MEET: CHEF MILES MURPHY, The Delaware, Albany
Pastry chef Miles Murphy at The Delaware. Photo credit: Konrad Odhiambo/The Dishing.
Chef Miles Murphy talks Jamaican bickle, X-box, discovering the sweet side of culinary + becoming chef de cuisine at 21-years old.
Interview: Susie Davidson Powell
Photos: Konrad Odhiambo/The Dishing + Stephen Struss/The Dishing
Shoot location: The Delaware, N.Y.
Tastemaker: Chef Miles Murphy
Role: Chef de Cuisine + Pastry Chef | IG @chefmilesm
Where: The Delaware | IG: @thedelawarealbany
Hometown: Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica
Current city: Albany, N.Y.
Personal style: Practical, laidback, minimal.
Listening to: Morrow by 070 Shake
Favorite classic cocktail or non-alc drink: Sorrel (Hibiscus punch)
Coffee or tea – and what’s your order: Coffee for sure, always a double shot of espresso
Biggest professional industry influence: Chef Marco Pierre White
Industry trend that should end: Overly-gimmicky food presentations prioritizing spectacle over substance.
Chef Miles Murphy. Photo credit: Konrad Odhiambo/The Dishing.
The Dishing talks with tastemakers in the hospitality industry + trailblazers at the intersection of food, culture, sound + art. Today we’re with pastry chef and newly minted chef de cuisine Miles Murphy about Jamaican foods he misses, exploring the sweet side of culinary + his love of the Disney-Pixar movie, Ratatouille.
Chef, thanks for talking with The Dishing! First, congratulations! You’re about to be one of the four featured chefs at the Regional Food Bank CHEFS: Palm Royale fundraiser at the Albany Convention Center. Do you know what you’ll be presenting for your course?
I’m super excited to be featured at CHEFS* this year, it’s a huge opportunity to cook on that scale and capacity but, importantly, just knowing it’s all to benefit and aid underserved communities and residents facing food insecurity among other struggles — it truly uplifts my heart.
I am featured for their fourth course and I’ll be presenting a passion fruit and coconut panna cotta with a corn silk cookie, macadamia ganache, tart black raspberries and a mint oil. We had nothing but rave reviews when we tested it at the shop.
[*Ed. note: Dishing readers get $25 off CHEFS tickets with code DISHING.]
You were born and raised in Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica. What are some of your childhood memories of cooking at home and who was the main influence on your interest in cooking?
My Grandpa on my mother’s side influenced me the most. He taught all of us - me, my aunt, my uncle. He taught me to cook fried rice, chop suey, lo mein, wood ear fungus, curried beef, salted cod fritters, ackee, callaloo… the list could go on and on. My aunt on the other hand, taught me how to improvise and pay more attention to detail. She has this saying “ if you’re going to do something, do it right and done.” That line will stay with me through everything that I do.
When did you come to the U.S. + did you already know that you wanted to pursue a culinary career?
I moved to the U.S in July of 2020, and started living with my Dad during that time. Culinary sort of has always been my calling. Being a very food positive kid and just getting to cook something I’ve never done before made me love the kitchen even more. Culinary school (SUNY SCCC) gave me the sense of belonging I needed and it opened me up to more techniques and combinations. And, you know, I also used to watch Ratatouille pretty religiously – it came out in 2007, few years after I was born – so it might’ve been the bright colors and the cool animation that I fell in love with, or maybe it was just the pure joy from Remy’s face while he was making his cream soup. It felt like it was my calling.
Chef Miles Murphy plates a dessert. Photo: Victoria Sedefian/The Dishing
At the undeniably young age of 21-years old, you’ re not only the pastry chef at The Delaware but also newly promoted to chef de cuisine under Executive Chef Elliott Vogel. When did you first start working with Chef Elliott?
Chef Courtney from SCCC introduced me to Chef Elliott and we started working together at Jack’s Oyster House in Albany. He seemed to have taken a liking to me and that’s when he started mentoring me. After Jack’s, I worked at DPs and Yono’S with him for a bit and there I understood more about plating techniques, quality standards and honed the skills he previously taught me.
It’s clear that Chef Elliott is a good mentor. How would you describe your working relationship and how it has helped to shape your career path?
Elliott has been nothing but supportive of me in my career. He’s constantly helping me to grow and just be as great of a chef as I can be.
You have become well known for your creative desserts. When did you realize you had a knack for the sweeter side of culinary?
I was originally hired as a line cook but I wanted more out of the job so I presented a dessert to Chef and asked if I could do a special each week. He was open to the idea and gave me the chance to execute the first dessert which is that hazelnut choux bun you had the first time you came in. That was a hazelnut amaretto choux bun with Limoncello curd and Luxxardo cherries.
The desserts at The Delaware rotate extremely frequently – weekly, right, if not more? How do you approach the design side of what you’re going to feature each week both in terms of ingredients and presentation?
I’m very hungry for knowledge and I search it out anywhere I can. Whether it be other chefs, my team at the restaurant, previous instructors, YouTube or Instagram, I soak up as much as I can. Social media alone can give you so much inspiration. With the vastness of cuisines, techniques and diversity, there’s just so much you can learn.
When designing these specials, I’m given a parameter or two to work around and I’ll add a few more complementary components with one contrasting slightly. As for the presentation, most times it’s thought of on the fly, but when I get really excited about a dish, I’m sketching it out.
Exec. Chef Elliott Vogel + chef de cuisine Miles Murphy on the pass. | Photo: Stephen Struss/The Dishing
Chef Elliott is an avid forager and the seasonal mushrooms or ramps or fiddleheads all end up on the daily menu. You often join him so are you learning as you go? What have been some of your best finds?
Oh I’m learning so much when we go, I’m not sure if he sees how meaningful it is for me but I truly value the time he spends in the woods teaching me about all the different mushrooms. We do quite a bit of hours in the woods; I’ve individually identified lobster mushrooms, golden chanterelles, hedgehog mushrooms, black trumpets, shrimp of the woods, chicken of the woods and hen of the woods, even chaga. My favorite mushrooms are the hedgehogs, lobsters and black trumpets.
What dish are you most proud of to date? And what’s something you haven’t yet made yet but would love to figure out?
Sunset in Waikiki… This dessert was absolutely beautiful. A bold display of tropical flavors paired together. We’re looking at a Caramelized Pineapple and Banana Spring Roll, butter mochi squares, passion fruit reduction and a tart guava pound cake. I was quite surprised with this one because it has a lot of different textures and 4 fruity components, which can be a bit more difficult to bridge and make work together. I think a sfogliatelle would be a great challenge for me right now.
Oh, and people are definitely going to want to know details about the dessert you made for our shoot..
Yeah, that was a banana cherry eclair with banana coconut ganache, kirsch syrup and hazelnut crumble.
What are some of your favorite flavors or spices? If you were traveling, which 3 would you bring?
Well, if you know Miles, you know I’m the biggest fan of coconut! I’ll use coconut in anything whether sweet or savory. I love the versatility of it and I’m painfully aware there are a lot of other ingredients that are just as versatile but I know coconut like the back of my hand. I also love the punch of heat and warm spices from the berbere spice blend and the complexity of shichimi togorashi. These would be my top 3 for travel; togorashi, berbere and some dried coconut product.
Your heritage is Jamaican. Do you have a favorite, home-cooked, go-to comfort food that you miss? If so, do you cook it for yourself or where in the 518 do you go for it?
I miss all the Jamaican food. Snacks, sweets, fruits… EVERYTHING. If I had to pick a favorite Jamaican food though it’d have to be saltfish rundung. It’s a stew made from salted cod, coconut milk reduced to a thick custard, lots of aromatics, tomatoes and annatto seed for color. It’s really yummy and rich, and has a saltier note from the cod but it gets balanced out perfectly with the sweetness from the coconut milk and the tomato adds hints of umami. It’s normally served with what we call “bickle”, which is just a big pot of cooked starchy ground provisions like dasheen (a.k.a. Jamaican taro) potatoes and cassava, whatever was on hand. I really only eat it when I visit home though, I can never seem to find it in the area and it’s a full day process from what I remember so it can be difficult to make for myself. I think that’s what makes it special for me though the fact that I have to go home just to get some.
Can you tell us 3 of your favorite spots for breakfast, lunch or dinner anywhere in the Capital Region or Hudson Valley?
For breakfast, I’m going with Son of Egg’s bibimbap and their bulgogi burger, hands down. Overall, my top 3 spots, in no specific order, would be Albany Ale & Oyster (Albany,) Tuscan Bakery (Menands) and DeFazio’s (Troy.)
Imagine your ideal day or night out. If you could go anywhere in the world with no limits on costs or reservations, where would you go and how would your day or night unfold?
I’ll definitely be in Italy. Eating artisan cheeses, fresh baked breads, homemade pasta and walking the streets of Parma admiring the architecture and culture.
I generally ask chefs how they manage their work/life balance, but you’re pretty young. How do you relax or, maybe, some guilty pleasures? Do you love to sleep in? Are you someone who snacks in bed?
I do enjoy sleeping in, even though I don't do it as often as I should. I like reading and wish I did more and I also game on my Xbox for hours. There’s this game I’m playing right now called Warframe, it’s a third-person action shooter game with space magic and ninjas.
You moved to the US in 2020, started culinary school at SCCC, and you’ve been immersed in the restaurant industry ever since. You’ve seen firsthand the way that restaurants and bars were hit hard and how customer traffic hasn’t sprung back to pre-Covid volume partly due to working from home, drinking less, or rising costs of living. Given that, what do you see as the future for the restaurant industry? I believe we’ve entered a point where things are changing so fast and we’re grasping at straws trying to keep up. We see it in hiring, the small but still noticeable decline of our guests, in the lack of passion during services. Even a sense of urgency, which was something most young cooks would have, they’d be hungry for knowledge but none of that exists anymore. Everything that was happening a year ago is a complete switch from 6 years ago, 3 months ago is gonna be drastically different from 6 months from now.
So let’s look ahead. Where would you like to see yourself in 5 or 10 years? Is there a vision already?
No set vision at the moment, but I’m always joking about someday owning a cafe with really cute desserts and pastries that turns into a bar after hours.
Ok, chef. Thanks for talking to us! I’m looking forward to your dessert at CHEFS and seeing what’s next. - SDP