manna

Last week, I met up with an old friend, a baker that I had worked with and had not seen for some time. She offered me this book; an unexpected and extravagant gift. Secretly, I coveted it, but propriety dictated that i decline. In the end, she had convinced me (it didn’t take much) that  she had extracted what she needed from the book and that she would be honoring it by passing it on. Great books have a way of inspiring this kind of reverence.

                              

My currently pared-down collection of cookbooks now number in the hundreds. With real estate on my bookshelf being at a premium, I now selectively add books based on whether the approach, organization and content is compelling. This book weighs heavily in all 3 areas.

The thing that is truly remarkable about this book is that it was published 10 years ago, in 1998, yet everything about it feels fresh and current. A testament to this appears on page 231, which shows how to make a liquid-filled chocolate cylinder, the very same technique used by Alex Stupak on Iron Chef a few weeks ago.