Sweet Magic: Easy Recipes for Delectable Desserts - Hardcover

Richard, Michel; Kaminsky, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061928216 ISBN 13: 9780061928215

Publisher: Ecco, 2010

Synopsis

From popular pastry chef Michel Richard, author of Happy in the Kitchen, comes Sweet Magic—a gorgeous, hand-illustrated primer of classic and innovative dessert recipes. Winner of multiple James Beard Awards and an acknowledged pastry genius whom Thomas Keller called “one of the great practitioners of the culinary arts in America” Michel Richard is on a mission to help you improve your dessert technique—and he’s got the stuff to help serious bakers perform Sweet Magic over and over again!

About this title

From the Back Cover

Long before award-winning chef Michel Richardmade his first côte de boeuf or prepared hisfirst foie gras terrine, he was a pastry chef. InLos Angeles, pastry lovers lined up outside his bakeshopon Wilshire Boulevard, waiting to enjoy the breadsand treats they’d heard were the best in town, maybeeven better than anything in Paris. Now, in this outstandingcollection, the superstar chef returns to hisfirst love, the food that made him famous—desserts.

Here are mouthwatering, foolproof recipes forAmerican favorites such as pecan pie and poundcake; Richard’s personal inventions, such as FloatingIslands with Melted Chocolate Morsels and the "coffeecloud"; reinvented French classics, such as profiterolesand the Christmas log (bûche de Noël); fruitfavorites, including tarts and Pavlovas; and, of course,plenty of cookies.

Going beyond traditional cookbooks, Sweet Magicshares Richard’s insights into the thinking and craftbehind every aspect of dessert, with brief essaysthat explore, explain, and entice—highlighted by thechef’s own playful illustrations.

Creating exquisite dishes with only a few simpleingredients—butter, eggs, sugar, flour, chocolate—demands the instincts of an artist and the soul of amagician. Sweet Magic will unlock the inner dessertwizard in every home chef, guiding both newcomersand old hands past common missteps, to seduce themost flavor and texture from every ingredient.

Reviews

Richard's dessert collection--complete with cheerful, perfect-to-make-on-a-Sunday-afternoon recipes such as strawberry cream puffs, cherry clafouti and Linzer tarts--forgoes food photography in lieu of two-color illustrations with a vintage feel, and presents 50 easy-to-follow selections sans highly stylized sidebars and show-stopping chapter openers. The French-born and -trained pastry chef, and Washington, D.C., restaurateur, steers readers toward "pleasure" as opposed to "perfection" when cooking and baking and succeeds in providing "accessible" and "uncomplicated" dessert instructions. Instead of tips, numbered steps, bulleted lists and charts, the author showcases his gift for storytelling and love of pastry and all things sweet in text-heavy pages complete with dialogue. American classics including cherry pie, apple pie, and chocolate chip cookies, have their place alongside French favorites such as crepes, meringues, and éclairs in this delightful and timeless title that feels like a small but worthy indulgence. (Dec.)
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Home cooks too often discover that no matter how much effort has gone into preparing a meal, their guests exclaim most over whatever dessert finishes up the evening’s repast. With that in mind, lauded chef Richard has gathered 50 dessert recipes that ambitious cooks may execute in their own home kitchens. Most of Richard’s desserts arise straight out of classic French cuisine. Brioche, génoise, pâte-à-choux, and puff pastry form the starting point for many of Richard’s sweets, but he describes new, less complex ways to achieve success with these standards, and he reduces their richness to conform to contemporary diets. He boldly explores other traditions, producing undeniably American maple parsnip cake and several variations on chocolate chip cookies. His reinvention of pecan pie featuring a crust scented with Madras curry will horrify traditionalists. Essays convey Richard’s rigorous professional training and personal culinary philosophy. --Mark Knoblauch

Edition details

• Publisher: Ecco
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0061928216
• ISBN 13: 9780061928215
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240