Customer Reviews

The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Chocolate: With Over 200 Recipes

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

 

 

I was not happy when I started reading this book. The key to this book is the word "encyclopedia", and the absence of the word "cookbook" in the title. As a glossy coffee table book, it is barely adequate; as a cookbook full of chocolate recipes, it is worthless. Much of the material in this book has been recycled from an equally reprehensible book "Chocolate Ecstasy".

The first part of this book is a rather standard (and forgettable) regurgitation about chocolate: history, processing, taste, commercial brands, and physiology. By and large, this is standard material cribbed mostly from other books. It only has value if you have not read other books about chocolate.

If you approach this book as a coffee table book full of glossy, beautiful pictures, it is not all that good. Many pictures (perhaps up to 1/3, but I did not really count) are of poor quality and have a rust-colored tinge to them (whether this is from the printing, badly lit photos, or whatever, I do not know).

The recipes are so short and inadequate as to be laughable. Many complex, difficult recipes are casually tossed off in half a dozen sentences. The recipe instructions seemed to have been carefully edited down to make sure that each recipe plus photos takes up exactly one page (heaven forbid should a recipe occupy 2 pages). The mistakes, errors, and editorial inconsistencies are so numerous as to be not worth listing here (for example, there is no such thing as a "33 x 13 x 9-inch jelly roll pan", or a "30 x 12 x 8 inch jelly roll pan"). The recipes clearly have not been through a test kitchen, and the author uses a bewildering array of non-standard baking pans (unless these, too, are typographical errors; with this book, it is hard to be sure).

If you are curious about how those elegant chocolate desserts are created, then this book will satisfy your curiosity. Every recipe starts with a picture (something I wish more cookbooks about chocolate would emulate), gives you the ingredients, and a rough description about the steps involved to make it.

If you want good recipes that you can do in your home kitchen, look elsewhere. The rating I give is as a coffee table book, not as a cookbook; as a cookbook, I would give a much lower rating. The kindest thing I can think of to say about this book is that it is a fairly interesting collection of recipes that will have you rifling through your other chocolate cookbooks, looking for a similar recipe.

This is an overpriced book of untested recipes that are shamelessly recycled/exchanged from many other books by writers France, and McFadden without even changing the same dreary photo or bad recipe. Such books by this duo include:
1. The cook's Encyclopedia of Chocolate
2. Chocolate Fantasies
3. Chocolate Ecstacy
4. Chocolate Cooking with the Worlds Best

This would not be such a bad thing, except the recipes in these author's books will rarely look as good as the pictures, and with the untested mishmash of ingredients, will not taste anywhere as good as they look.

The creations are made by professional food stylists, who sometimes add a bit more than is in the recipes...that's your first warning.

If you go so far as to bake or otherwise create these, you will have your 2nd and last warning...and then it's too late...

Keep looking on Amazon, and buy a book from someone who isn't out to make 20 books from the same 200 barely tested or completely untested recipes.

Be happy with your cooking, and try instead such goodies as:

Art of Chocolate by Gonzalez
Truffles, Candies, and Confections by Carole Bloom
Chocolate Obsession by Michael Recchiuti
Pure Chocolate: Divine Desserts by Fran Bigelow
Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate by Alice Medrich

Passion and sensuality are just two words to describe the exquisitive impressions felt reading this book, and appreciating the well-documented recipes. Tasting them is even a further extasis for the mouth. The photographs are mouth-watering, and adequately progressive. This book is definitely the best chocolate encyclopedia I've had the chance to devour in years...

This book contains a myriad of scrumptious recipes that work. It is also full of fascinating information on chocolate and its history. Moreover, it is delightful (and delicious) to just look at.

This book is, far and away, the best comprehensive chocolate reference. The depth of information on such esoterica as different bean varieties and different national confectioners is far greater than its competition and a testament to thorough research. Quibbles? The recipes, although good, and different (a definite plus) in general, seem to have a leaning for alcohol, especially in the more decadent desserts. Having *some* alcoholic dessert entries is fine, but geez, a dessert doesn't *have* to have alcohol in it to be sinful! Particularly with chocolate, where alcohol is indeed a tricky mix and most desserts do better without it. Of more serious concern is the ubiquity of self-rising flour. This makes it very hard to tune the recipe, especially, if, like me, you consider using self-rising flour a travesty to "real" baking. However, these are minor picks and overall the book is a must-buy.

Christine McFadden and Christine France have presented a stunning book that is both encyclopedia and cookbook. "The History of Chocolate," "Cultivation and Processing," and "Taste, Quality and Presentation" are all lushly illustrated. "A World of Chocolate" takes us around the globe with a historical tour of the major chocolate producers. After we've returned to the U.S., we're treated to a discussion of the physiology and psychology of chocolate. (If you haven't already gone and gotten a piece to munch on as you read through this, your will is a lot stronger than mine!)

Or you can just skip to the recipes! Each is accompanied by a full-color photograph of the finished treat. Categories range from "chilled chocolate desserts" to "hot cakes," from "novelty cakes" to "tarts, pies, and cheesecakes." My favorite recipes for brownies are in this book under "little cakes, slices and bars." There are even a few vegan recipes! If you are a chocoholic or know someone who is, you need this book even more than you need a bar of 75% Swiss dark!

You can find this and other cookbook reviews at www.theculturedcook.com.