Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills: Recipes from the Sweetest Life Ever
by Sherry Yard
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Book Summary Information
Author: Sherry YardForeword: Wolfgang Puck
Edition: Hardcover
Published: 2007-11-01
ISBN: 0618515224
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Book Reviews of Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills: Recipes from the Sweetest Life Ever
Book Review: Glamorous, creative desserts in the comfort of your own home
Summary: 5 Stars
"Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills: Recipes from the Sweetest Life Ever," by Sherry Yard, is a combination baking book and memoir. Each recipe is accompanied by an excerpt from the author's life, from the `A&P Strawberry Sodas' inspired by her grandmother to the `Banded Layer Cakes' she created for the 67th Oscars. The book introduced me to Yard's recipes, though I was familiar with her work beforehand because I saw her on an episode of "Iron Chef" as one of Wolfgang Puck's sous chefs. She was in charge of making the various sweets and pastries that would be presented to the judges, and when she decorated the dishes with spun sugar watching her hands form the ethereally golden strands was breathtaking to say the least.
"Desserts by the Yard" contains an impressive collection of tempting recipes, some of my favorites including `Gingersnap Toaster-Oven Tarts with Peach Filling' (think high-end pop tarts), `Chocolate-Covered Chocolate-Mint Cookies,' `Apfelstudel' (Apple Strudel) and `Pistachio Gelato.' The `Ring of Saturn Peach "Doughnuts"` were also a hit, combining delicious ingredients like anise biscotti and macerated peaches into a treat that's dusted with confectioner's sugar, then served with vanilla ice cream. Recipes range in skill-level from basic to advanced and I appreciated how several of them allowed me to stretch my culinary knowledge. I had to make the `Fig Bars,' which are essentially homemade fig newtons, a few times before the texture was just right, for instance. Yet the treats I found myself making over and over again happened to be the ones that satisfied my simpler tastes: `President Clinton's Oatmeal Cookies' and `Soft Pretzels.' The cookies were a huge hit at the office with two dozen cookies disappearing at lightening speed, while two (soon to be three?) batches of pretzels have already made an appearance in my kitchen. With the exception of one recipe, for `Forbidden Rice Pudding,' I was hugely satisfied with all the dishes I made. Yard even included something for Fido: a recipe for `Real Doggy Treats' made with honey, wheat flour, cornmeal and chicken stock. My Labrador Retriever certainly appreciated those!
Chapters include: Brooklyn Inspirations; New York City: From Cigarette Girl to Pastry Chef; London Interlude; Go West, Young Gal: San Francisco and Napa; Spago Hollywood; Farmers' Market Inspirations; Vienna Interlude; Spago Beverly Hills; Chinois on Main; Special Events; and the Academy Awards.
Summary of Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills: Recipes from the Sweetest Life Ever
Sherry Yard, the executive pastry chef for Wolfgang Puck's restaurants, has cast her Desserts by The Yard as a culinary autobiography, organizing its recipes in chapters like "Brooklyn Inspirations" and "London Interlude." This novel approach may frustrate readers seeking, say, cakes all in one place, but helps make the book the fresh and compelling success it is.The recipes do the rest. Yard has included a wide range of sweets that either polish old favorites--see her Black-and-White Cookies (from Brooklyn days) and Flourless Chocolate Cake with Meringue Topping (a London creation)--or that invent in ways both enticing and doable. Formulas like Buttermilk Cheesecake; Rhubarb, Apple, and Fennel Crumble; or Concord Grape Souffl?s give some idea of her imaginative range, which is, however, always tethered to practicality and good taste. New and seasoned cooks alike will also appreciate her technical niceties (for example, to help souffl?s rise, smear butter upwards when greasing mold sides), as well as Sherri's Secrets (for pithless citrus segments, dip them first in cold water then scrape with the back of a knife). With a tempting-in-itself section on basics like Creamy Caramel Sauce, and dozens of color photos, this is a special baking book in every way. --Arthur Boehm
Spago's pastry chef to the stars and author of the James Beard Award-winning Secrets of Baking shares the recipes that propelled her to the top of her profession
Night after night at Spago in Beverly Hills, Sherry Yard dazzles the powerful, rich, and famous with incredible desserts. Her marvelous confections have won over patrons from Madonna to Frank Sinatra. Now the country's premier pastry chef reveals the recipes that have made her a star in her own right and won her two coveted James Beard Awards.
Desserts by the Yard begins with inspirations from Yard's childhood, such as My Favorite White Birthday Cake with Chocolate and Butter Fudge Frosting, and culminates in the spectacular creations she makes every year for the Academy Awards. Included here are some of Yard's most famous recipes: the slinky cr?me br?l?e she perfected when she worked at New York's Rainbow Room, the coffeecake that made Campton Place Hotel San Francisco's most popular breakfast spot, and the souffl?ed cr?me fra?che pancakes with strawberry sauce she learned in Vienna. Don't miss the chocolate caramel tart that Hugh Grant loves, former President Clinton's favorite oatmeal raisin cookies, or the treat that made actress Suzanne Pleshette exclaim, "Bitch! You're gonna make me fat!"
Desserts don't get easier than Yard's No-Bake Cheesecake, more decadent than Chocolate Bread Pudding with Butterscotch Gelato, or more holiday-perfect than Triple Silken Pumpkin Pie. In sidebars to each recipe, Yard shares tricks and techniques along with hilarious anecdotes that show her pluck, determination, and generosity.
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