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Rating: 
Summary: The Nothing Chocolate Cookbook
Review: I am not familiar with the "Everything Series", but after this miserable cookbook, I doubt that I ever will. I disagree with virtually everything in the first two chapters; they cover basics about types of chocolate, tools, and skills. They are incomplete, misleading, or downright wrong. There is no such thing as "molding chocolate" nor "enrobing chocolate". I have dealt commercially with a few chocolate companies in my time, but have never heard of the word "chocolateries". The advice on chocolate co-ops, auctions, chocolate tasting parties, and starting your own chocolate business is laughable. The author also repeats the amateur's misconception that couverture is a higher quality, tastier chocolate; in fact, unless you are using it in molds or for dipping, couverture is unnecessary and probably a waste of money. In fact, it has a lower viscosity, harder texture, and higher price due to the higher cocoa butter content. There is also no advice on how to shop for the different chocolates for novices who are going to the grocery store to buy them. I would also like to know exactly what brand(s) of chocolate the author used during recipe development. The instructions for tempering couverture lack one important step: a test to tell when the chocolate is properly tempered, and additional instructions for what to do when it is not correctly tempered or has cooled down and needs retempering. The truffle recipes are actually one basic recipe with many dozens of slight variations, changing the type of chocolate or liqueur/flavoring. The instructions for truffles are wrong: ganache should never be cooled in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Truffles that are going to be enrobed or dipped should never be refrigerated at any time for any reason; best advice is to dip them as soon as they are shaped. The author uses ingredients such as "butterscotch liqueur"; a professional knows what this is, but a specific brand name would be a great help to a novice trying to find it at the neighborhood liquor store. The fudge recipes are based on something that used to be known as "Serviceman's Fudge", more renown for its ability to survive overseas shipment than for its flavor. The reader gets the impression that the author was trying too hard to come up with a wide panoply of chocolate recipes; fewer, but higher quality recipes would have been preferable. The author also commits the ultimate cookbook sin: not specifying how the flour is measured, nor listing a weight for the flour but only a cup measurement. However, on page 40 (in the equipment section), the author states that the flour should be sifted before measurement: 1) this method will cause baking recipes to fail in most cookbooks (most use either the scoop-and-sweep or spoon-and-sweep; I know of no baking book, professional or consumer, that specifies sifting before measurement), and 2) the correct method, used in all professional kitchens I have ever worked in, is to measure by weight. In this case, we do not know if the author sifts directly into a measuring cup, or sifts onto a piece of paper and then pours it into a measuring cup (the difference can easily be 10%), because equivalent weight measures are not given. I am also tired of authors who change the original recipe, yet insist on retaining the title "Nestle Toll House Cookies". It also suffers from side-bar-mania: many pages have tips and hints about baking, but these are randomly scattered throughout the text and not indexed, so that you will never find them, even if you look for them. Many recipes do not have a clear-cut indication as to when baked things are done. Some recipes are more difficult or take several hours; some sort of warning about this would be helpful. Some, such as croissant or brioche, are missing instructions at crucial steps. The cakes, cookies, libations, and morning treats were OK, but the frosting, bars, and muffins were hideous. The pie section is forgettable and fraught with untested recipes. The author should have used the modified creaming method more often in the cake/torte recipes. The custards and plated desserts were ordinary. Neophytes will probably not be able to successfully do many of the projects in the decorations chapter. The index is one of the worst I have ever seen in any book. Not only is it very short and incomplete, any entry with a French accent mark (ague, grave, circumflex) appears as a random symbol, meaning that the book editor was asleep at the switch. There are simply too many problems with this baking book for me to recommend it. In general, I was appalled by the low quality of the information and recipes. On the other hand, I found the recipes to be akin to the ones you will find in Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, etc.: easy to do, but mostly uninteresting. I also found some of the truffle flavor combinations to be pretty good. It has been said that there is no such thing as a totally worthless chocolate cookbook; in this case, I will make an exception. I suggest that you leave this book in the discount bin at the bookstore where you found it.
Rating:
Summary: The Nothing Chocolate Cookbook
Review: I am not familiar with the "Everything Series", but after this miserable cookbook, I doubt that I ever will. I disagree with virtually everything in the first two chapters; they cover basics about types of chocolate, tools, and skills. They are incomplete, misleading, or downright wrong. There is no such thing as "molding chocolate" nor "enrobing chocolate". I have dealt commercially with a few chocolate companies in my time, but have never heard of the word "chocolateries". The advice on chocolate co-ops, auctions, chocolate tasting parties, and starting your own chocolate business is laughable. The author also repeats the amateur's misconception that couverture is a higher quality, tastier chocolate; in fact, unless you are using it in molds or for dipping, couverture is unnecessary and probably a waste of money. In fact, it has a lower viscosity, harder texture, and higher price due to the higher cocoa butter content. There is also no advice on how to shop for the different chocolates for novices who are going to the grocery store to buy them. I would also like to know exactly what brand(s) of chocolate the author used during recipe development. The instructions for tempering couverture lack one important step: a test to tell when the chocolate is properly tempered, and additional instructions for what to do when it is not correctly tempered or has cooled down and needs retempering. The truffle recipes are actually one basic recipe with many dozens of slight variations, changing the type of chocolate or liqueur/flavoring. The instructions for truffles are wrong: ganache should never be cooled in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Truffles that are going to be enrobed or dipped should never be refrigerated at any time for any reason; best advice is to dip them as soon as they are shaped. The author uses ingredients such as "butterscotch liqueur"; a professional knows what this is, but a specific brand name would be a great help to a novice trying to find it at the neighborhood liquor store. The fudge recipes are based on something that used to be known as "Serviceman's Fudge", more renown for its ability to survive overseas shipment than for its flavor. The reader gets the impression that the author was trying too hard to come up with a wide panoply of chocolate recipes; fewer, but higher quality recipes would have been preferable. The author also commits the ultimate cookbook sin: not specifying how the flour is measured, nor listing a weight for the flour but only a cup measurement. However, on page 40 (in the equipment section), the author states that the flour should be sifted before measurement: 1) this method will cause baking recipes to fail in most cookbooks (most use either the scoop-and-sweep or spoon-and-sweep; I know of no baking book, professional or consumer, that specifies sifting before measurement), and 2) the correct method, used in all professional kitchens I have ever worked in, is to measure by weight. In this case, we do not know if the author sifts directly into a measuring cup, or sifts onto a piece of paper and then pours it into a measuring cup (the difference can easily be 10%), because equivalent weight measures are not given. I am also tired of authors who change the original recipe, yet insist on retaining the title "Nestle Toll House Cookies". It also suffers from side-bar-mania: many pages have tips and hints about baking, but these are randomly scattered throughout the text and not indexed, so that you will never find them, even if you look for them. Many recipes do not have a clear-cut indication as to when baked things are done. Some recipes are more difficult or take several hours; some sort of warning about this would be helpful. Some, such as croissant or brioche, are missing instructions at crucial steps. The cakes, cookies, libations, and morning treats were OK, but the frosting, bars, and muffins were hideous. The pie section is forgettable and fraught with untested recipes. The author should have used the modified creaming method more often in the cake/torte recipes. The custards and plated desserts were ordinary. Neophytes will probably not be able to successfully do many of the projects in the decorations chapter. The index is one of the worst I have ever seen in any book. Not only is it very short and incomplete, any entry with a French accent mark (ague, grave, circumflex) appears as a random symbol, meaning that the book editor was asleep at the switch. There are simply too many problems with this baking book for me to recommend it. In general, I was appalled by the low quality of the information and recipes. On the other hand, I found the recipes to be akin to the ones you will find in Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, etc.: easy to do, but mostly uninteresting. I also found some of the truffle flavor combinations to be pretty good. It has been said that there is no such thing as a totally worthless chocolate cookbook; in this case, I will make an exception. I suggest that you leave this book in the discount bin at the bookstore where you found it.
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