You’d like to be a pastry chef — or cook like one. But you can’t afford to pick up, move to New York City and attend cooking school for two or three of years. What do you do?
In 2014 your solution was published: Sugar Rush by Johnny Iuzzini. Johnny is just the person you would seek as a pastry mentor. He is the winner of the James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Cher, was the executive pastry chef for the fabled Jean-George Restaurant in New York, and has served as the head judge of Top Chef: Just Desserts. You cannot find a more qualified guide.
But this is a book and not a classroom, so how can it help your aspirations? Well, in her introduction Dorie Greenspan notes this is the book she wishes she had possessed 40 years ago when she began her career. This kind of book simply did not exist then, or even until recently.
Carefully written with great detail — and extensively illustrated with step-by-step photos — this book contains the master recipes that form the foundation for a pastry chef. Chapters are devoted to:
- Custards and Creamy Desserts
- Eggs and Meringue
- Caramel
- Cakes, Cupcakes, Brownies and Muffins
- Cookies, Tea Cakes, and Biscuits
- Tarts, Cobbler and Crisps
- Yeast Doughs
- Glazes, Frostings, Fillings and Desserts
Now, there aren’t just basic elements here, not just the building blocks. The recipes are full-fledged desserts [frosting excepted unless you just eat frosting] so you prepare a finished product, ready to sample, devour and relish. In the process, there are details that tell you the very important “why” of a particular recipe for technique.
For example, in the meringue chapter, French, Swiss and Italian meringues are discussed and prepared. You know the difference? You’ve made all three? No, I have to think about each one too, but now I understand where and when and why to employ each one. What can you achieve with meringue? How about this Flourless Chocolate Meringue Cake:
Other recipes you’ll discover in Sugar Rush include:
Banana Pastry Cream
Apricot Custard Tart
Chocolate Soufflés with Raspberries
Espresso Marshmallows
Spiced Apple, Mango, and Banana Tarte Tatin
Pineapple Cornmeal Upside Down Cake
Butternut Maple Brownies
Ginger Curry Sugar Cookies
Rustic Fig and Spiced Almond Cream Tart
Gooey Chocolate-Caramel Tart
Cream Cheese Tahini Frosting
These recipe titles will strike you as something you might experience at a very ritzy restaurant, one like Jean-Georges. Oh, that’s right, Johnny did work there. For ten years. And now that class and style is available to you in the pages of Sugar Rush. It’s school time.
That meringue cake pictured above? Look for the recipe in tomorrow's post!