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Sweet Magic: Easy Recipes for Delectable Desserts
by Michel Richard, Peter Kaminsky
ISBN-10: 0061928216
ISBN-13: 9780061928215
ISBN-13: 9780061928215
Region: USA
Publisher: Ecco
Publication Date: November, 2010
Publishers Information
About Sweet Magic: Easy Recipes for Delectable Desserts
Publisher Web Link: http://www.harpercollins.com/
From popular pastry chef Michel Richard, author of Happy in the Kitchen, comes Sweet Magic—a gorgeous, hand-illustrated primer of classic and innovative dessert recipes. Winner of multiple James Beard Awards and an acknowledged pastry genius whom Thomas Keller called “one of the great practitioners of the culinary arts in America” Michel Richard is on a mission to help you improve your dessert technique—and he’s got the stuff to help serious bakers perform Sweet Magic over and over again!
Long before award-winning chef Michel Richard made his first côte de boeuf or prepared his first foie gras terrine, he was a pastry chef. In Los Angeles, pastry lovers lined up outside his bakeshop on Wilshire Boulevard, waiting to enjoy the breads and treats they’d heard were the best in town, maybe even better than anything in Paris. Now, in this outstanding collection, the superstar chef returns to his first love, the food that made him famous—desserts.
Here are mouthwatering, foolproof recipes for American favorites such as pecan pie and pound cake; Richard’s personal inventions, such as Floating Islands with Melted Chocolate Morsels and the "coffee cloud"; reinvented French classics, such as profiteroles and the Christmas log (bûche de Noël); fruit favorites, including tarts and Pavlovas; and, of course, plenty of cookies.
Going beyond traditional cookbooks, Sweet Magic shares Richard’s insights into the thinking and craft behind every aspect of dessert, with brief essays that explore, explain, and entice—highlighted by the chef’s own playful illustrations.
Creating exquisite dishes with only a few simple ingredients—butter, eggs, sugar, flour, chocolate—demands the instincts of an artist and the soul of a magician. Sweet Magic will unlock the inner dessert wizard in every home chef, guiding both newcomers and old hands past common missteps, to seduce the most flavor and texture from every ingredient. (http://www.harpercollins.com/)
Author Information
About Michel Richard
Author Web Link: http://www.citronelledc.com/
Starting when he was a small child, Chef Richard’s passion for food led him to dance to the beat of his own drum. As a grown man in his own kitchen, he often felt that dance pulled him in a million different directions. But being the expert that he is, he would leave the dance behind and become the conductor of the orchestra – guiding his ingredients as if they were notes to music, combining them to form a delightful symphony for all to enjoy. The last ten years at his signature restaurant Citronelle have been a mythical quest in the pursuit of the amazing and unexpected and have continued his lifelong romance with cuisine.
Chef Richard heard his calling when he first caught a glimpse of a restaurant kitchen at the age of eight. “The white hats, aprons, and all of the food - I fell in love,” he said of the experience. At fourteen, he apprenticed in a restaurant-run patisserie in Champagne, France. Three years later he moved to Paris, where he quickly rose to the top position at Gaston Lenotre’s esteemed pastry shop. In 1975, an opportunity to fully relocate to the United States presented itself. Richard moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he operated a small eatery, serving simple meals along with his delicious pastries. Honing his craft and experiencing great success, Chef Richard soon discovered that ownership afforded him far more creativity, and he bought the shop. Despite his achievement, Richard explained, “Santa Fe was not a dream for an ambitious young chef,” and he looked to the West Coast.
Attracted by the power and glamour of the city, Richard moved to Los Angeles in 1977. He opened his own patisserie - Michel Richard - to immediate success. Reaping the rewards of his highly lucrative pastry shop, Richard traveled back and forth to France dining, learning and cooking in three-star Michelin-rated restaurants. In 1987, Richard opened Citrus, serving as executive chef and owner. At Citrus, he found the freedom to adapt his native French cuisine to the tastes of Southern California. Citrus put Michel Richard on the culinary map, and in the same year of its opening, the eatery was voted The Best Restaurant in the United States by Traveler’s magazine. In 1988, Michel Richard was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who” in American Food and Wine.
A year later, Richard opened Citronelle, offering a menu similar to that of Citrus, only with a more elegant atmosphere, overlooking the ocean in the Santa Barbara Inn Hotel. With his financial partners from MeriStar Hotels & Resorts, Inc., he went on to open Bistro M in San Francisco, and Citronelle in Baltimore and Philadelphia. In 1994, he opened Citronelle in The Latham Hotel in Washington DC. Four years later, Richard decided to focus all of his efforts on the East Coast. In early 1998, after a $2 million renovation to the restaurant, Richard moved from Los Angeles to Washington DC to devote full-time attention to Michel Richard Citronelle. These days, Richard considers the DC Michel Richard Citronelle his flagship restaurant and continues to amaze and astonish with his culinary creations. His lifetime of awards and achievements include:
- Member of the prestigious Relais & Chateaux, July 2003-July 2007
- Admission into the acclaimed Traditions & Qualité, Les Grandes Tables du Monde, 2002
- Dual honors by Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington “Best Chef of the Year” and “Best Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year,” a double-strike never achieved before, 2002
- Gourmet Magazine’s Top 20 Restaurants in the Country, 2001 and 2006
- Recognition from the Five-Star Fleur de Lis Award for Outstanding Restaurant, 1996
- Nomination for James Beard’s Chef of the Year Award for 1996
- Induction into the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who” in American Food and Wine, 1988
- Recognition for Citrus as The Best Restaurant in the United States by Traveler’s magazine, 1987
- Publication of Michel Richard’s Home Cooking with a French Accent, 1993
- Recipient of several Exxon Mobile Four Star and AAA Four Diamond Award awards
(http://www.citronelledc.com/)
Cookbooks by Michel Richard
About Peter Kaminsky
Peter Kaminsky, a lifelong “hamthropologist,” is the author of numerous books, including The Moon Pulled Up an Acre of Bass. Formerly New York Magazine’s “Underground Gourmet,” he has written award-winning articles that have also appeared in the New York Times, Food & Wine, Outdoor Life, and Field & Stream. Currently he is a columnist for the New York Times. He divides his time between New York City and Long Island. (http://www.hyperionbooks.com/)
Cookbooks by Peter Kaminsky
Recipe Index
Recipe index coming soon.