Chef and instructor, Mitch Stamm,  recently published a book with interviews and recipes from some of the top pastry chefs in the US and abroad. Chef Leaman was asked to participate late last summer and the first edition is finally out!

The title is ‘The Pastry Chef’s Apprentice’, and while I haven’t had the time to give it a thorough read-through (it just arrived this week), the interviews are definitely interesting.  They are in a repeated format, with the mostly the same questions asked to each chef.  I would say the common thread amongst all of them is a high level of self-drive, passion for the craft, and respect for both the people they work with or for (colleagues, students or customers) and for the ingredients they use. 

After each interview is a recipe or set of recipes from each chef, with measurements in metric (kg), US (lb) and volumetric units (cups), and photographs of several of the steps.  They are foundational, ground work recipes, such as pastry cream, biscotti, a dacquoise cake and macarons- the kinds of things one would learn and practice early on in a pastry career (there’s a nougat recipe in there that’s piqued my own interest).  The techniques used in each are some of the most foundational (i.e. important) to pastry making. 

This isn’t meant to be a full-on ‘how to be a pastry chef’ book, but it is very suitable for someone interested in the world of pastry and the thoughts of some chefs who are at the top of their game.  It’s online at both amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, as well as out in stores (we get nothing from any sale of this book - we’re just honored to have even been asked to be in it). 

So- you know some of what several of us here will be reading in the next few days.  What’s on your summer food-book list?