Frozen Desserts Hardcover – August 25, 2008

This is the second book from the Culinary Institude of America that I have bought, the first being Chocolates and Confections by Grewelling. They are both luxury editions by Wiley.
The author Mr Francisco Migoya has studied in both France (which is always a good sign) and Mexico. He has produced an exceptional piece of work, a labor of love concerning all kinds of frozen desserts and their presentation.
The whole edition is characterised by class and quality, printed on gloss paper, with lots of photographs, most of them full page.
There are tables throughout with interesting and helpful information.
The measurements used are both Metric and Imperial weights. No cups and spoons here, they allow too much space for error.
I have to note that this is a book strictly for professionals, using equipment only available to them like Ice Cream machines, chillers, blast freezers, precision scales etc. The only way in which a home cook can benefit from the content is by being inspired from the decorations and try to impress their guests using home made or commercial Ice cream.
The book itself is divided into eight main chapters:
1) A brief history of frozen desserts.
2) Ingredients.
3) Equipment,Machines, and Tools.
4) Dairy based frozen desserts.
5) Non dairy frozen desserts.
6) Aerated still frozen desserts.
7) Finished items.
8) Base recipes.

In the introduction the author mentions that he has mainly worked on plated desserts throughout his career and the book reflects that, as most creations are plated and for the hotel or cafe industry, which is of course the main market for frozen desserts. There are several frozen entremets (whole gateaux) but they are the exeption, not the rule.

The first chapter gives a concise history of frozen desserts, and a history chapter is a feature of many serious books on the culinary sphere (eg The French Professional Pastry Series), descending directly from the French Culinary Tradition.

The chapter on ingredients describes all the ingredients used in frozen dessert production, giving thorough information especially for the main ingredients. The different kinds of sugars used are given ( eg trimoline, glucose) and their effects on the finished products are discussed. Also the many types of stabilisers and emulsifiers are discussed and combinations for Ice cream or sorbets are constructed.

The chapter on equipment and machines deals with all the machines necessary for ice cream production from scales to mixers to freezers and their sanitation. The Paco Machine is included, something I have not seen in any other book.

The Dairy-based Frozen Dessert section deals with the different aspects of Frozen Dairy production, like the type, (eg custard based Ice cream, Gelato etc)the method (both the Paco and the Machine-churning methods are discussed) and the overrun.

The Non Dairy Frozen Desserts chapter deals with Sorbets, Granitas etc displaying the different methods as well as base recipes.

The Aerated Still-Frozen desserts deal with Parfaits, Bombes, Semifreddo, Frozen Souffles and Mousses. These products are not churned, but are rather produced like normal mousses and then frozen.

The Finished Items chapter is by far the largest and it displays finished frozen preparations on the plate or otherwise. Recipes for bases are included eg Financier, Milk chocolate foam, basic Jelly, French Macaron, cold sweet soups and sauces, making this an almost all inclusive Pastry and Frozen dessert book. Creations range from normal to outright exotic and they include:
French macaron, cassis sorbet and almond ice cream sandwiches.
Burned milk gelato with mexican hot chocolate.
Popcorn sherbet with caramel popcorn and caramel sauce.
Matcha sorbet with toasted black sesame cigars.
Assorted citrus sorbet sandwiches.
Guava sorbet in chilled Hibiscus soup with crisp meringue sticks.
Some recipes combine savory and sweet ingredients, like Cucumber and Wasabi sorbet, Green zebra tomato sorbet, Rye bread Ice cream and Jalapeno sorbet.

The decorations are in the modern style, beautiful, somewhat minimal, usually simple but not simplistic and the excellent photos display every detail.

For the frozen dessert recipes you are referred to the base recipe section which includes methods and formulas for many creations including Banana ice cream, Mascarpone ice cream, Balsamic vinegar ice cream, Praline ice cream, Kumquat sorbet, Yuzu sorbet, Passion fruit sorbet, Buttermilk sherbet, Almond mint granite, Mimosa ice pops, Praline parfait,Espresso semifreddo, Peanut butter bombe, Frozen basil souffle.

After the main chapters follow appentices on several subjects like Average sugar, solids and acid content of fruit or Mathematical formulation of sorbets.
In the last pages there is a Glossary, Bibliography, Internet references, Resources section, a recipe index and a subject index.

The price for all this work is a giveaway. The normal price for this kind of professional books is at least triple.

C. Terzis' review is comprehensive, so I'll just add a couple more thoughts. First, you CAN make family-sized quantities of these recipes if you are willing to do the math and scale down some of the recipes. Otherwise, you do need professional equipment to hold the gallons of milk, cream, etc. called for to produce commercial-sized batches.

Second, there are quite a number of cake/cookie/mousse recipes included in the book, and for the most part, they produce reasonable amounts for a home cook. Most of the ingredients called for are not hard to find in major cities, but may be harder to find in smaller towns. For example, you can find PVC pipes at a hardware store, and acetate sheets at many office supply stores. The author does provide a small list of internet suppliers at the back of the book which may be of use in finding some items.

Finally, the paper quality, photos, and dessert platings in this book are outstanding. The instructions are detailed, although they could have used a bit more editing. For example, sometimes articles and modifiers are left out, so you're not sure what the instructions refer to, unless you read on a bit, and then you can figure it out. For example, if the book says "push into the PVC pipe," and doesn't clarify WHAT you are supposed to push into the pipe (since there are several components to the dessert), it's a bit of a puzzle. This is a minor point, but it does get annoying after a while. The glossary could use a bit of work, too, as it defines some, but not all of the more esoteric commercial ingredients called for in some of the recipes.

A wonderful book that is a great source of inspiration, especially if you are looking for one that provides instructions, recipes, and photos of complex desserts made up of multiple components. I agree that it's a bargain for the price!

This is a valuable book, largely because there's nothing else like it in the consumer space. To get the depth of information offered here, on constructing formulas and on stabilizer ingredients, your choices are basically this book, or food industry text books that cost hundreds of dollars and are written for engineers who work for ice cream manufacturers.

My rating isn't higher because the book is riddled with mistakes, and because some of the formulas just aren't very good. It's my understanding that Migoya has released an errata page online somewhere, so if you want to take the time you can go through and correct your copy. But the poor quality of the formulas has no real solution.

For example, i was excited to see, for the first time in a book written for pastry chefs, guides to creating your own stabilizer formulas. But the information is poor, and now that I understand the science, I know why it's poor. This strikes me as very strange, since Migoya is a world-class chef who by all measures knows his topic as well as anyone. I can't speculate here, but can only report my experience.

My suggestion, to anyone curious enough about ice cream to study and work things out, is to buy this book—but be prepared for some wrestling. Learn what you can. Don't automatically trust anything.

Love the book for inspiration and explanation about how all the components work together.

However, I'm a little baffled on the ice-cream recipes--the ratio of whole milk v heavy cream seems off (much more milk than cream).

I did try a basic batch with these ratios, and honestly wasn't that impressed w the texture. I have several other "well-known" ice cream books, and they all have a much higher cream v milk ratio.

So again, I do really like the theory/technique details covered in this book--as well as the variety. However, I don't think the basic formula is correct.