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Editorial Review:
Just Desserts is a very fine book of puddings from energetic three-star Michelin chef Gordon Ramsay, expertly marshalled for the domestic kitchen by Roz Denny. Ramsay's imagination is obviously caught by the sweet course: he expends a great deal of innovative thinking to it with fascinating results. He is inclined to roast his fruit, for example, caramelising it for greater intensity of flavour; or he might deep-fry it, as in the elegant and fantastically nonchalant Fruit Tempura. His ices and creams include voluptuous nut creams and lavender, orange flower water or liquorice ice cream. Oriental flavours appear in ethereal dishes like the Thai Rice Pudding with Coconut and Lemon (serve with mango coulis) or Banana and Passion Fruit Sorbet. Cheesecake is light and flavoured with pumpkin. Proper homage is paid to comfort food, with recipes for Bread and Butter Pudding (Ramsay makes his with baguette and laces it with Baileys liqueur) and Steamed Toffee, Banana and Pecan Pudding. The chocolate recipes are particularly fine, with a Chocolate Mocha Tart standing out. Just Desserts is also an excellent primer of patisserie techniques, its explanations and illustrations of the standard syrups, pastes, sponges and pastries of the restaurant kitchen, here translated into domestic terms, being particularly lucid. The professional mysteries of the mousse, the parfait, the bavarois and the various manifestations of the meringue are made wonderfully clear. No holding back, then. --Robin Davidson
THE DEFINITIVE BOOK ON DESSERT MAKING FROM BRITAIN'S MOST EXCITING CHEF
This superb new collection from Britain's most talked-about chef features over 100 of his recipes for delicious puddings and desserts. Illustrated throughout with mouth-watering photography, Gordon Ramsay's Just Desserts will be the definitive book on modern dessert making for years to come.
Here, Gordon Ramsay aims to demystify the art of dessert-making. There are the basic building blocks - fruits, ices and creams, mousses and souffles, crepes and batters - that can be served alone for everyday meals or in combination to impress. Then come the stand-alone dishes - homely favourites and special-occasion desserts - and a final chapter on vital accompaniments - biscuits, sponges and meringues. Throughout the book Gordon offers the benefit of his short cuts and tricks of the trade.
PRAISE FOR GORDON RAMSAY
I think Gordon Ramsay's a genius - a chef at the top of his game Jamie Oliver
Gordon Ramsay's puddings are perhaps the best in London Jonathan Meades, The Times
Anthony Bourdain, bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential on Gordon Ramsay's Just Desserts
Desserts, in a restaurant setting, usually require a level of precision and delicacy which ordinary line cooks - and most chefs - find intimidating. I've called pattissiers the neurologists of the kitchen, strange and often obsessive perfectionists who move outside of the normal rythms of kitchen life, dancing to music only they can hear. When I discovered that Gordon Ramsay, a chef whose food and relentless drive I have come to greatly admire, was, at one time, a pattissier, (for Guy Savoy no less) it explained a lot for me.
Chefs, we have come to believe, are modern day alchemists, part magician, part personality - artists and madmen. In these food and chef-crazed times, where great attention is paid to the comings and going of our culinary demi-Gods, Gordon has certainly been referred to, spoken of, written about as having exhibited all of the above qualities; England's Greatest Chef or England's Greatest Bully - depending on what tabloid you're reading at the time.
The truth is far more complex - often incomprehensible to outsiders, but perfectly reasonable to professionals. When you want to be the best, insist on being the best, when you're the only three star chef in London, for instance it's not enough to cook brilliantly. You have to cook brilliantly EVERY night. Every plate has to be perfect. The food has to be sublime, creative, gorgeous to look at, unwaveringly consistent, whimsical on occasion, evocative of other times, other places, happy moments, childhood memories. A sensitivity, a gentleness is required - a degree of understanding of both human nature and the physical forces of the universe which a brutish megalomaniac is unlikely to possess. A pastry chef, on the other hand....
What makes these recipes and these presentations so magnificent are what makes all his food - from ameuse geules to entrees so strikingly good - the tone and tenor of these pages inform everything he does. If you are looking for the real roots of Gordon Ramsay's perfectionism, a window into this particular chef's soul, look no further. It's all here.
GORDON RAMSAY is Britain's best and most exciting chef. His eponymous restaurant is the only one in London with 3 Michelin stars and he was voted Chef of the Year at the 2000 Catey awards. His first Quadrille book A Chef for all Seasons was a runaway success - the food is so good and the recipes so easy to follow - said the Sunday Telegraph. Gordon recently opened Amaryllis, a new restaurant in Glasgow, and in September 2001 opens a new Gordon Ramsay restaurant at Claridges in London.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Will Make You Fat, But You Won't Care Just Desserts, is written by the accomplished and talented three Michelin star chef Gordon Ramsey. As the name suggests, it's a cook book filled with recipes for the best part of a meal - - desserts. It is the first book written by Gordon Ramsay I've ever purchased, and if his other books are as impressive as this one, then I guess I'll be buying the whole lot. While it's not the single best cook book I've ever seen, it is definitely the best dessert book and puts all others to shame. Gordon Ramsay is... more info
Disappointing. These are not Michelin Star Desserts! Gordon Ramsay is a great chef and there is no doubt that his Chelsea restaurant is worthy of its 3 Michelin stars. It is a shame therefore that this status is not reflected by his book 'Just Desserts' which I have recently purchased. The book is 211 pages long. Pages 6 to 119 comprise 1)roasted fruits, 2)fruit salads 3) jellies 4) ice creams 5) parfaits 6) sorbets 7) mouses 8) souffles 9) crepes.
These are all very basic recipes and in any event repeated multiple times with just different... more info
No other dessert book comes close I work as a pastry chef and own dessert books by authors such as Rose Levy Beranbaum, Maida Heatter, Marcel Desaulniers, etc. But none come close to this book. Maybe it is unfair to compare "baking" books to this cookbook, which could only be classified as a "dessert" book, but other "dessert" books (ie Michel Roux's Finest Desserts, Jacques Torres' Dessert Circus) still fall short of this book. Gordon is clearly in a league of his own, his flavour combinations are original, creative, and ahead of... more info
Fantastic I purchased this book only because of the two book deals on Amazon, but to my surprise it was filled with yummy desserts, I have only made one of them so far, but if this one was anything to go by, I can not wait to try more, my husband was in heaven when he tried it. Well done Gordon for a great book.
