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September 28, 2014 Baking

The New Pâtissiers… by Olivier Dupon

A high end pâtisserie book, this is aimed at bakers who are both proficient and confident in the kitchen. It features biographies of world-renowned pastry chefs, and two or three of their recipes. Most recipes are broken down into several components, requiring many techniques, though most are achievable.

The book is broken down as follows:

New Classics:
Andrea Reiss Armaud Deimontel Bernard Herberie Christophe Roussel Gontran Cherrier Luca Ori Martin Isaksson Nadège Nourian Nathaneil Reid Pasquale Marigliano Ronny Latua Sébastien Ordioni Sébastian Gaudard Shigeru Nojima Siang Yee

Art on a Plate:
Anna Polyuiou Antonio Bachour Carmelo Sciampagna Douce Steiner John Talley
Julie Sharp Luca Lacalamita Marike van Beurden Michelle Gillot

Experimental Exotica:
Alvarro Garrido Fernando Rivarola Florencia Randón Strozzi Janice Wong Leonar de Sousa Bastos
Pamela Yung Pierre François Reolofs Rosia Sanches Sarah Jordan Will Goldfarb

Wonderland Confections:
Bobbette & Belle Bonnae Gokson Emily Miranda

September 8, 2014 Baking

TrEATS: Delicious food gifts to make at home…

This is a very pretty book, with lots of ideas for food stylists and photographers. The presentation of each TrEAT is different, and as a book aimed at foods you can give as gifts, this is perhaps more important than it sounds. The recipes themselves are straight forward, quick, and easy to follow – again important in a book focussing on treats to give away.

The book contains the following recipes:

Cakes:
Cherry and cinnamon bundt cakes; brownies with salted caramel; almond and Earl Grey teacup cakes; rose and leaf-topped cake pops; spiced pear and chocolate cakes; raspberry, rose and chocolate cup cakes; chocolate easter-egg cakes; coconut madeleines

Bakes:
Glazed mini ring doughnuts; mini mince pies; plum crumble in a jar & apple pie in a jar; currant scones

Biscuits and Cookies:
Blackcurrant and vanilla Linzer cookies; black and white cookies; spiced pumpkin cakes; gingerbread bats; chocolate chip cookies; tiny lemon meringue pie cookies; Liberty-print inspired chocolate hears; mini gingerbread houses; Neopolitan sandwich cookies; s’mores; white-chocolate-dipped pistachio & apricot cookies

Savoury treats:
Savoury fig & goat’s cheese cakes; oatcakes with pink peppercorns; cheese straws with caraway seeds; smoke paprika almonds; pretzels; infused oils; flavoured salts

Violet and peppermint creams; candied cashews; candied orange dipped in dark chocolate; chocolate salami; white chocolate and fresh berry bites; salted caramel sauce; dipped and decorate marshmallows; chocolate and chestnut meringues; cinnamon hot chocolate spoons; bacon and pecan nut chocolate shards; white chocolate and pistachio popcorn; chocolate rose truffles; salted caramel truffles; apple and cinnamon compote; rhubarb and vanilla compote; lemon and blackberry jelly; pomegranate and vanilla vodka

A great little book for homemade treats. Useful, pretty, well laid out, speedy enough recipes – a great addition in the run-up to Christmas.

September 3, 2014 Baking

Bread, Cake, Doughnut, Pudding… by Justin Gellatly

Justin’s doughnuts may be renowned, but this book is about so much more than those tasty treats. The book is broken down into the following categories, with a few examples:

Breakfast (pikelets; granola clusters; William’s spud fry; the Full Monty soufflé; breakfast bun scrolls…)
Baking with bread (pumpkin seed bread; classic brioche; lardy cake; corn bread; sour dough; rye and malt sourdough…)
Savoury baking (truffle, cheese and potato pie; anchovy twists and cheese straws; sweet onion and fine herb tart…)
Cakes and teatime treats (Early Grey and honey loaf, croquembouche; bomber command buns; Devonshire splits…)
Biscuits (chocolate and oat snaps; the perfect dunking biscuit; the mega milky malt; coconut and cardamom biscuits…)
Doughnuts (the dough recipe; caramel custard and salted honeycomb sprinkle; Seville orange with ginger snap sprinkle…)
Warm to hot puddings (peach and Amaretto cobbler; prune armagnac and almond pudding; sticky banana pudding…)
Cold puddings (chocolate terrine; chocolate caramel brandy creams; chocolate pots; custard tart, chocolate brownie…)
Ice-cream (vanilla; blackberry and crème fraiche; orange and cardamom; brown sugars and hazelnut…)
The store cupboard (bread and butter pickles; pickled beetroot; tomato and chilli chutney; pumpkin seed oil…)

…

August 27, 2014 Book Review

Food Styling: The Art of Preparing Food for the Camera… by Delores Custer

This is a huge tome, probably more than any blogger or the like is looking for, though full of very interesting tips… Delores is a professional food stylist, so this covers everything from working with film crews, to rearranging an open packet of biscuits. Having said that, there’s something on every page to make you think…

If we thought about the question of, should bacon be wavy or straight in a sandwich, we would probably conclude it looked better wavy… But would we really think about it before we made the sandwich and took the shot? Delores does, and shows you why it looks better…

Want the tomato and lettuce in the picture of the burger to look really fresh? Squirt a few drops of water onto them just before shooting…

A torn muffin is texturally much more interesting than a cut one – and she shows you both…

On a more commercial level, Delores reveals that a bowl of cereal, complete with a perfect splash and dripping spoon, is actually made up of a bowl of vegetable shortening with flakes pressed into it, a fake acrylic splash, and gentleman’s hair grooming lotion – crikey, only the cereal is real, and as that’s what they’re selling, everything else can legitimately be faked…

The book covers the entire process from bidding for a job, setting it up, your team-mates, what to expect from others, billing, and the perfect tool kit for a stylist. If you’re looking for a ‘how to plate your food’ book, then I’m not sure this is the best one for beginners. If you’re looking to take your food styling to another level, and want to see why one option works where another does not, this is an excellent book.

You can buy Food Styling here >

January 22, 2012 Book Review

Couture Chocolate… by William Curley

Author’s Bio:

William has worked in many illustrious kitchens, including Gleneagles, La Tante Claire (and Pierre writes the forward for the book), in Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saison, L’Esperance, and The Savoy. At The Savoy he met his wife Suzue, and together they have gone on to win numerous awards, including the Pastry Chef of the Year, British Dessert of the Year and four Best British Chocolatier accolades.

They have two established chocolate shops, one with a chocolate making school downstairs.

The book is broken down into:

The Concept:This book aims to teach both newcomers to chocolate making, and advances amateur chocolate makers, providing inspiration, tips, unusual ingredients and refreshing combinations. William also shares some of his most popular recipes from the shop, and from chocolate competitions, showing how to achieve the best results.

I have several chocolate books, but I think this is my current favourite. William breaks everything down into step by step guides, showing you exactly how to achieve good results for tempering your chocolate (without a tempering machine). William then shows you how to combine various ingredients into hand-made chocolates, moulded chocolates, bars, lollipops, even cakes, brioche, macaron and drinks. The book is clear, and most interesting from my point of view, actually makes you consider different flavour combinations for yourself. Perhaps I’m just at this stage of my chocolate making, but I found my mind wandering off into all manner of flavour variations. If you’re an experience chocolate maker, I can’t imagine it changing your technique management much, but I think it’s worth seeing his flavour combinations first hand. William also does show layering techniques, which I don’t think is covered in as much detail in some of my other chocolate books.

Overall, it would make a very good first chocolate book, and is certainly worth considering for those who already own a few books.

You can buy William’s book from Amazon >

January 21, 2012 Book Review

Good Things to Eat… by Lucas Hollweg

Author’s Bio:

Lucas was a food editor and features journalist, and now writes a food column in the Sunday Times Style Magazine. His articles feature easy to make dishes, which combine the freshest of ingredients in a laid back style.

The book is divided into the following sections:

The Concept:

This is a collection of recipes which Lucas enjoys to cook – they are long on flavour, and short of effort.

There are between five and nine recipes in each section, and they include Strawberries in red wine with cream cheese and basil; Cherrymisu (!!); Raspberry and basil sorbet; Kale and pancetta risotto; Spaghetti with crab and mint; ruby chard with lemon and feta; and Peas broad beans and ricotta on toast.

Who’s going to buy it?

All of the recipes are very straight forward – I would expect almost anyone be able to cook these The food combinations are familiar, and yet often include a variation that you know will eat well – an example of that is the cherrymisu – you know it’s going to be delicious! There’s a strong emphasis on fresh ingredients, eaten simply. Lovely book. Will definitely use this one…

You can buy Lucas’s book on Amazon: