A convicted French drug dealer who became a social media sensation for his videos on how to cook creatively while behind bars has been hired by a top Parisian pastry chef.

On social media, he is called “Pingouin” (Penguin), named after one of Batman’s main adversaries. 

But the unnamed 28-year-old ex-convict said he was saved by cuisine and a desire to share cooking tips to spice up fellow inmates’ meals, using minimal ingredients to concoct delicious dishes.

“The Penguin’s a cook gone bad. I’m the opposite,” he told Le Parisien.

In a rags-to-ratatouille tale, the former inmate had no previous cooking experience when sentenced for drug dealing in 2020 and incarcerated in Villepinte prison in Seine-Saint-Denis, northeast of Paris.

Pingouin said he developed a passion for cuisine “because I had to cook for myself” but lacked everything but the most basic of cooking utensils. “Then, after a few months, I got the urge to be creative,” he told the capital’s daily newspaper.

“The first slightly elaborate thing I made was a cake. I’d asked my neighbour for a recipe... He used a pot of yoghurt to make the weight,” he added.