Valrhona's Frederic Bau shares professional tips in chocolate encyclopedia
Cooking With Chocolate - Essential Recipes and Techniques is launched in the UK today and includes hints and techniques on the most effective ways of working with chocolate for both professional chefs and home cooks.
"It was my ambition to try to speak very simply about this, but in a professional way. There are many chocolate cookbooks out there but this one is much more technical than many, its approach is very different" Bau told BigHospitality.
Bau enlisted the help of seven other patissiers - Julie Haubourdin, Vincent Bourdin, Fabrice David, Thierry Bridron, Philippe Givre, David Capy and Jeremie Runel - from the Ecole du Grand Chocolat to help him write the technical aspect of the book, published by Flammarion and with a preface written by Pierre Herme.
Eight French pastry chefs - Frederic Cassel, Eric Leautey, Cyril Lignac, Christophe Felder, Gilles Marchal, Christophe Michalak, Christophe Adam and Jean-Paul Hevin - provide a wealth of recipes using chocolate - from timeless classics to original desserts and those inspired by current trends in gastronomy.
The book is also accompanied by a DVD which serves as a practical guide to making chocolate desserts and patisserie.
Bau said he hoped the tome would be adopted by trained chefs, but would also like to see it used as reference for students at every catering college in the UK in the future.
"The book is already in French catering colleges and has been well received. It would be very useful for students."
