OP: Alain Ducasse's Grand Livre de Cuisine: Desserts and Pastries

Alain Ducasse (1956– ) is a name that hardly needs introduction to the Kitchen Arts readership. With dozens of restaurants around the world, a combined total of 21 Michelin stars among them, several of his own cookbooks, and even more published under his imprint, Ducasse Editions, this French-born chef is indeed a brand.

Of the vast number of publications that bear the chef’s name, Ducasse may be best known for an early 2000s series of silver-jacketed, massive tomes titled Grand Livre de Cuisine. The first volume, published in 2001, encompassed fine, contemporary French cooking. The subsequent volumes each had a particular emphasis outside that scope. The second was a logical sequel with a focus on sweets and was originally published in French in 2002. An English translation followed in 2006; it is that English first printing that we offer here. 

Penned by pastry chef Frédéric Robert (1960– ), the Grand Livre de Cuisine: Desserts and Pastries, at nearly 600 pages, is a sprawling manual for pastry professionals. While certainly up-to-date, the recipes remain distinctively French, and their antecedents in the work of Ducasse’s mentors like Gaston Lenôtre, Michel Guérard, and Roger Vergé are evident, particularly through the emphasis on fresh produce and quality ingredients.