'Dessert Fourplay'

[jonexl]

I'd like to invite anybody who would like to meet Johnny Iuzzini to stop by our showroom on January 12th.

He will be chatting and signing copies of his book.

That's JB Prince at 36 E. 31st  Street in Manhattan between 3:00 & 5:00 on Monday, January 12th.

Thanks. Hope to see you there.

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That's on the 11th Fl., by the way (we're kind of tucked away, but that's part of the charm. All the top chefs and line cooks know where to find us).

We haven't done many things like this before, but I am hoping this will be successful and become a regular event. I would love for JB Prince to become a place where chefs can come and personally connect with readers of their books.

In the cookbook arena we can't compete with the mass sellers like Amazon and its ilk on price, but if this is works well (nothing breeds success like success) then this is an area where we should be able to excel.

[alanamoana]

I'd like to invite anybody who would like to meet Johnny Iuzzini to stop by our showroom on January 12th.

He will be chatting and signing copies of his book.

That's JB Prince at 36 E. 31st  Street in Manhattan between 3:00 & 5:00 on Monday, January 12th.

Thanks. Hope to see you there.

←

That's on the 11th Fl., by the way (we're kind of tucked away, but that's part of the charm. All the top chefs and line cooks know where to find us).

We haven't done many things like this before, but I am hoping this will be successful and become a regular event. I would love for JB Prince to become a place where chefs can come and personally connect with readers of their books.

In the cookbook arena we can't compete with the mass sellers like Amazon and its ilk on price, but if this is works well (nothing breeds success like success) then this is an area where we should be able to excel.

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thanks for posting the information! i would be there in a flash if i still lived in nyc. i love going to jbprince even just to look around. and i love looking for friends and colleagues on the wall of business cards in the elevator "lobby", if that's still there!

edited to add: i think this is a great idea for jbprince and don't know why it wasn't thought of earlier. too bad you don't have a space for small cooking demos using some of the more unique equipment that you sell. i'm sure that would bring an audience/money to the business as well.

Edited January 7, 2009 by alanamoana (log)

[tan319]

Yep, one of a myriad of reasons I wish I was back in NYC!

I was looking thru Dessert Fourplay last eve and am still knocked out at how great it is.

I like the font too, very "Dessert Cuisine" ish (by Oriol Balaguer.)

Can't go wrong there!

[tan319]

Just wondering if anyone has been trying any of the recipes from "D.F."?

I've made a few from the website and they've always been spot on but I tried the Chocolate beet Cake from the book the other day and had a some problems.

Instead of baking in a pan I did "mini loafs", an eight slot 5x3 and the cakes tunneled quite a bit, or caved in, whatever you want to call it.

Hard to imagine that that would blow it.

Maybe there's a typo on the temp ( 400 convection)?

Or the calibration is off on my oven.

I've always had a bit a problem with High Temp/High Fat ( a lot of oil) recipes for cakes.

I saved them by using ganache to fill the cavity and covering the top.

They were saved.

Still digging the book

[JeanneCake]

The only thing I've tried so far is the coconut curd; it worked, but was far too eggy for me to taste any coconut and the next time I try it, I'm going to use cream of coconut, not coconut milk. But there's a lot more that I want to try, I love this book!

[tan319]

The only thing I've tried so far is the coconut curd; it worked, but was far too eggy for me to taste any coconut and the next time I try it, I'm going to use cream of coconut, not coconut milk.  But there's a lot more that I want to try, I love this book!

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Cream of coconut sounds good but I've found if you use coconut milk, it's always good to season with salt.

It brings up the coconut flavor.

[whiskey]

I have the white chocolate ice cream freezing at the moment - that is all I have made so far, but plan on making the coconut pain perdu and papaya lime compote tomorrow to go with it. I've really enjoyed going through this book. The building blocks and equipment/ingredient notes are also really helpful. I've filled the book with post it notes already - I just need to find the time to make everything I've flagged

One question though - in the "make it simpler" box for the malted-chocolate rice pudding he suggests serving it with Cocoa Booty or Pirate's Booty - what the heck is this?? Is it a cereal? I'm in Toronto and don't recall ever seeing it here.

Edited January 25, 2009 by whiskey (log)

[tan319]

The only Pirates Booty I know of is a kind of "Whole Foods-ish" type of Cheese Doodles puff.

[Tri2Cook]

Cocoa Booty or Pirate's Booty - what the heck is this??

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I think they both work at the local strip club.

Actually... cocoa booty.

[whiskey]

Tri2Cook if that's the case then I think their "all natural" claim is a bit suspect

Have you seen this product here?

Edited January 26, 2009 by whiskey (log)

[tan319]

Puffed rice and corn is used a lot in France & Spain as dessert ingredients.

I was reading " A Day in the Like of El Bulli" the other day and the have raw Lays "3-Ds" made for them.

That's a rather eclectic snack, no?

[Tri2Cook]

Tri2Cook if that's the case then I think their "all natural" claim is a bit suspect   

Have you seen this product here?

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Nope, never seen it. I was assuming it would be like cocoa puffs cereal or something so I searched it in google. I was wrong.

[JeanneCake]

There's a snack food (like popcorn or chips/crisps) that is a puff like Cheese Puffs called Pirate Booty, Veggie Booty. Look for it in the snack food aisle or online here: Pirate's Booty

[gfron1]

One major gripe, now that I've been using this book quite a bit - get a better proofer! I've found so many damn page references that are simply wrong. I'm 0/4 on the recipe I'm doing which keeps referring back to the "basics" section.

[pastrygirl]

I just received this last night and I have to say I am a little surprised by how much I like it - ordered online so was not able to preview. I'd had two disappointing desserts at Jean-Georges when I was in NYC two years ago, he does have the rhubarb-mustard jam which I found extremely unpalatable (because I find the taste of bile unpalatable, go figure) so I won't be making that. I feel like Johnny has gotten a lot of hype in Food Arts and such and oh look at the young hipster tattoo guy who is so successful, but luckily the book doesn't come across that way at all. I hate how self-congratulatory Claudia Fleming is in 'Last Course' - all the intros describe the recipes as so perfect and delightful - and I will not buy the Citizen Cake book because it comes off as 'look how cool I am' and I hate the 'punk rock/graphic novel' design - so I was sort of afraid from the type of media coverage I've seen on J.I. this book would have the flaws of those two. Not so! He comes off as humble enough and straightforward. And finally, a book with pictures of EVERYTHING. Can't wait to try a fluid gel - sounds so simple and light.

Edited March 5, 2009 by pastrygirl (log)

[violetfox]

I got my copy yesterday and have been paging through it all day.  I can honestly say I love this book!  As a Culinary student at CIA, this book has singlehandedly made me think about staying and getting my Baking & Pastry certificate. 

The one gripe I have is a very minor one.  As I was reading the testimonials on the back, I saw names like Harold McGee, Daniel Boulud, Wylie Dufresne, Francois Payard...and then there was Paula Deen, with her testimonial starting with "Y'all".  I can't help but feel that was thrown on there solely to appeal to housewives.

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I'm curious about your apparent feeling that there would be something wrong with "appealing to housewives" - am I reading that correctly?

[tan319]

He does the Martha Stewart show maybe 2 times a year.

I saw JI on the Tony Danza show once, it was quite a show.

His "reel" on his website shows him on many cooking shows directed at the home cook, be they men or women

[gfron1]

I'm curious about your apparent feeling that there would be something wrong with "appealing to housewives" - am I reading that correctly?

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I didn't make that comment, but I'll respond to your response. How chefs position themselves says a lot about their style of cooking, and more importantly, what style their book is. So when I read the comment about it appealing to housewives, it raised a concern about whether the book was the appropriate style for what I'm doing. Its not geared toward housewives btw. This book is geared toward the apt home cook and young pros.

[MikeHartnett]

I agree. While there isn't anything wrong with marketing a cookbook to housewives, this book certainly isn't ideal for the Paula Deen crowd. This is much more intricate than "dump a pound of butter in."

[cakewalk]

I got my copy yesterday and have been paging through it all day.  I can honestly say I love this book!  As a Culinary student at CIA, this book has singlehandedly made me think about staying and getting my Baking & Pastry certificate. 

The one gripe I have is a very minor one.  As I was reading the testimonials on the back, I saw names like Harold McGee, Daniel Boulud, Wylie Dufresne, Francois Payard...and then there was Paula Deen, with her testimonial starting with "Y'all".  I can't help but feel that was thrown on there solely to appeal to housewives.

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I'm curious about your apparent feeling that there would be something wrong with "appealing to housewives" - am I reading that correctly?

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Well housewives, as we all know, are sloppy, lazy, not very intelligent, and they should just stick with cake mixes. Right? After all, they just dump a pound of butter into things.

[MikeHartnett]

The comment I made was obviously referencing Paula Deen, and not housewives. If you'd like to defend Paula's recipes, feel free.

[jumanggy]

So, the book's been out for nearly (?) half a year... How are you guys finding it? Has anyone been cooking through it? I've wanted to review it for some time now but I'm finding it hard to move forward with a recipe I like because the ingredients can get extremely difficult to procure where I am. I wish I had the courage to substitute freely and know it would work.

[tan319]

What ingredients are you looking for?

I think there are several lists for finding supplies.

As for trying recipes, maybe it's just what I picked to try out.

Anything I've done off of the website was perfect.

The brioche recipe I've made twice ( in the interest of finding another good recipe) and the method just has never worked well for me.

I've made brioche that way with fresh yeast but it seems that with dry yeast proofing it in milk or water ( warmed) is more successful for me.

The chocolate beet cake was a disaster for me.

I was using a convection oven when I made, with celsius /f markings all, of that was cool.

The bake ( I was doing individual loaf type cakes) temp may have been too high, the cakes just fell in the middle.

If I made it again I'd try canned beets, which I think JI himself said worked the best for the cake ( I read it afterward).

But, it was edible, very edible actually, so I filled the "indent" with a nice ganache and ran it for a special, white chocolate ice cream.

So, I don't know if the choc cake was my mistake or a typo.

One thing I found recently that's a great idea for anybody who has a website and has a book out is a correction page.

On Francisco Migoyo's website, The Quenelle he posted a correction to a couple of pages of his book, "Frozen Desserts".

I like the JI book very much though, I didn't really buy it to cook from, more to support the project, look at technique, etc.

[jumanggy]

Delivery from the States isn't an option for me right now, unfortunately. I made the slow-roasted strawberries but there wasn't any verjuice (ugh) that I could find, so I subbed (don't ask). Anyway, they didn't slow-roast so much as slow-dried in the oven.

The fresh produce here is a completely different subset. It figures that I can't get excited about things I *can* do (pineapple polenta spice cake...) and the things I want to do, will break my wallet if I get the ingredients together. Sigh. I need a re-wiring.

[tan319]

Here's a couple of substitutes for verjus.

What else are you looking for?

Good luck!