Grand Livre de Cuisine - Alain Ducasse's Desserts and Pastries
Grand Livre de Cuisine - Alain Ducasse's Desserts and Pastries By Frederic Robert
You could, if you were so inclined, look on this book as just something to display on your coffee table. Its hefty weight (3.4kg) makes it too unwieldy for poring over in bed, as I do with most of my favourite cookbooks. But to ignore its content would be a huge waste: of all the pastry books on my shelves, this is the one I turn to when I want to make French desserts.
Alain Ducasse is one of the most respected names in French cuisine. Some criticise him for spreading himself too thin - his empire includes outlets in Hong Kong, Mauritius, the United States, France, Italy and Japan. Obviously, he's not in residence at any of these restaurants - he hires talented chefs to maintain the quality in his absence. The same goes for the books that appear under his name, and for this one, he chose Frederic Robert, a respected pastry chef.
Although some recipes can be made by novices, most are aimed at those with some talent in the pastry kitchen: many of the instructions are cursory. Some of the recipes need to be scaled down if you're making them for a small group, although it's easy enough because the measurements are in metric and avoirdupois.
Standout recipes include cherry vacherin cake; thin-crusted fromage blanc tart with wild strawberries and lime-vanilla sorbet; golden brioche charlotte with summer fruit compote and apricot coulis; Sachertorte with jellied apricots and bitter chocolate; caramel crisp with peanut ice cream and sweet and salty milk variations; and lemon tart with citrus fruit, orange chips and clementine sorbet.
