Four-Star Desserts

Rating:
Summary: Emily Luchetti Rocks
Review: A photograph in Four Star Desserts of a blackberry roulade, unadorned and pure, was the reason I bought the book. I must have baked that cake six times over the next week. Everyone thought I was crazy. I used her technique (for almond ice cream) of steeping almonds in milk to make an almond-infused brioche bread pudding, and her chocolate "brulee" topped my coconut custard. This book has given me pleasure and has sparked ideas for my own inventions. I am a pastry chef, too, and I can't get enough of Emily Luchetti.

Rating:
Summary: A really, really wonderful desserts cookbook
Review: Emily Luchetti's earlier cookbook, "Stars Desserts," was filled with desserts she had developed as pastry chef at the famed Stars Restaurant in San Francisco. "Four-Star Desserts" expands upon that repertoire and continues to support her reputation for deft yet simple taste combinations. That said, I have a couple of minor quibbles with her cookbook. How, for instance, can she possibly characterize her Warm Zabaglione with Strawberries as "a light dessert for those watching their waistlines" when one of the five ingredients is six egg yolks? How can she instruct her readers to indefinitely refrigerate her Chocolate Nut Bark, when doing so almost ensures that it will absorb odors from other refrigerated items? She also, in recipes employing the use of raw eggs, makes no mention of the dangers associated with eating them.

Fairly minor quibbles aside, though, "Four-Star Desserts" is a treat. For all her formidable talent, Luchetti has a magical touch at creating recipes that even inexperienced cooks will feel confident in trying. The recipes are nicely laid out with ingredients and required equipment on the left-hand half of the page, and instructions on the right. Each is preceded with her thoughts on what makes that particular dessert memorable, as well as tips on making it as successful as possible. Having Emily Luchetti at your elbow in the kitchen is a very good thing, as is this book.

Rating:
Summary: the title fits the book for the most part
Review: Emily Luchetti's earlier cookbook, "Stars Desserts," was filled with desserts she had developed as pastry chef at the famed Stars Restaurant in San Francisco. "Four-Star Desserts" expands upon that repertoire and continues to support her reputation for deft yet simple taste combinations. That said, I have a couple of minor quibbles with her cookbook. How, for instance, can she possibly characterize her Warm Zabaglione with Strawberries as "a light dessert for those watching their waistlines" when one of the five ingredients is six egg yolks? How can she instruct her readers to indefinitely refrigerate her Chocolate Nut Bark, when doing so almost ensures that it will absorb odors from other refrigerated items? She also, in recipes employing the use of raw eggs, makes no mention of the dangers associated with eating them.

Fairly minor quibbles aside, though, "Four-Star Desserts" is a treat. For all her formidable talent, Luchetti has a magical touch at creating recipes that even inexperienced cooks will feel confident in trying. The recipes are nicely laid out with ingredients and required equipment on the left-hand half of the page, and instructions on the right. Each is preceded with her thoughts on what makes that particular dessert memorable, as well as tips on making it as successful as possible. Having Emily Luchetti at your elbow in the kitchen is a very good thing, as is this book.

Rating:
Summary: the title fits the book for the most part
Review: Having read the first book "Stars Desserts", I found this collection of recipes to be a bit disappointing in comparison although it is still very good.
The author writes in her introduction that she likes to create desserts with no more than 3 flavors and she offers many good recipes that fit this profile. Examples include chocolate desserts like eclairs with pear-flavored filling and chocolate glaze, mocha hazelnut torte, and chocolate souffle with coffee caramel sauce. Just as in her first book, she continues to shine with her egg-based desserts like the souffles and icecreams. The chestnut crepes with orange honey icecream and the baked apricots with vanilla icecream and almond praline were comforting and earthy while other choices include the pumpkin souffle with apple caramel sauce or the Grand Marnier souffle with chocolate caramel sauce. Caramel as a flavor is obviously a favorite of Ms Luchetti as it is prominantly featured in this book as well as the original "Stars". She continues with traditional desserts with a twist like baked apples with caramel rum-raisen sauce and figs simmered with honey and Marsala wine, served with a ginger cream sauce. Other favorites of mine were the cherries jubilee with brandy and almond icecream, blueberry lemon cheesecake with cornmeal crust, and the banana cardomon cake.
This book was excellent on many counts however, was marred by some not-so-great recipes. For all of the recipes I wrote about above, there were an equal amount of recipes that didn't appeal to me at all. The problems seem to be centered around the presentation in assembly. The desserts just didn't seem to be designed well. Examples are the plum biscuits, pear-pecan napolean, mini croquembouche tower, chocolate-filled filo, rasberry champayne cake, berry buns, banana sherbet with chocolate cream sauce, baba rum cake filled with chocolate pastry cream, bing cherry dumplings, and oat crisps with blueberries. The latter dessert would of been so much better if it had been an oat crust with a blueberry filling and presented as a tart. The berry bun appeared to be based on the chinese steamed bun, but the berries in the center reminded me of something unpleasant. When I saw the photo, all I could think of was a scab...an injury of some sort. It didn't look appetizing at all.
Even with these misfits, the book is still really good anyway. The main thing is that I think Luchetti tried too hard sometimes and was overly creative. A lot of recipes in this book center on fruits and to me, it may be a matter of preference on my part. I like homestyle presentations for fruit like cobblers, crisps, and pies. An excellent book that features great fruit desserts of this calibur is "Baking with Jim Dodge" by the same author. Luchetti takes more of a 'composed' stance in her creation of fruit desserts. No matter...a very good book none-the-less.

Rating:
Summary: stunning sweets for any kitchen
Review: These receipes are flawless and nearly fool-proof! Over a dozen of these sweets have become family favorites. Emily Luchetti's desserts are simply stunning in flavor and simple to prepare. She gives comprehensive instructions that are easy to follow, always resulting in a wonderful treat. Her receipes must be well tested for the home kitchen, because I have never had a problem producing the desired result. For a cook who is more at ease making savory dishes, Emily makes sweets enticing and approachable. When you consistently get great results, you are ever-encouraged to try another and another and another dessert until you can master many! By far, her two books on desserts are the best I have discovered for sweets. Look no further!

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT REFERENCE BOOK AND/OR RECIPE USE
Review: This book appears to be good until one tries some of the recipes. The pear and hazlenut tart is confusing in it's instructions. It reads as if one were to put a pastry shell inside another pastry shell and I'm sure this isn't what the author meant. The crust is too much for the size of the pan but not enought to make another tart. It also has too much butter so that it seeps out. The rhubarb upside down cake has a very flavorful cake but it is way too delicate to go well with the assertiveness of rhubarb. The banana cake is leaden. These are the recipes I have tried thus far. I have been doubtful of trying more after this experience, however many of the flavor combinations sound too good to pass, so I will try a few more.