Customer Reviews

Le Cordon Bleu Dessert Techniques: More Than 1,000 Photographs Illustrating 300 Preparation And Cooking Techniques For Making Tarts, Pi

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Due to "A Customer"'s review, I tracked down Ultimate Cakes. A few pictures are similar, but are not the same. Bogus reviews don't help! If anyone knows of a better ILLUSTRATED book of techniques, please post. This is inspiring for visual learners. I haven't found a better illustrated dessert techniques book.

This book is amazing, the pictures are fabulous, the techniques spectacular, and recipes thorough. No, it doesn't explain every single detail step by step, but it's not supposed to. It's not going to hold your hand here, it's a 'techniques' book, not a recipe book. Besides, most of the descriptions are self-explanatory, that as a basic aspiring cook, I myself can understand.

It has some great ideas about different dessert techniques that I'd like to try out. Can't wait to give the choux pastry swans a go at my next party.

This is my second Cordon Bleu book and I am extremely disappointed in it. My other Cordon Bleu book, Le Cordon Bleu at Home is a fine book.

The recipes in here do not follow the traditional method of listing all the ingredients first then the technique. You have to read the whole recipe more than once to wade through the convoluted directions and variations for a recipe. The pictures are beautiful but they only do so much;the organization of the text leaves much to be desired. I've had a lot of experience in cooking and baking and found this book very difficult to use. I will probably return it. If you are looking for a dessert book I'm sure you could find a lot better ones.

The photos are lovely. However, the book assumes that the reader has experience in the kitchen. Some very basic techniques are merely mentioned, not thoroughly explained. For example, the chocolate roulade recipe instructs you to "whisk the egg whites into a meringue." (Whisk? Does anyone still whisk egg whites?) Look up meringue and you are instructed to "beat egg whites until stiff but not dry." It's assumed that you already know all about beating egg whites, folding techniques, etc. Yet, the book provides photos and detailed explanations for such trivial tasks as how to stone peaches and how to shell nuts.

The recipes are interesting but the gaps in the instructions will be frustrating to the average cook.

I knew the photos in this book looked familiar - they're from the DK Press cookbooks (especially Ultimate Cakes).

The Cordon Bleu editors spliced in photos and sections of the DK Press technique explanations. That's why the recipe instructions are disjointed and some techniques are never explained - the section in the DK cookbook(s) they're taken from has not been included in the Cordon Bleu book. It's a cheaper production method, but it's unfair to an unsuspecting buyer. I'm very disappointed with the Cordon Bleu.

If you really want to learn about desserts, pastries and cakes, buy one of the DK Press books - to make sure you get ALL the pictures - and refer to Rose Levy Beranbaum, Nick Malgieri, Maida Heatter, Julia Child, et al for instructions.

Although this book doesn't have as many recipes as I'd like, it is full of techniques that enable you to utilize all the recipes you have. The full color pictures that go along with every technique were beautiful. I would have given this 5 stars except that there could be a little more explanation for the techniques in the back of the book. Overall, this is fast becoming my go-to book for creating spectacular desserts

The book is filled with great pictures, but the techniques are poorly described, and sometimes are not described at all. I've tried several recipes and all of them have been missing steps that the book assumes you already know. My sponge cake for example could have been used for a spare tire, not sure what happened there! I've used some of the ideas in the book, but have gone to other cookbooks for the actual recipes! This book was not worth the money.

This book is great, especially if you are an experienced chef. Being new to the chef field I found it a little over my head. As I gain more experince I find it more useful.

This is absolutely one of the most wonderful dessert books that I have ever purchased. It made me a star among my family and friends! People line up to eat my fruit tart that I make with crème patisserie with real vanilla bean. I have made several recipes from this book and they have all been huge hits. I have learned the basics of pastry making that has helped me produce my own creations. This is what French baking is about. I am very surprised at its low rating.

Bag of tricks that any magician shold have. what can you say, it is a le Cordon bleu cookbook, realy, name speaks for her. Give you an idea and technic how to do it, old school!