Dominican bodega. You walk in and be like, "Hola, mami. [foreign language]?" Which is like, "Hey, how are you? How's your mom?" [laughs] I'd be like, "Oh, you know, she's good. You know, she's at work. I only got 50 cents today." He's like, "No, I see a dollar." you know? It taught me-- my favorite moment is that it taught me kindness, right? It taught me how to be a part of the community. Understand like, he knew. Like, the bodega owner knew all of the kids at school. We would walk in, and he would know every single one of our struggles, happiness, et cetera, and he would make sure that we never felt the pangs of living in the inner city part of the Bronx, you know what I mean?

Alison Stewart: We're talking about cooking with Paolo Velez. Her new cookbook is Bodega Bakes: Recipes for Sweets and Treats Inspired by My Corner Store. Let's talk to Nick from Manhattan. Hi, Nick. Thanks for calling All Of It.

Nick: Hey, how you guys doing?

Alison Stewart: Doing great.

Paola Velez: Hi, Nick.

Nick: I was just calling to say that I'm a huge fan of the black and white cookies at my local bodega. There's also a fabulous chocolate cake. I like a chocolate cake that's, like, no frills, you know. I don't need to be going to some fancy Upper East Side bake shop to get my chocolate cake. Just down and dirty, you know, from a box, even. It doesn't matter.

Alison Stewart: Love that. Nick. Thanks for calling in.

Paola Velez: That's delicious. I make a passion fruit half moon cookie, so I kind of like, one, you have to explain to folks that are not from New York that a black and white cookie and a half moon cookie are slightly different. Right? They look very similar, but they're not the same. I infuse those flavors of a traditional black and white cookie. You have that deliciously soft cookie. You have your wonderfully chocolatey ganache and your icing. Right. Usually it's plain vanilla regular, right? Well, not really, you know, but traditional. I flip it on its head because sometimes I want to feel like I'm eating sour straws at the bodega, so I have my passion fruit half moon cookies now that I'm introducing to the world.

Alison Stewart: I have to look this up because you had a whole thing about vanilla [crosstalk].

Paola Velez: Oh, yes.

Alison Stewart: Wait. Here it is. Unpopular opinions about vanilla. [laughs] It says, listen, I need you to sit down because I'm about to drop some truth bombs on you. Unpopular opinion. I think vanilla is awesome. Vanilla is not boring. It's not sad, it's not plain, so stop disrespecting it so much. Unpopular opinion. Imitation vanilla sometimes tastes better than real vanilla. Wait, you're walking away? Imitation vanilla sometimes tastes better than real vanilla. Don't at me. Just try it. If you still have a problem with this statement, then your complaint is with God. It's above me.

Paola Velez: It's above me. Also, we're in a recession. You know what I mean? When you bake with chocolate, espresso, I don't know, even, like peanut butter, you will not know the difference. I promise you. I went to school, well, for savory, but I could still eat a cookie. I can tell you without a shadow of doubt in my mind that you will not know if it's wonderfully delicious, cultivated madagascan vanilla-

Alison Stewart: -which costs $25 a bottle because I tried to buy some over the weekend, and I said, no.

Paola Velez: It's more than that. Where'd you find it for $25.

Alison Stewart: I'll tell you.

Paola Velez: Oh, my God. Give me the plug. You know, I truly think that there's also different types of imitation vanilla. Imitation vanilla isn't created equally. I think that depending on what region of the world you source your imitation vanilla from, it will have different characteristics of flavor, too. Try it. You know, I don't know. I just got nominated for James Beard or whatever. You know what I mean, so I don't know what I'm talking about.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: Yes. It's fair to say that you have some formal training, shall we say, and could help you making bodega bites, could not help you making bodega bites. Tell me from your formal training what has worked for you, and then maybe tell me something that you just have to know. You just have to know.

Paola Velez: When I was making this book, I had to actually break it down, right? I had to break down the process of explaining what I know and how I think, because I would be like, oh, you grab your sugar, you grab your butter, your flower. Bam, bam, boom. Then you make the cake. Then, publisher was like, girl, what are you talking about? [laughs] Girl, what are you talking about? Where are the steps in between? I'm like, oh, my God. They don't know. It's implied. It's an implied science. No? Like, they should-- Oh, okay. I had to learn how to break down the processes of my own recipes.

I actually grew up baking by sight, so even learning how to transcribe when I sprinkle in a little bit of flour because the dough doesn't look right. I was like, oh, my God, this is hard. You know, to whoever wrote a cookbook or will write a cookbook, shout out to you [laughs].

Alison Stewart: Bodega Bakes is the name of the cookbook. My guest is Paolo Velez. If you'd like to join our conversation, what's your favorite bodega bakes? Good. Give us a call, 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. Tell us about what pastries or cookies or sweets you look forward to at your local corner store. Or if you have a question for Paola, you can call us with that as well. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. You can call in, or you can text to us at that number. All right. Let's talk about some staples that you need for bodega baking. Give me your top three.

Paola Velez: I think you need to have a good whisk. Invest in a nice, strong whisk because you don't have to have a stand mixer. You don't have to have a lot of other tools. Right? A whisk will help you do a lot of multitasking baking. I think, find what your pantry is and learn how to bake from that. The things that you already have in your house are the things that will make you the best baker for your family, for your friends, for yourself, so you don't have to go out and buy more stuff.

What I love about Bodega Bakes is that everything that I talk about, you can source from either a multicultural market. You can go to a bodega, you can go to a deli, you can find these things and bake from it. If I include something that might be a little bit whimsical, like gooseberries, which is something that in the Dominican Republic we like to eat. I found that the DMV area, which is not where people get their licenses, but DC, Maryland, Virginia, we also grow ground cherries or husk cherries, which is gooseberries. If you can't find that, I try to find substitutes that are reasonable for you. If you're in the Midwest, if you're in New York, if you're in Long Island, Staten island, everywhere in between. Then what's another one? Oh, that imitation vanilla, of course [laughs]. Please, try. Give it a try. Your life might change forever.

Alison Stewart: We'll have more with Paolo Velez after a quick break. This is All Of It.

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Alison Stewart: You're listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. My guest is Paola Velez. We are talking about her book, Bodega Bakes: Recipes for Sweets and Treats Inspired by My Corner Store. We have a caller named Reid who's calling in from Brooklyn. Hi, Reid.

Reid: Hi, Alison. Long time, long time. I heard Dulce de Leche Babka, and I had to call in because there's this cake that I get at a Russian-Uzbek supermarket called Tashkent Supermarket in Central Brooklyn. I cannot recommend it any higher. Basically, it's the Russian equivalent of Dulce de Leche, which it's like Molokai. I don't know what they call it, but it's like caramelized condensed milk. It's a can, blue and white with a cow on it. They have layers of that with a frosting and what I can only describe as cannoli wrapper in between the layers of sponge cake, all topped interspersed with walnuts. It is like the best thing I've ever had in the sweets category, Tashkent Supermarket. Highly recommend that place. Otherwise, great, great supermarket.

Alison Stewart: Reid, thanks for making the call. You talk about the Dominican cakes that are in the book. Is it bizcocho?

Paola Velez: Yes.

Alison Stewart: Okay, so tell me a little bit about this.

Paola Velez: Bizcocho Dominicano is a cultural staple for the Dominican Republic, and most of Washington Heights, and parts of the Bronx, parts of Brooklyn, and parts of Queens, and Long island. What I love about this cake, it's like a hybrid pound cake, right? It's like a cross between yellow cake. Even if you envision yellow cake, like, you think of box yellow cake, right? Then you think of a very beautiful, compact pound cake. Very rich, very decadent. Then Dominican cake lives somewhere in between that, right? That is, like, the base for all the rest of the stuff that just makes this cake wonderful.

Then you layer in your filling. It could be pineapple jam, or it could be guava spread. It could be pastry cream, or whatever you want, because if you're making this recipe from my book, you can do whatever you want. I encourage people to really play in the book, you know? It's finished with the pièce de résistance, you know? Chef Jacques Torres, if you're hearing this right now, I hope I did you proud in my pronunciation [laughs]. We finish it with a stabilized meringue. This meringue is structured so that the protein in the egg whites coagulate to a certain point when you introduce simple syrup to a certain heat, a heated point, and it makes it fortified.

When you think of meringue, you always think of something that is light and delicate and clouds floating in the sky. This one is more like, I'm ready to rock and roll in the Caribbean. I'm ready to rock and roll in 95% humidity. I'm just going to be-- I'm strong. I'm a New Yorker and proud. You know what I mean? [laughs] This cake can withstand quite a lot, and it fortifies itself when it's introduced to cold. Most meringues weep. They kind of deflate. When you think of meringue, you think of Soufflé, right? Soufflés are always like [mumbles], but Dominican cake is all the best versions of all your favorite aspects, whether it's like jelly, jam, fluffy meringue cake. Then you have that in a slice.

Can you imagine being, like, five or six? There's pictures of me, like, almost face diving into the cake, and my mom's like, "No, Paola, [foreign language]." For the listeners, "I just said, what are you doing, Paola?" [laughs] It's overwhelming. It's so wonderful. Like, you take your first bite, and you expect it to be dense and rich and heavy, and it's light and fluffy and airy, and, you know, it's great. It's amazing. If you haven't had one, go to your local bodega and try a slice.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Kyle from Verona, New Jersey. Hi, Kyle. You're on the air.

Kyle: Hi. Just moved out of Astoria about a year ago, and I've been missing my favorite bodega. If you know it, in Astoria, it's the Best Fellows. The sweet I would always go for was the tricolor cookie cake like bars. I couldn't tell you what the three flavors are. I know one of them is pistachio, the other two, no clue. I just knew it tasted amazing, and I get every chance I could.

Alison Stewart: Love it. Thank you so much for calling in. Yes. Your cookbooks, your cookies in this book are described as thickems.

Paola Velez: Oh, yes.

Alison Stewart: Tell us about the variations on thickems.

Paola Velez: Thickems, right off the bat, I wanted people to not feel this bad feeling or like, the connotation of sweets and having cookies. Like, it's always like, you're cheating on your diet. You're doing this, and I'm like, "No, baby, we thick. Baby, we thick, and now you eating a thickem." You've got to make sure that the wagon stays big, you know? [laughs] You know what I mean? BBL who? We don't need that. We got Thick'ems, you know, but Thick'ems are this, like, really giant cookie that is very crunchy on the outside, but gooey on the inside.

As you travel to the center, if you eat it right as it comes out of the oven, it's almost like lava cake, and it's delicious. It's, like, three textures in one cookie. It's the best of all the cookie worlds. I have matcha Thick'ems. I have raspberry, white chocolate, and cranberry Thick'ems. I have a tres leches Thick'em. Then the OG, the OG, my main girl, Thickie McThick, Miss Thick'ems herself.

Alison Stewart: We got a text that says, where are the live baking classes taught by you? I want this live person experience, because a class with you seems like crazy fun.

Paola Velez: Oh, my God. I'm going to be at Lip Bar tomorrow on my pub day. I'm going to be in the Bronx at 07:00 PM doing the same thing I'm doing here, but showing you how to bake.

Alison Stewart: There you go.

Paola Velez: I must be a magician.

Alison Stewart: I love that. You have family dedicated to the flan familia. All right. What is the hardest part about making flan?

Paola Velez: I think it's really treating-- You have to be-- There's a sign on your wall that says, "Work hard and be nice to people." It's work hard and be nice to the flan. Be nice. All the positive intentions that you have, you can't tell the flan, "You better not break," because she's going to break. She's like, I'm stressed. I have a nine to five. You know, I'm working nine to five. You know what I mean? Then she's going to get all messed up. I really do think that it's making sure that you're going through the process, and then you're treating that bagnomaria or water bath or Bain-marie, for those avid bakers that are listening in, to give it time to cook low and slow.

You want to create this insulation within the water bath. You don't want to just pop in a flan and then just hope for the best, because then you're just going to be making scrambled eggs, you know? I think one of the things that I always warn people is you're going to want to jiggle it. Don't jiggle it. You know, that's like that one song, "I'm jiggling, baby." Don't do it.

Alison Stewart: Don't do it.

Paola Velez: Don't do it, because it's going to crack. You're going to make a Grand Canyon size crack in your flan. So you've got to, you know, almost, like, let it do the low and slow, set it and forget it. Put it in the fridge, and then see it tomorrow. I see you mañana, baby, because you're doing a great job. You're working nine to five. You're working hard. You got overtime, and I will see you mañana.

Alison Stewart: Before we wrap up, I do want to get into your community organizing, because you worked with initiatives like Bakers Against Racism. You worked during the lockdown helping people. What do you think it is about baking and food that helps people during a common cause, when we have a common cause?

Paola Velez: I think really what it boils down to is that folks in the restaurant industry, we are helpers, right? We are a part of the service industry, and we are there to help people in their happiest of moments, during breakups, everything in between, right? Like solo diners come to see us to feel welcome and warmth, through our food, through our cuisines. When the pandemic happened, I was already baking for the DC public school system, because I'm a child of the public school system myself, and I know that now as I get older, I can see that even more funding is being cut from the public school system.

I was already gearing up to do quarterly bake sales for that local area that I now live in and I'm supporting. What happened in the pandemic was, like, if we had a door that was kind of on its hinges, the door blew off, you know, and we were left very confused, alone, and then isolated. Through that time, we all got-- I had gotten my James Beard nomination, and then we all got furloughed. My whole team, 50 people, and I had to walk through each and every employee to get their unemployment benefits. I had to figure it out with council members, congressmen. I was calling, and whoever would pick up the phone. I was like, "Hello, how are you? I need help for my staff."

Then it came time for me, and I had already spent three months fixing problems for other people. Then I was like, oh, man, I should have, you know, applied for unemployment myself. By the time that I applied, funding was almost tapped, you know what I mean? I was so frustrated and humiliated, and I was like, how could I have gotten one of the biggest awards or the nomination to one of the biggest awards in my life, you know? Like, you work your whole career to this, and I can't even qualify for unemployment during a global health crisis.

Then I was like, how much privilege do I have to be able to say something like that? I am a daughter of an immigrant, but I am an American citizen, right? I was like, this is rooted in so much privilege, because the undocumented workforce in the culinary industry does not have access to any of this, and they are the true backbone of the culinary industry. They are the ones that make what we do as chefs possible. You know, they are the pillars of the building that makes the culinary industry great, right? I realized I was fighting the wrong fight, and I needed to help a local organization called Ayuda in DC to be able to provide funds for people that can't even call the hotline.

Through that, I realized that there was people that wanted to give, but they were jaded and hurt and confused and did not know who to trust to give, because there are people in this world that want to give abundantly and freely. They just need to know that there's a trusted source vetting organizations and making sure that the money goes where they said it's going to go. I made sure that I did all of that. I founded Bakers Against Racism for that very purpose. We're not just baking for when Black lives are hurting. We're baking for Black joy, for Black arts, for Black culinarians. You know, even at one point, we were baking for Black surfers of Nova Scotia.

Alison Stewart: Uh-oh.

Paola Velez: I really do think that when you boil it down to why people were so willing to participate in this bake sale, right. I think it's that people already want to give, and they just need a banner to do it under.

Alison Stewart: The name of the book is Bodega Bakes. It's by Paola Velez. I'm not giving my copy back. This is for me. Thank you so much for joining us in studio.

Paola Velez: [laughs] Thank you so much.