Chef Fran Costigan

A veteran culinary instructor with a specialty in dairy and egg free whole foods baking and cuisine, consultant to food professionals and non-professionals, cookbook author and entrepreneur,

As an instructor, Costigan is experienced working with small and large groups of people, presenting hands-on teaching and demonstration classes in schools and private homes, at conferences and conventions. Recipe development and food writing include freelance magazine articles and a published cookbook, Great Good Desserts Naturally. Her new book, More Great Good Desserts Naturally will be published in the fall of 2005.

Costigan worked in “butter-sugar-egg kitchens” including Main Course Catering, a gourmet food shop on the upper east side of Manhattan, no longer in business, after finishing the professional chef training at The New York Restaurant School. As the baker, she was responsible for the daily muffins, scones, pastries and cakes, as well as the weekly special.

Her interest in natural foods and vegetarian diet led her to the Natural Gourmet Cookery School where Costigan completed the Food and Healing Course taught by the school’s founder, Ann Marie Colbin. Shortly thereafter, encouraged by Ms Colbin to do so, she enrolled in and completed the school’s Professional Chef Training. Eager to learn as much as possible about dairy free baking in the shortest amount of time, Costigan asked to help out in the kitchen of Luma, an organic dairy free restaurant and was hired as the pastry chef immediately following completion of the Chef Training. At the same time, she began teaching classes at the Natural Gourmet Cookery School, where she developed the Natural Pastry Arts Intensive, the first course of its kind, among many other courses.

Stints as pastry chef at Luma and Angelica Kitchen reinforced Costigan’s belief that the key to developing wonderfully textured and delicious refined sugar, egg and dairy free desserts -- on par with the best traditional baked goods--was the linking of traditional pastry technique and the properties unique to whole foods. This union was successful and For Goodness Cakes Catering was born. People with food restrictions now had a source for wedding cakes, birthday cakes and cupcakes. Mothers of elementary school children were calling in SOS’s for cupcakes.

The business grew by word of mouth and Costigan was asked to write recipes for publications, speak to the trade about natural sweeteners at the Natural Products Health Expo and began catering less.

When Michael Romano, Executive Chef-Partner of Manhattan’s famed Union Square Café wanted to explore serving dairy and egg-free, naturally sweetened desserts, he arranged for his pastry chef to work with Costigan. Ann Cooper, CEC, Executive Chef of The ROSS School, hired Fran to do a full day training of her culinary team while they were developing and testing recipes. Scores of home cooks found Costigan as well.

Rick Smilow, President of Institute of Culinary Education contacted Costigan in 2001 and asked her to teach a few classes in order to assess need for dairy, egg free programs. The classes sold out quickly and Costigan teaches several classes per catalogue at ICE.