Product Description

For the first time, the chefs and instructors of the world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu cooking schools have written a cookbook that will teach anyone, from novices with a sweet tooth to expert bakers, how to prepare beautiful and delicious desserts at home. Hundreds of techniques are explained in step-by-step detail, with more than one thousand color photographs illustrating the experts methods for success.

Even if you've never made a sugar syrup or rolled out a piecrust before, this is the book for you. The simplest of techniques, typically left out of most cookbooks, are covered in the greatest detail. When you've mastered the basics, Le Cordon Bleu Dessert Techniques will challenge you to make increasingly difficult recipes on your way to preparing dazzling desserts. For example, upon mastering the basics of grating, chopping, melting, tempering and piping choclate, you'll want to try your hand at creating choclate ribbons and culs, marbleized chocolate slabs, and lacy chocolate cups for truly spectacular presentation. Once you've reviewed the techniquws for baking perfect cake layers, you'll be reday to creat a Chocolate Chestnut Roulade or the classic and decadent Sachertorte.

After learning from the experts, you'll be piping meringue, whipping up chocolate mousse, and preparing Pots de Creme with ease before you know it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #113576 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Ingram
Le Cordon Bleu's master chefs from around the world present hundreds of dessert techniques, illustrated with more than 1,000 full-color photos.

Customer Reviews

Do Not Buy
The book is filled with great pictures, but the techniques are poorly described, and sometimes are not described at all. I've tried several recipes and all of them have been missing steps that the book assumes you already know. My sponge cake for example could have been used for a spare tire, not sure what happened there! I've used some of the ideas in the book, but have gone to other cookbooks for the actual recipes! This book was not worth the money.

revised rating and additional comments
I knew the photos in this book looked familiar - they're from the DK Press cookbooks (especially Ultimate Cakes).

The Cordon Bleu editors spliced in photos and sections of the DK Press technique explanations. That's why the recipe instructions are disjointed and some techniques are never explained - the section in the DK cookbook(s) they're taken from has not been included in the Cordon Bleu book. It's a cheaper production method, but it's unfair to an unsuspecting buyer. I'm very disappointed with the Cordon Bleu.

If you really want to learn about desserts, pastries and cakes, buy one of the DK Press books - to make sure you get ALL the pictures - and refer to Rose Levy Beranbaum, Nick Malgieri, Maida Heatter, Julia Child, et al for instructions.

Finally...a great book with great recipes!
I am ecstatic to have discovered this book, and I still can't put it down. To be exact, there is a strong urge to write to Le Cordon Bleu to thank you for sharing their secrets with the public!

I learned some of their techniques before I bought it, but this book guides you from the tradition to the nouvelle style. The instructions are easy to follow, clear, beautiful photos, and resonable challenges on simpler version. From the basics, to the advanced, you would want to learn the basics by heart. It is a good collection of French dessert.

This is absoultely one of the best cookbook I own, and I am going to order every other Le Cordon Bleu books. For this great prize, the amount of info (the 2nd half is a great reference section), this sure subsitute (or delay) my desire to take a cooking course from the back of Sauveur.

Cookbooks should be non-imtimadating, informative, imaginative, and able to seduce the reader to experiment on their own, with fun.