Posted by Karen Upright on October 27, 1997 at 17:28:28:
In Reply to: Re: Cooking Libraries posted by Gerard on October 27, 1997 at 13:51:57:
: Some people just like to collect books too, when my partner died she left me dozens of baking books, almost all useless for our store or any pro shop, she confided the only reason she bought them was she wanted to see if there was someone better than me, I told her theres plenty of better pastry bakers but they aren't writing books, writers are writing, bakers bake.
I use professional books for serious how-to and reliable formulas. So-called "amateur" books are for visual or flavor inspiration. Both have a purpose. I try not to have too many. Professional volumes live at work, "fun" stuff is shelved at home.
: I've wayched Rose L' on video trying to ice a cake, she can't do it, the camera cut away just as she scooped up some buttercream and was holding the cake in the other hand, its the way the French ice a cake (spinning it on the hand instead of using a turntable), anyway I showed Carol how phoney she was becase when the camera cuts back in the cakes all iced, wow I'd too ashamed to do something like that. Its not hard to do if you've been taught, seems to me non professional writers are the ultimate wannabe's (as long as they don't get dirty or have to work hard that is). I have no use for them or their second hand knowledge, non of it is trustworthy because they haven't done the training.
I only stated that there was a decent baking chemistry section (including fat percentages in various types of chocolate, and icing quantities for large-scale cakes) in The Cake Bible. She also included a nice list of sources for both equipment and ingredients, and I think her flavor combinations are good. I don't know if she can ice a cake or not, but does it matter? No, it's not a professional volume. Maybe not every word in the book is truly valuable, but I don't imagine I'll ever use every word in the dictionary, either, and yet I still own one. And, again, glossy photos are for recreation, not work.
I use the formulas in her book which deal with quantities for assorted cake layers when I'm baking wedd