Fine Chocolates: Great Experience [Hardcover]

Jean-Pierre Wybauw (Author), Tony Le Duc (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 2007

Jean-Pierre Wybauw has been an advisor and instructor with Barry-Callebaut for thirty-two years. He constantly travels around the globe teaching professionals the tricks of the trade and gives lectures at famous trade schools. In this fascinating book, Wybauw lets the reader in on those tricks of the trade, delivering a comprehensive and practical guide to the art of chocolate making. With sumptuous photography Tony de Luc, this is a book for any chocophile!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 230 pages
• Publisher: Lannoo Publishers (Acc) (April 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 902095914X
• ISBN-13: 978-9020959147
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #594,832 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For advanced users only, March 19, 2006

By 

Eric J. Wu (cambridge, ma USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fine Chocolates: Great Experience (Hardcover)

Content: Chocolate processing, rheology, shelf life, sugar processing, starting out, praline recipes, fat-based recipes, ganaches, caramels, Nougat, fruit-in-liquer, marzipan, truffles, fruit dough.

This is an advanced book meant for advanced hobbyists or professionals. For example, there are no sections on how to pipe chocolate or how to melting chocolate - this book assumes you have that knowledge. Even more advanced knowledge such as how to use molds, using the guitar, or the enrobing machine is assumed.

My favorite section is the sections on chocolate tempering (precrystallization as this book calls it) and troubleshooting chocolate coatings. It goes through all the things that can go wrong - patches of dull chocolate, difficulty in unmolding, air bubbles, cavities, streaks - and goes through how to correct these problems and why they happen.


I also enjoyed the section on shelf lives and factors which can change them - such as the effects of chocolate:cream ratio, sorbitol, water, corn syrup, alcohol, and so on. This section was is something I have not seen with this level of detail in other chocolate books. All recipes come with an Aw rating, which measures the humidity of the center and its perishibility.

The second half of the book (in terms of pages) is recipes. The photography here is beautiful. The recipes are for professional and industrial use only, with a heavy bent towards preservation of centers. Ingredients such as sorbitol and invert sugar are used. If you are not professional, you may not use the recipes directly, because you may use simpler ganache recipes. But you still may get ideas from them.

The English translation has some "character" as well. If you are used to buying these translated French pastry books (Patiserrie of Pierre Herme, Au Coeur des Saveurs, and so on) it is about the same. Otherwise it takes some getting used to.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MASTER BOOK BY A MASTER CHOCOLATIER, October 18, 2007

By 

C. Terzis "cterzis" (Nicosia Cyprus) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fine Chocolates: Great Experience (Hardcover)

This book is the third addition to my chocolate library in the last few months. The other two are 'Chocolates and Confections' by Grewelling and 'Making Artisan Chocolates' by Shotts. All three are top quality books.
This one by Wybauw is an excellent book covering a variety of methods, procedures and products. It is a professional book as can be seen by the high price. If you are not very experienced with chocolate, but are adept in the kitchen, don't blow your money. Try your hand first, using the book by Shotts, which is very good and very cheap (see my review).
Wybauw does not only deal with chocolaterie in this fine tome, but with many aspects of candymaking, including fruit pastes, marzipan, caramels, nougat, candied peel etc. All types of chocolates are exhibited, including, molded, ganaches and enrobed. There are many recipes for different kinds of ganaches and fillings. The methods are clearly depicted in color photographs and products are alloted a full page photo each. Tempering techniques are explained in detail and there are troubleshooting sections and information charts everywhere.
Special attention is given to the preservation of centers. The author uses sorbitol, a derivative of glucose, that is used in several foodstuffs as a humitifier and preservative, and even in toothpaste!(it is the ingredient that gives you that cold refreshing sensation when you brush your teeth). Research is still being done as to the safety for the human health if it is consumed in great quantities.
The translation is not as bad as some other reviewers have depicted it. I still haven't found a sentence or instruction that I have not understood.
Weights are in Metric as is the case with all self-respecting professional books. Chocolaterie and candymaking need precise measuring, and cups and spoons will just not do. Too much space for error.
Now, a question that I have asked myself and I am sure that many others have asked themselves also: Considering the price of these books and having the choice of buying only one, which would it be? A difficult choice indeed but between Wybauw's and Grewelling's book I would choose 'Chocolate and Confections' by Greweling; more pages, more products, cheaper price, and you can use the difference between the two to buy 'Making Artisan Chocolates' by Shotts if you choose to. If you can affort it though, don't miss out on this book.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent content, impossible translation, May 10, 2007

By 

Sofia Gaviria "sofiagaviria" (Bogota, Colombia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Fine Chocolates: Great Experience (Hardcover)

It is never a good thing to have to read a book that has been translated, but cookbooks that have been translated into the English language are usually quite acceptable. It is a shame that the translation of this book was not revised by a native English speaker. Some of the instructions are true riddles. And the terminology is more than a little odd. This fine edition would justify hiring a qualified translator.