Rating: 
Summary: The art of translating recipes for the American home kitchen
Review: I am sorry that "a reader from Weehawken" is distressed that "Desserts by Pierre Herme" does not include measurements in weight, but his concern gives me the opportunity to present one of the most fascinating responsibilities a serious cookbook author has when working with a professional chef's recipes - translating and adapting the recipes for an American home kitchen. And, indeed, although professionals have shown a tremendous interest in this book, "Desserts" was written with the American home baker in mind. Thus, it was an editorial decision to present all the measurements in the standard way, which in America means by volume, using cups and tablespoons. Pierre Herme's recipes were given to me in French, tested in France with French ingredients, which were measured in grams and liters. To make them suitable for the American kitchen took intensive testing of each recipe, an interesting process since many of the ingredients Pierre uses in France are not manufactured in the same way in America. For example, French butter typically has less water than American butter does; all-purpose flour has less gluten; and a French chef's supply of confectioner's sugar never contains cornstarch, as ours does. Knowing these differences, I began the collaboration with Pierre by reviewing all of the recipes with him, discussing the flavor combinations, the construction and the techniques. We then tasted all of the recipes in Paris. Naturally, Pierre's recipes were in weights. I then went back to the United States and set about recreating these recipes for the American home baker. The first step was to weigh out - in grams (I own four different scales) - all of the American ingredients. Each of these carefully weighed ingredients was then converted to volume measurement by actually transferring the ingredient itself to a cup or tablespoon or combination that most accurately reflected the original weight. The dessert was then constructed. If the recipe came out as it was in France, the volume measurements stayed as they were - this means that sometimes there are awkward measurements, such as 2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon. But often the recipes had to be modified in some small way to account for American ingredients. When this occurred, the changes were made to the volume measurements, since this was the way the book was to be printed. The recipes were then given to two testers for them to make in their own kitchens. Then, we took the most important step: The finished desserts were given to Pierre Herme for him to taste. He tasted the desserts, made in my kitchen, using the final volume measurements in the book, and approved the results. Pierre is too serious about his work to allow someone to be frivolous with his recipes. I can appreciate that somebody who is accustomed to using the metric system of weights enjoys the logic and ease of that system, but volume is the American way. In The Chef column in The New York Times that I am currently collaborating on with celebrated New York pastry chef, Francois Payard, I used that same method I used with Pierre Herme, and The Times testers had no problems with the recipes. And, when I wrote "Baking with Julia", I "translated" the recipes of the 26 bread bakers and pastry chefs whose work appears in the book: Not one of them - nor Julia Child - found fault with the conversions nor questioned the logic. The system works.
Rating: 
Summary: Dazzle your friends
Review: I suppose that the only true test of a cookbook is whether or not the recipes work -- and whether or not you want to make them again. On both points this book succeeds brilliantly. Herme and Greenspan have somehow managed to make this master dessert maker's recipes accessible and -- more importantly -- workable for the home baker. The lemon tart in particular is a gem. If you're not afraid of recipes that sometimes call for a lot of steps, and you want to dazzle your friends or family with something extra-special, by all means get this book. The recipes are both fantastic and fool-proof -- and when was the last time you could say that about a dessert book?
Rating:
Summary: A sucessful rendering of a great artist's work.
Review: I was surprised to see a reader's diasppointment with a book I love. Desserts by Pierre Herme is an accurate and faithful rendering of the work of France's most celebreated pastry chef by an author well accustomed to translating the work of professionals into consumer terms. And despite the reader's disappointment with the lack of weights provided for the ingredients, the recipes work well -- I know, since I have tried many of them. About measuring: There are accurate and inaccurate methods of measuring, both by weight and volume. The right way to measure by volume is to gently spoon dry ingredients into a dry measure cup ans level off with the back of a knife or spatula. The right way to measure by weight is to use an accurate scale. Many scales made for home use are not particularly sensetive and will yeild no better results than by volume measure. To say nothing of the fact that every day, millions of people follow volume-measure recipes with good results -- what's the problem? Some authors do include weights for ingredients -- I did so in my first book, Perfect Pastry -- I no longer do, because I don't consider it important. Neither does Maida Heatter -- is there a more successful and accuracy-based author than Maida? I don't think so. Nick Malgieri
Rating:
Summary: Here's a baking book you can USE
Review: I've been a professional food writer for 15 years, beginning as collaborator on Desserts by Nancy Silverton, written while Nancy was dessert chef at Spago. I'm a competent home baker, and I have little patience for recipes that are overly complex or don't work. What pleasantly surprised me about Pierre Herme's book is how many truly simple, do-able recipes are included, and how well-written they were. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise: Julia Child, the queen of the do-able recipe (whether simple or complex) chose writer Dorie Greenspan to work with her on Baking with Julia. Also the design and photography are stunning.
Rating:
Summary: Dazzle your friends
Review: Like many books by famous restaurant chefs, this isn't a terribly practical cookbook for the home cook. Especially on dessert menus, many restaurants emphasize presentation as much as the quality of the food. Elaborate architectural wonders comprised of many different parts - pastry, pastry cream, cookies, fresh fruit and multiple sauces all in the same dessert - are the norm. This book is a good example of that. The pictures are beautiful and inspiring to look at, but these aren't recipes that most home cooks would want to conquer. When we cook at home we want something lush and creamy and chocolatey that satisfies our craving for comfort food. We're usually not concerned with creating a stunning visual presentation. Furthermore, this book suffers from another common problem with chef cookbooks: the recipes were originally designed to make large quantities for restaurants and the conversion to a home-sized portion is sloppy. Too frequently you'll find that the recipes call for too much butter or not enough salt. If you have a chance, take a look at the pictures in this book, but don't bother adding it to your collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for browsing, not for cooking.
Review: Like many books by famous restaurant chefs, this isn't a terribly practical cookbook for the home cook. Especially on dessert menus, many restaurants emphasize presentation as much as the quality of the food. Elaborate architectural wonders comprised of many different parts - pastry, pastry cream, cookies, fresh fruit and multiple sauces all in the same dessert - are the norm. This book is a good example of that. The pictures are beautiful and inspiring to look at, but these aren't recipes that most home cooks would want to conquer. When we cook at home we want something lush and creamy and chocolatey that satisfies our craving for comfort food. We're usually not concerned with creating a stunning visual presentation. Furthermore, this book suffers from another common problem with chef cookbooks: the recipes were originally designed to make large quantities for restaurants and the conversion to a home-sized portion is sloppy. Too frequently you'll find that the recipes call for too much butter or not enough salt. If you have a chance, take a look at the pictures in this book, but don't bother adding it to your collection.
Rating:
Summary: Seemingly Difficult Recipes in Reality Easy and Delicious
Review: Master pastry chef Pierre Herme has created a delightful book filled with more than enough taste treats to satisfy even the most sated dessert gourmand. On first glance, each recipe appears difficult to construct; each contains a multiple amount of steps most of which require parchment paper and pastry bag utilization--not the standards of most amateur bakers. Not worth the fuss? Au contraire! Pierre's ultimate products are fabulous--the tastes and textures meld together to form not only a tasty finish to any meal, but create perfect confections that are also a feast for the eyes.
The book is divided into 4 main sections: Pierre's basic recipes, Fruits, Creams and Cookies, Tarts and Tartlets and Cakes. A Dictionary of Terms, Techniques, Equipment and Ingredients as well as a Source Guide round out the book. I guarantee that the hands-on experience of creating at least one of these dessert extravaganzas will act as your own personal primer to pastry-making, igniting your passion for the French patisserie and insuring that you purchase all other books by M. Herme. My own interest in the book was cultivated by seeing M. Herme in action on Martha Stewart's kitchen where he piped the beautiful and delicious pear and fig tartlet with such an easy perfection I was astounded. Bought the book the next day and was not sorry!
Rating:
Summary: Seemingly Difficult Recipes in Reality Easy and Delicious
Review: Master pastry chef Pierre Herme has created a delightful book filled with more than enough taste treats to satisfy even the most sated dessert gourmand. On first glance, each recipe appears difficult to construct; each contains a multiple amount of steps most of which require parchment paper and pastry bag utilization--not the standards of most amateur bakers. Not worth the fuss? Au contraire! Pierre's ultimate products are fabulous--the tastes and textures meld together to form not only a tasty finish to any meal, but create perfect confections that are also a feast for the eyes.
The book is divided into 4 main sections: Pierre's basic recipes, Fruits, Creams and Cookies, Tarts and Tartlets and Cakes. A Dictionary of Terms, Techniques, Equipment and Ingredients as well as a Source Guide round out the book. I guarantee that the hands-on experience of creating at least one of these dessert extravaganzas will act as your own personal primer to pastry-making, igniting your passion for the French patisserie and insuring that you purchase all other books by M. Herme. My own interest in the book was cultivated by seeing M. Herme in action on Martha Stewart's kitchen where he piped the beautiful and delicious pear and fig tartlet with such an easy perfection I was astounded. Bought the book the next day and was not sorry!
Rating:
Summary: somewhat disappointing
Review: One absolutely fabulous recipe here, which is the coconut loaf cake. The cookies are ho-hum.The Olive oil cake was terrible and the lemon cream, which is used in a tart as well as several other recipes is more like a lemon butter. Many of the other recipes are extremely time consuming to make so I can't say I've tried them. I think you'd be better off with Francois Payard's book.
Rating: 
Summary: Elegant desserts
Review: Whenever I have a lot of time on me and want to me a truly impressive dessert, I reach out for this book on my shelf (and yet, I still give it only 3 points, you will see why.)
This book is a great book for people who are looking to make exotic tasting, good looking desserts and have a lot of time to spend as cooking them can be quite time consuming (One dessert usually calls for more than 1 recipe). The recipes usually yield very good and nice looking results (some are really really yummy! e.g. autumn meringue cake, chocolate banana tart). I agree with a couple of the previous reviewers, however, that somes of the recipes are probably somehow not well tested for cooking at home(too much butter and too little salt, e.g. Never try lemon cream. It is definitely like lemon butter!). Another downfall of the book (which I takes 1 point off for) is it is quite hard to follow. The cooking steps are explained in details but words are too much cramped together. If 1 step in here could be numbered such that it could be seperated into 4-5 steps, it would have been much easier to follow. The books have nice cooking techniques, glossary at the end and have really nice pictures. In conclusions, this cook book is not for a novice but it can definitely give you an inspiration! But be careful not to bring your desert to a party if you haven't made it before. The recipes that work, work really great but you don't want to feed your crowd with the ones that don't work well.
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