The Pastry Chef's Little Black Book: The Definitive Recipe Collection; For Chefs, By Chefs

Named for the little notebooks that professional cooks are constantly scribbling in and referencing throughout their careers, this book of 500 recipes is anything but little. Chefs Michael Zebrowski and Michael Mignano are working pastry chefs and professional educators. They’ve compiled this collection of basic, and not so basic, component recipes for use by professionals (and serious home creators).

When composing a new dish, a chef will typically combine components based on tried and true techniques, relying on flavor, temperature, and texture to convey their vision. A signature dessert may have a cake composed of a sponge, a mousse, and a gel on a plate with a warm sauce, a frozen component, and crisp garnish. All those elements are here.

The 500 recipes in the Pastry Chef’s Little Black Book are organized into chapters on doughs; fillings; types of cake; frostings & glazes; custards & creams; mousses; cookies; sauces; chocolates & confections; frozen desserts; breakfast, and breads. There are no composed plates or elaborate entremets—they leave that to you.

This book is designed to be USED. The print is large and clear (black on stark white paper).Recipes, or should we say formulas, rarely take more than a single page—perfect for reading across a work table. The grid format offers metric and US measurements that are easily scale-able with plenty of space for your own notes. Procedures and notes are brief, concise, and assume a high level of comfort with basic techniques. There are very few photos. Beside an insert of color photos of composed plates, there are a few black and white photos of certain recipes. The authors leave it all to your imagination, providing recipes as building blocks.

Chef Michael Zebrowski is currently a Pastry Chef Instructor at The Culinary Institute of America. Chef Michael Mignano is the Executive Pastry Chef of The Pierre, a Taj Hotel, in New York City. The two worked together early in their careers and have decades of experience in Michelin-starred restaurants, hotels, and as professional educators.

Hardcover. Color and b-&-w-photos.