Cooking with Chocolate: Essential Recipes and Techniques [Hardcover]

Frederic Bau (Editor), Clay McLachlan (Photographer), Pierre Herme (Foreword), L'Ecole du Grand Chocolat Valrhona (Contributor)

Book Description

Release date: October 18, 2011

This comprehensive, illustrated reference offers the essential building blocks and recipes for working with chocolate in the home kitchen. This cooking school in book form opens with 100 step-by-step techniques: chocolate basics (tempering, ganaches, pralines), candy fillings, decorations, doughs, creams and mousses, ice cream and sorbet, sauces, and baker’s secrets. Each method is explained in text and photographs; fourteen are further clarified on the ninety-minute DVD.
Organized into nine sections, 100 recipes are simplified for the home cook: classics (Sachertorte, pro fiteroles, molten chocolate cake), tarts (chocolate-pear, nut-caramel), snacks (macaroons, waffles, brownies, choco-ginger churros), frozen desserts, special occasions (dark chocolate fondue, hazelnut-praline Yule log), and candy (truffles, lollipops, coconut bars).
Each recipe is graded with a three-star rating so the home chef can gauge its complexity. Cross references to techniques, DVD footage, glossary terms, and complementary recipes make navigation easy. The volume includes practical resources: visual dictionaries of kitchen equipment and common ingredients; tips for conserving chocolate; a guide to dark, milk, and white chocolate and the importance of cocoa content; and a detailed index.    
     

Editorial Reviews

Review

"More Than Just a Coffee Table Book - Even though it was originally published in French as the Encyclopédie du Chocolat, it should not be confused with the dry, dusty encyclopedias of days gone by. It is the definitive go-to book for everything chocolate. I'm sure that just about every chocolate technique is covered in this book as well as several supporting techniques on the included DVD. The recipe section contains a wide variety of chocolate treats, which includes everyday chocolate recipes to more advanced recipes." ~About.com

About the Author

Frederic Bau is the creative director and executive chef of l’ecole du Grand Chocolat Valrhona. French patissier Pierre Herme contributed to Paris Patisseries and is author of several cookbooks. Clay McLachlan’s photographs were featured in French Cooking (Flammarion, 2010). L’ecole du Grand Chocolat Valrhona is a world-renowned pastry and chocolate cooking school.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Flammarion; Har/DVD edition (October 18, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 208020081X
• ISBN-13: 978-2080200815
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #285,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Baking > Chocolate

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for reading about chocolate techniques... December 1, 2011

By Kat

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed reading the individual blurbs from each chef, and the introduction to the book has more detail about the actual process of cooking with chocolate than I have found elsewhere. However, I wasn't blown away by the recipes; some are incredible, some are fairly poorly written (the ingredient list and/or instructions). In at least two instances that I have noticed, the ingredient list doesn't actually give an amount or weight (e.g. it just says, milk & chocolate), and the instructions do not further elucidate the proportions necessary to achieve the final product. In another case, one ingredient is called for within two different sections of the instructions, while another ingredient is left out of the process. It may just be a translation error, or a printing error, but still... There are also some recipes where detail is lacking: "heat for a while, then blah blah blah". The photography is gorgeous, and I want to eat everything in this cookbook, but it's a pretty pricey cookbook for so many errors, especially when pastry is a field where precise measurements matter.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars cooking with chocolate December 15, 2011

By eliane

Format:Hardcover

I think this book is really great. First of all, lets start with the fact that is was written so anyone could understand the techniques, which if you are working with chocolate and are an amateur, a big deal. Second of all, the book is divided into techniques section and then recipes. Each chef that collaborated on the book had their own recipe section so there are a lot of variations. The technique section was divided into:
chocolate- tempering, molds and coating basics
bonbon fillings
decorations- all types of pretty little ideas plus glazes
pastry doughs and sponges
creamy textures- basic cremeux, pastry cream etc
mousses
ice creams, sorbets and sauces
mastering further techniques- like using a piping bag etc..
there is also a little section on the process of how chocolate is made.
every page in the technique section has AT LEAST one picture, many times more than one step is shown and they are beautiful pictures.
the recipe section at first glance looks complicated but reading them through I realized that if you take your time going through the techniques section, there are some variations but every technique has already been shown to you. so I am very excited.
If you are going to buy one book on chocolate, this should be it. It really eases you into it but doesnt withhold information simply because you may not be a trained pastry chef.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Chocolate Heaven November 9, 2011

By Kris Barlow

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Reading this book is better than reading most novels. Wow. Beautiful photos and that make me want to try every recipe. The instructions are clear and the ingredients are common. There are a few fun new tools to find, but that is part of expanding my knowledge and kitchen base...new tools like stainless steel rulers which hold up what I would describe as a long, thin chocolate ganache tart. Very clever and not hard to do. The recipes I've tried are exquisite and I can't want to cook the entire book...so much to learn and wonderful chocolaty foods to enjoy. This book is a masterpiece.