Re: pastry books

Posted by Gerard on March 12, 1999 at 15:52:18:

In Reply to: Re: pastry books posted by Steve Klc on March 12, 1999 at 09:53:06:

Did I wake you up Steve?

>according to your astute e-mail.>>
What email, theres nothing in my "sent log" adressed to chef@pastryarts.com
... before I got this machine? but then again I only just got the book. so?

I'm not sure what the Trotter book is for, maybe a good coffee table book.
The difference with Herme' and Trotter is Herme' understands the physiology of taste, whereas it seems Trotter is shooting in the air and hoping to hit something.
I'm not sure about the photography either, yeh the guy with the camera knows what he's doing but how close do you have to get to a cobbler with odd ingredients and does it in fact make it actually taste good?

I wonder about the wisdom of catering to the cognoscenti in the media, they aren't too cogno around here.
On occasion the NYTimes sends critics to Boston, I remember their ripping up some of the hot spots pretty good and they were right too.
Food writers do a lot of damage unwittingly, their view is anyone in the kitchen is a chef, they don't understand the time it takes.
Molly O'Neil (NYTimes) is one of the few who was an actual chef.
Its wiser to build a customer base on quality, one customer at a time than rely on the media, the danger is you can start to cook for them and that is a double edged sword.

>>Your work must not be glamorous enough, >

Pastry baking whether in a pastry shop, bakery or restuarant is more rewarding than glamour, its more important than that.
People who walk away from high paying careers to sweat in a kitchen don't do it for fame and fortune, they do it because it feeds their souls.

I think the French understand taste in a way we can't, I can duplicate their work but honestly can't say I appreciate it.

OK, back to work.

Cheers, Gerard

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