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Books : Gordon Ramsay's Just Desserts
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Rating: 
- Will Make You Fat, But You Won't Care
Just Desserts, is written by the accomplished and talented three Michelin star chef Gordon Ramsey. As the name suggests, it's a cook book filled with recipes for the best part of a meal - - desserts.
It is the first book written by Gordon Ramsay I've ever purchased, and if his other books are as impressive as this one, then I guess I'll be buying the whole lot. While it's not the single best cook book I've ever seen, it is definitely the best dessert book and puts all others to shame. Gordon Ramsay is very passionate about food in general, and while I don't really picture him being big on desserts, I found almost all his desserts to be... mouth-watering to say the least, even the desserts I don't like, sound and look great. I can't imagine that photographing food especially desserts is an easy thing to do, but in this case the photographer has really done it justice. I've tried most of the recipes in the book and found them to be generally easy to produce providing you have some prior knowledge of cooking. There are some basic recipes included which came as a bit of a surprise but I guess these are necessary.
Just Desserts will make you fat (or fatter) - but you won't care as your taste buds will be in haven, so click that Add To Shopping Basket now as you won't regret it.
Rating:
- Disappointing. These are not Michelin Star Desserts!
Gordon Ramsay is a great chef and there is no doubt that his Chelsea restaurant is worthy of its 3 Michelin stars. It is a shame therefore that this status is not reflected by his book 'Just Desserts' which I have recently purchased.
The book is 211 pages long.
Pages 6 to 119 comprise 1)roasted fruits, 2)fruit salads 3) jellies 4) ice creams 5) parfaits 6) sorbets 7) mouses 8) souffles 9) crepes.
These are all very basic recipes and in any event repeated multiple times with just different flavours presumeably to pad out the book.
Pages 168 to 189 are how to make biscuits and petit forts.
Pages 190 to 211 are entitled 'basics' (ie how to make meringues , pastry etc).
What most people would think of as proper dessert recipes are only from pages 120 to 168.
That is only 49 pages of a 211 page book.
It gets worse however because pages 120 to 145 are entitled 'homely deserts' e.g. rice pudding, rhubarb crumble, creme brulee. These are all easily available from any standard cook book.
Only pages 146 to 167 contain desserts for 'special occasions'.
So do these mere 22 pages contain the holy grail Michelin 3 star desserts? As you've probably guessed the answer is no.
These recipes are also disappointingly dull eg chocolate tart (2 pages) and then a recipe for Dark chocolatte torte (another page). Strawberry tart (another page). Meringue nests with berries (2 pages). Profiteroles (2 pages). Pumpkin cheescake (2 pages).
There is perhaps 1 recipe 'sabayon topped fruit gatin, pannacotta and a hot raspberry souffle' which is Michelin standard but that is it.
One useful recipe out of 211 pages.
As a basic recipe book there are much more comprehensive books out there (eg Delia Smiths Complete Cookery Course).
As a Michelin star recipe book it simply does not deliver.
I do not think it unreasonable that when you buy a book from a Michelin star chef that there is a level of expectation that the contents of that book will reflect this level of cooking.
Clearly this is not an expectation shared by Ramsay.
If you want to cook Michelin star food try 'Essence' from the 2 star Le Champignon-Sauvage in Cheltenham or 'The French Laundry Cookbook' from the world famous Napa Valley restaurant. The recipes in these books though complicated are stunning and definitely Michelin Star standard. Interestingly Ramsay writes the forward for 'Essence' and comments that ' the keen amateur cook and dedicated professional at last have a chance to recreate part of the Le Champignon Sauvage experience'. Something that could certainly not be said about this book.
Note: As of Oct 6th 2007 Gordon Ramsey has released recipes of a 3 star chef which is a truely superb book.
Rating: - No other dessert book comes close
I work as a pastry chef and own dessert books by authors such as Rose Levy Beranbaum, Maida Heatter, Marcel Desaulniers, etc. But none come close to this book. Maybe it is unfair to compare "baking" books to this cookbook, which could only be classified as a "dessert" book, but other "dessert" books (ie Michel Roux's Finest Desserts, Jacques Torres' Dessert Circus) still fall short of this book.
Gordon is clearly in a league of his own, his flavour combinations are original, creative, and ahead of their time, whilst still retaining a simplicity that allows any intermediate cook to approch them. I say this from experience, because I have owned this book well before I started my pastry apprenticeship.
To give you an understanding of why I admire this book so much, I will compare two fairly standard recipes from two different authors. Rose Levy Beranbaum's "Pie and Pastry Bible" contains a fairly comprehensive recipe for an apple pie. Those who are familiar with Beranbaum's books will no doubt be aware of the extensive research and time she would have spent in search of the "perfect" apple pie recipe. Her recipe is quite complex, although still straightforward, for an apple pie. The chunks of apple are basically "macerated" in sugar, lemon and spice for several hours, so that excess liquid (which may result in shrinkage during baking) is released from the fruit. This juice is then reduced to intensify flavour, then combined with the apple chunks, which are coated lightly with cornstarch. This mixture is placed in the pie shell as per any standard apple pie recipe, then topped with pastry and baked.
Rose's recipe is quite technical, almost overly technical, and while the result is very good, I believe that Gordon's approach is far more effective. Gordon's book contains a "Deep Dish Autumn Fruit Pie" which is essentially the same thing as an apple pie, except he used pears and plums as well as apples. The method Gordon employs to maximise the flavour of the fruit is faster and more intense; a knob of butter is heated in a large frying pan until stinking hot, then the chunks of fruit are tossed into the pan. A combination of sugar and chinese five-spice is sprinkled directly over the roasting fruit to encourage caramelisation and depth of flavour. Once a rich colour is achieved the fruit is sprinkled with liqueur and left to cool, then placed in a pie shell, topped and baked. Even if the recipe was made using only apples, the resulting pie would still be fantastic. Gordon's cooking is straightforward yet exciting, with maximum flavour being the top priority. While I respect the effort and love Rose Levy Beranbaum has invested into perfecting her recipes, Gordon's passion and intensity is far more inspiring to me than Rose's precise measurements and lengthy preparation times.
This is just one example - I could write pages on why I believe this book is best, but I hope this review has given some insight into my strong feelings regarding this book. In short, it isn't so much the recipes that set it apart from other dessert/baking books, but Gordon's enthusiastic, passionate approach to even the most simple of desserts, such as baked apples, right through to elaborate preparations such as "Orange Pannacotta, Honey Roasted Figs, Fresh Orange Sections, Orange Zest Confit" to the fun, colourful desserts such as "Caramelised Banana Bavarian" or "Roasted Baby Pineapples". The wait for a better dessert book will indeed by very, very long.
Rating: - Fantastic
I purchased this book only because of the two book deals on Amazon, but to my surprise it was filled with yummy desserts, I have only made one of them so far, but if this one was anything to go by, I can not wait to try more, my husband was in heaven when he tried it. Well done Gordon for a great book.
Rating:
- Fantastic book to delight your taste buds
This book is devine. The receipes are delicious and will impress anyone. I found the receipes to be spot on, the quanties were exactly right and there was no need to mess with them and they worked exactly how he said they would. He puts some unusual ingredients in which work excellently. Some ingredients arn't that straight forward, but it is well worth making the effort. This is a book for people who love to cook however and not for people who want easy quick puds. Fab book highly recommended.
- Will Make You Fat, But You Won't CareJust Desserts, is written by the accomplished and talented three Michelin star chef Gordon Ramsey. As the name suggests, it's a cook book filled with recipes for the best part of a meal - - desserts.
It is the first book written by Gordon Ramsay I've ever purchased, and if his other books are as impressive as this one, then I guess I'll be buying the whole lot. While it's not the single best cook book I've ever seen, it is definitely the best dessert book and puts all others to shame. Gordon Ramsay is very passionate about food in general, and while I don't really picture him being big on desserts, I found almost all his desserts to be... mouth-watering to say the least, even the desserts I don't like, sound and look great. I can't imagine that photographing food especially desserts is an easy thing to do, but in this case the photographer has really done it justice. I've tried most of the recipes in the book and found them to be generally easy to produce providing you have some prior knowledge of cooking. There are some basic recipes included which came as a bit of a surprise but I guess these are necessary.
Just Desserts will make you fat (or fatter) - but you won't care as your taste buds will be in haven, so click that Add To Shopping Basket now as you won't regret it.
Rating:
- Disappointing. These are not Michelin Star Desserts!Gordon Ramsay is a great chef and there is no doubt that his Chelsea restaurant is worthy of its 3 Michelin stars. It is a shame therefore that this status is not reflected by his book 'Just Desserts' which I have recently purchased.
The book is 211 pages long.
Pages 6 to 119 comprise 1)roasted fruits, 2)fruit salads 3) jellies 4) ice creams 5) parfaits 6) sorbets 7) mouses 8) souffles 9) crepes.
These are all very basic recipes and in any event repeated multiple times with just different flavours presumeably to pad out the book.
Pages 168 to 189 are how to make biscuits and petit forts.
Pages 190 to 211 are entitled 'basics' (ie how to make meringues , pastry etc).
What most people would think of as proper dessert recipes are only from pages 120 to 168.
That is only 49 pages of a 211 page book.
It gets worse however because pages 120 to 145 are entitled 'homely deserts' e.g. rice pudding, rhubarb crumble, creme brulee. These are all easily available from any standard cook book.
Only pages 146 to 167 contain desserts for 'special occasions'.
So do these mere 22 pages contain the holy grail Michelin 3 star desserts? As you've probably guessed the answer is no.
These recipes are also disappointingly dull eg chocolate tart (2 pages) and then a recipe for Dark chocolatte torte (another page). Strawberry tart (another page). Meringue nests with berries (2 pages). Profiteroles (2 pages). Pumpkin cheescake (2 pages).
There is perhaps 1 recipe 'sabayon topped fruit gatin, pannacotta and a hot raspberry souffle' which is Michelin standard but that is it.
One useful recipe out of 211 pages.
As a basic recipe book there are much more comprehensive books out there (eg Delia Smiths Complete Cookery Course).
As a Michelin star recipe book it simply does not deliver.
I do not think it unreasonable that when you buy a book from a Michelin star chef that there is a level of expectation that the contents of that book will reflect this level of cooking.
Clearly this is not an expectation shared by Ramsay.
If you want to cook Michelin star food try 'Essence' from the 2 star Le Champignon-Sauvage in Cheltenham or 'The French Laundry Cookbook' from the world famous Napa Valley restaurant. The recipes in these books though complicated are stunning and definitely Michelin Star standard. Interestingly Ramsay writes the forward for 'Essence' and comments that ' the keen amateur cook and dedicated professional at last have a chance to recreate part of the Le Champignon Sauvage experience'. Something that could certainly not be said about this book.
Note: As of Oct 6th 2007 Gordon Ramsey has released recipes of a 3 star chef which is a truely superb book.
Rating:
- No other dessert book comes closeI work as a pastry chef and own dessert books by authors such as Rose Levy Beranbaum, Maida Heatter, Marcel Desaulniers, etc. But none come close to this book. Maybe it is unfair to compare "baking" books to this cookbook, which could only be classified as a "dessert" book, but other "dessert" books (ie Michel Roux's Finest Desserts, Jacques Torres' Dessert Circus) still fall short of this book.
Gordon is clearly in a league of his own, his flavour combinations are original, creative, and ahead of their time, whilst still retaining a simplicity that allows any intermediate cook to approch them. I say this from experience, because I have owned this book well before I started my pastry apprenticeship.
To give you an understanding of why I admire this book so much, I will compare two fairly standard recipes from two different authors. Rose Levy Beranbaum's "Pie and Pastry Bible" contains a fairly comprehensive recipe for an apple pie. Those who are familiar with Beranbaum's books will no doubt be aware of the extensive research and time she would have spent in search of the "perfect" apple pie recipe. Her recipe is quite complex, although still straightforward, for an apple pie. The chunks of apple are basically "macerated" in sugar, lemon and spice for several hours, so that excess liquid (which may result in shrinkage during baking) is released from the fruit. This juice is then reduced to intensify flavour, then combined with the apple chunks, which are coated lightly with cornstarch. This mixture is placed in the pie shell as per any standard apple pie recipe, then topped with pastry and baked.
Rose's recipe is quite technical, almost overly technical, and while the result is very good, I believe that Gordon's approach is far more effective. Gordon's book contains a "Deep Dish Autumn Fruit Pie" which is essentially the same thing as an apple pie, except he used pears and plums as well as apples. The method Gordon employs to maximise the flavour of the fruit is faster and more intense; a knob of butter is heated in a large frying pan until stinking hot, then the chunks of fruit are tossed into the pan. A combination of sugar and chinese five-spice is sprinkled directly over the roasting fruit to encourage caramelisation and depth of flavour. Once a rich colour is achieved the fruit is sprinkled with liqueur and left to cool, then placed in a pie shell, topped and baked. Even if the recipe was made using only apples, the resulting pie would still be fantastic. Gordon's cooking is straightforward yet exciting, with maximum flavour being the top priority. While I respect the effort and love Rose Levy Beranbaum has invested into perfecting her recipes, Gordon's passion and intensity is far more inspiring to me than Rose's precise measurements and lengthy preparation times.
This is just one example - I could write pages on why I believe this book is best, but I hope this review has given some insight into my strong feelings regarding this book. In short, it isn't so much the recipes that set it apart from other dessert/baking books, but Gordon's enthusiastic, passionate approach to even the most simple of desserts, such as baked apples, right through to elaborate preparations such as "Orange Pannacotta, Honey Roasted Figs, Fresh Orange Sections, Orange Zest Confit" to the fun, colourful desserts such as "Caramelised Banana Bavarian" or "Roasted Baby Pineapples". The wait for a better dessert book will indeed by very, very long.
Rating:
- FantasticI purchased this book only because of the two book deals on Amazon, but to my surprise it was filled with yummy desserts, I have only made one of them so far, but if this one was anything to go by, I can not wait to try more, my husband was in heaven when he tried it. Well done Gordon for a great book.
Rating:
- Fantastic book to delight your taste budsThis book is devine. The receipes are delicious and will impress anyone. I found the receipes to be spot on, the quanties were exactly right and there was no need to mess with them and they worked exactly how he said they would. He puts some unusual ingredients in which work excellently. Some ingredients arn't that straight forward, but it is well worth making the effort. This is a book for people who love to cook however and not for people who want easy quick puds. Fab book highly recommended.
