Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

The title of my review really says it all. Iuzzini showcases his awesome skill in this book, and the excellent photography backs it up. I just wish he had found a different way to make the chocolate spaetzle, because honestly, it looks like fat, black crispy chow mein noodles, and I think that visual should be enough for you.

He has tons of exceptional ideas, and executes them with the skill of a true master. Everything looks and sounds delicious, and each recipe is unique. I only wish I had thought of them myself!

It should be noted, however, that the recipes in this book are not for someone who is looking to cook for the first time. Some of the techniques are advanced, use ingredients that you certainly aren't going to find in your local grocery store, and several recipes have multiple parts gone over elsewhere in the book. Luckily for the layman, he offers several simple replacements for a good number of ingredients in several of the recipes.

If none of that phases you, then get this book. You will not regret it.

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!

This book is a must have for anyone who likes to experiment with desserts in the kitchen. While not always easy, most of the desserts are approachable, and the author gives many useful substitutions if one does not want to make all of the individual components. Also, and this is a big plus, the recepies are all given in cups and ounces, easy to measure, instead of the annoying trend of many other high-end cookbooks where all the measurements are given in metric weight. (Who wants to measure out lbs of water? Or 32 grams of strawberries?) The best part about the book though is the insight into the chef's creative process. I don't think I've ever read another cookbook where the author gives as much explanation into the thoughts behind his work. I love Thomas Keller's books for this reason, and this book is in that same vein. I've only had the book a few days, and I've already made several different components with great success. I put off buying this book for awhile; I'm glad I didn't wait any longer.

This book is beautiful. The photos and design are superb. The recipes are relatively (surprisingly) easy to follow -- however, it would be nice to have a pacojet (though you can always make due without one: I do).

I would highly recommend this book if you're looking for culinary inspiration regarding dessert. Some of the dishes will force you to think outside of the box and take a new approach to sweets.

I'm 4-starring to prevent review-inflation. If you're tempted to buy this book, you won't be disappointed (however, it is definitely short, especially next to books like joy of cooking, NYT desserts, etc.)

I was so excited to purchase this book, that I preordered it on Amazon in November after seeing it in a catalog at my work. The pictures are amazing and ideas are wonderful. I gave this book the rating of only 3 stars because of the taste of the 5 recipies I have tried. I have only tried 5, but this is more than I usually would give a chance for other books. For instance, I was excited to have a graham sable and made the recipe. You have to use this straight from the freezer. I am a dough taster and the dough tastes amazing and exactly what I was looking for. When I baked it, I tasted the dough. It was chewy and tasted nothing like the raw product. I threw it out. Most notably, I tried the warm, crispy doughnuts. I actually had all the chemicals at work, so we played with it there. It worked and was weird like I expected, but tasted horrible. I was hoping for once that a chef published his restaurant recipes and they were as amazing tasting as the pictures, but no.

As a professional pastry chef from the same generation, i was looking to this book with a lot of curiosity.
Professional Pastry books are very expensive (sometimes over $200).
It seems that Iuzzini was a bit confused about what market should be addressed: He's a 3 Michelin Star Chef that pretend to bring high quality pastry to home kitchen. The recipes are difficult for "home cooking" (with too many "optional" ingredient ) and not enough details for the professional Pastry chef. The chocolate decoration is simply useless: it takes time and knowledge to master those skills and is all written in one page!
I will use this book for sure, as a Pastry chef is good to have always new influences, but i don't think my mom would ever understand most of those recipes! AND PLEASE USE THE METRIC MEASUREMENT PROPERLY NEXT TIME! is so confusing !! ( 93 gr. of chocolate..!!!)
I wish that next time, Chef Iuzzini, will write a book for Professionals and price it well and not push just to get a book with his name and picture on like most of the chef out there.

I love this book. I am a professional chef and I use this book all of the time. I have also learned a lot from the book.

I'm in the food service industry and I bought these book for a friend. Well after looking throught it myself, I ended up buying the book. It has to be the best book out there as of right now with the news trends. Well worth the money!!!