Dessert FourPlay: Sweet Quartets from a Four-Star Pastry Chef [Hardcover]

Johnny Iuzzini (Author), Roy Finamore (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 30, 2008

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The first time I tasted Johnny’s creations, the profusion of delicious flavors in familiar and unfamiliar forms was like nothing I'd ever experienced in a dessert course. In this long-awaited book, Johnny shares the thinking, the cutting-edge techniques, and the flexible recipes that make his approach to the end of the meal so fresh and engaging.”
—Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking

“Dessert FourPlay is as exciting as it is appealing, instructive, and generous. Each dessert is a tour de force of imagination and I’m crazy about the section called Building Blocks, which has dozens of simple recipes for ice cream, cookies, cakes, and sauces to mix-and-match.”
—Dorie Greenspan, author of Baking from My Home to Yours

“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

“From the first day I met him, I knew that Johnny would make a significant contribution to the pastry world. In Dessert FourPlay, you can sample some of his four-star desserts and feel like a rockstar while making them. Johnny's playfulness and desire to push limits in the kitchen are an inspiration to anyone who loves to create.”
—François Payard, chef/owner of Payard Pâtisserie & Bistro and author of Chocolate Epiphany

“Johnny Iuzzini is a serious sugar freak and his enthusiasm comes through on every page. Here’s a guy who can whip up any classic dessert and also show you a cutting-edge technique for making flourless doughnuts. Johnny has always stayed ahead of the curve, and this book proves it.”
—Wylie Dufresne, chef/owner of WD-50

“Y'all, every recipe in this book is deliciously decadent. I just love a man who knows his way around some chocolate!”
—Paula Deen, Food Network host and bestselling cookbook author

“Johnny’s desserts are a mix of tradition, science, humor, and art that are beautifully balanced in his quartets. Be prepared for your senses to explode; expect nothing less.”
—Jean Georges Vongerichten, chef/restaurateur

“Dessert FourPlay is a blockbuster cookbook bursting with mouthwatering recipes, innovative ideas, and breathtaking photos. Many recipes have ‘Make it Simpler’ suggestions that enable the home cook to prepare four-star desserts like a pro. A stunning edition.”
—Carole Walter, author of Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More

“With this impressive collection of seasonal recipes, Johnny Iuzzini reveals his versatility not only with classic techniques, but also with contemporary ideas. He is truly among the country's premier pastry chefs.”
—Eric Ripert, chef/co-owner of Le Bernardin

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.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter (December 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307351378
• ISBN-13: 978-0307351371
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 0.9 x 10.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #96,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars For home bakers who loves pushing the envelope February 8, 2009

By Cookbook Gal VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I am an experienced home baker who loves pushing the envelope and trying out new, complicated recipes. In my opinion, that is the type of baker who will enjoy this book the most.

I've made a couple things out of the book, and I've had no problem with the directions. While the recipes often call for ingredients that may not be available in smaller markets, those ingredients, with few exceptions, are not "weird." By that I mean that the overwhelming majority of Iuzzini's recipes do not fall into the realm of molecular gastronomy, thereby requiring foaming dispensers and other chemical agents. A small number of them do, but most do not, which is something that I appreciate because I'm cooking for a small family, and not a restaurant. One of the problems I've had with a few other "chef" books is that you really need to invest a tidy sum of money in chemical agents to make full use of the recipes in those books, and professional pastry books produce HUGE quantities of desserts, requiring you to do a lot of math to scale things down. Iuzzini's book does not suffer from either of those problems.

Each major dessert is comprised of 4 mini dessert portions - you can either make one of them, or using the book as a guide, prepare all 4. The instructions are very clear and include both metric and standard US measurements, although he highly recommends that you invest in a scale. The author gives oven temperatures for both a standard oven and a convection oven. When he calls for chocolate, he notes his preference in detail, for example, he doesn't just say 40% cacao, he will say "preferably Valrhona Jivara 40% cacao." There are some recipes that fall into the realm of "molecular gastronomy," but those are only a small percentage of the book. When you do need some exotic ingredient, Iuzzini gives you the mail order sources for them. He also provides building block recipes (for example, regular and chocolate brioche) to use in his recipes, or you can use them in other desserts, if you choose. When he can, he offers suggestions in the "Make it Simple" sidebars that enable a home cook to simplify the recipe.

The layout and quality of the book are great. Glossy pages, photos for every finished dessert, easy-to-read layout, and a font that won't give you eyestrain. The book is divided by seasons and chocolate, so the main chapters are Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring,and Chocolate, with the Building Blocks chapter at the end.

If you are not an adventurous baker, then recipes like Corn Panna Cotta and Beet Parfait may turn you off, but remember that each one of those recipes is designed to be ONE component in a four part dessert. If you don't care for that, you can always make something like the Malted-Chocolate Rice Pudding, or the Chocolate Filled Passion Souffle Tarts (really good), or Cream Cheese Ice Cream.

This is a book that can take your baking and food presentation to a new level. I really enjoyed it.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Fun January 6, 2009

By Robert S. Mayer

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is a great read with some very compelling ideas and wonderful suggestions. I have made three of the deserts so far and they were all successful. Note I did not say yummy some of the stuff in this book is about experience of flavor over tradition concepts of flavor. Expect new ideas that take some time to adjust to. If you enjoy experimentation and finding new ways to make old desserts this is a great book. Also if you want to start with molecular gastronomy this may be the least intimidating book to test the waters with. Overall this is a pure adventure if taste and texture with a lot of whimsy.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Another Glossy Cookbook? July 28, 2009

By Jeremy Emmerson

Format:Hardcover

When I first saw Johnny's cookbook Dessert FourPlay Sweet Quartets from a Four-Star Pastry Chef ($35.00 Clarkson Potter) I figured I had a winner of a book, but not a cookbook - just a "lookbook".

Several weeks later, FourPlay, is still on my kitchen table - not covered in a film of dust as I might have expected, but doused in sugar, caramel and tuile batter. FourPlay turns out to be quite a clever book; it's a book that you can actually use...

Let's start back at the beginning.
Johnny Iuzzini is the Executive pastry Chef of the three-starred Michelin Restaurant Jean Georges in New York. At Jean Georges, Johnny's desserts arrive as four mini tasters served together. These creations may be inspired by a single ingredient or by the season, each a collection of delicious tastes, textures and techniques.

His desserts in FourPlay follow the same methodology as those at Jean Georges, so, when you look at the pictures in the book you might think that you are set for a visual feast and nothing more. But when you look a little deeper, the chef has written a book that puts the creative ball in the reader's court. It's a book of options.

You can choose to recreate one of the many quartets such as the Strawberry FourPlay; Strawberry Soda, Strawberry Ice Cream with Strawberry-Lavender Leather, Strawberry Shortcake with Roasted Strawberries & Strawberry Gelée, Coconut Cream & Crispy Chocolate or follow a simpler route and be inspired by one these components each of which shape up to be a great standalone dish.

I have used several of the recipes in the book over the past few weeks each of which have been accurate, well written and tasty.

Johnny Iuzzini has published a unique cookbook, one that serves up a magnificent concoction of style and substance - what appears to be a "lookbook" is, actually a cookbook!