DESSERT FOURPLAY: SWEET QUARTETS FROM A FOUR-STAR PASTRY CHEF
Consider the strawberry: its familiar flavor and texture; its fresh, sweet smell. Now imagine the same fruit distilled and carbonated for a refreshing soda, slow-roasted for a reinvented strawberry shortcake, made into a creamy strawberry ice cream and a chewy strawberry leather, and combined with coconut cream and crisp chocolate pastry. Alone, each dessert is a taste of paradise, but together this “fourplay,” or tasting, created by Johnny Iuzzini, superstar pastry chef of the celebrated four-star restaurant Jean Georges in New York, is a sophisticated explosion of a familiar flavor that begins with the taste of strawberry rich on your tongue and ends with an effervescent tingle in your nose.
Far from the conventional slice of cake at the end of a meal, Johnny’s seasonal creations—four mini desserts in a quartet of complementary flavors and textures—are a culinary adventure. In Dessert FourPlay, he shares his secrets and inspirations, delivering standout recipes for incredible desserts that can be served alone or combined into his signature fourplay groupings, creating the perfect sweet finale for any meal.
With the home cook in mind, Johnny offers tips on simplifying professional recipes and provides basic recipes for transcendent cakes, cookies, tuiles, ice creams, sorbets, granités, and more. These building blocks can be used to create magnificent multifaceted desserts, or they can be perfect desserts by themselves. Some recipes have surprising versatility: the shiny smooth chocolate glaze Johnny uses to ice cakes doubles as the ultimate hot fudge sauce; a lemony madeleine batter becomes a layer in a cake.
Iuzzini pairs cool with hot, crispy with creamy, sweet with spicy, and the expected—chocolate, strawberries, and cinnamon—with the unexpected—chiles, beets, and chocolatey puffs. The result: desserts that refresh, inspire, and satisfy beyond expectations. Dessert FourPlay invigorates all the senses and inspires home cooks to create innovative desserts of their own.
“Johnny Iuzzini is one of the most talented pastry chefs in America. He is experimental and creative, but his originality and wit are carefully balanced by his classic pastry training. Johnny’s first book, Dessert FourPlay, will be a great inspiration for anyone who has a love of sweets.”
—Daniel Boulud, chef/restaurateur
About the Author
JOHNNY IUZZINI, executive pastry chef of the world-renowned Jean Georges restaurant in New York City, won the award for Outstanding Pastry Chef from the James Beard Foundation in 2006. This is his first book.
ROY FINAMORE, a publishing veteran of more than thirty years, has worked with many bestselling cookbook authors. He is the author of three books: One Potato, Two Potato; Tasty, which won a James Beard Foundation award; and Fish Without a Doubt.
Product Details
* Hardcover: 288 pages
* Publisher: Clarkson Potter (December 30, 2008)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0307351378
Dessert FourPlay: Sweet Quartets from a Four-Star Pastry Chef
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HOW BAKING WORKS: EXPLORING THE FUNDAMENTALS OF BAKING SCIENCE
How Baking Works, thoroughly covers the entire baking process, emphasizing the “whys” at work behind basic techniques. The book takes the user through the major ingredient groups, explaining how sweeteners, fats, milk, leavening agents, and other ingredients affect the appearance, flavor, and texture of the end product. The coverage also includes scaling and measurements, heat transfer, and sensory properties in baking.
This revised and updated Second Edition features:
* Hands-on exercises and experiments at the end of each chapter, with many involving the sensory evaluation of ingredients
* Expanded coverage of sweeteners, variety grains, enzymes, starch structure and gelatinization, and gluten structure
* Important coverage of changes to federal laws, such as food allergen labeling
* Coverage reflecting consumer awareness of nutrition and health, including information on dietary fiber, trans fats, and trans-free fats in the baking context
* More photographs to illustrate the science of baking
* End-of-chapter questions that both review content and require readers to apply and synthesize what they’ve learned
How Baking Works, offers a dynamic, hands-on learning experience to both practicing and future bakers and pastry chefs.
About the Author
Paula Figoni is a food scientist and associate professor in the International Baking and Pastry Institute in the College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University, Providence, Rhode Island. She has more than ten years of experience in product development and food science at The Pillsbury Company and Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.
Product Details
* Paperback: 416 pages
* Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (October 5, 2007)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0471747238
* ISBN-13: 978-0471747239
How Baking Works: Exploring the Fundamentals of Baking Science
List Price: $40.00
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MARZIPAN MICE COOKIES RECIPE
These easy, no-bake marzipan mice cookie recipe will delights adults and children alike. Marzipan
Makes 2 dozen
Prep Time: 45 min (plus chilling)
One 7-ounce package marzipan, such as Love n’ Bake
48 almond slices (about 1/4 cup)
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Black licorice laces, cut into twenty-four 1 1/2-inch tails and 24 dots for eyes
1. Cut the marzipan roll in half lengthwise, then cut each half into 12 equal pieces and shape each piece into an oval. Pinch the small end to make the nose and eyes.
2. To make the ears, working with 1 mouse at a time, wet 1 end of 2 almond slices and stick them into the marzipan above the eyes.
3. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. In a small bowl, microwave the chocolate chips at high power, stirring every 20 seconds, until smooth, about 1 minute.
4. Insert a toothpick into the wide end of each of 12 mice. Working with 1 at a time, dip the mice into the chocolate, tapping the toothpick on the side of the bowl to remove any excess. Transfer to the prepared pan and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, using a toothpick, make a hole in the wide end of each white mouse; insert the licorice tails and place the eyes. Remove the toothpicks from the chocolate mice, then insert the licorice tails. Serve at room temperature.
Source: 2008 December/January issue of Every Day Rachel Ray. Click here for $4.69 MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS!