book for pastry chef?

[kudru]

I am looking for a gift for a friend who is just finishing up pastry school. Not a cookbook, necessarily; what I had in mind was something with a lot of well-written text and perhaps some recipes... for example, I (and my friend) loved Ruth Reichl's and Michael Ruhlman's books, "Heat", "Julie and Julia" etc. I would love to find a good read with a pastry/bread focus, but anything interesting/inspirational/relating to food would be good.

Any recommendations?!?!? -thanks!

[Moka]

Your friend might like this book:

Chef's Story: 27 Chefs Talk About What Got Them Into The Kitchen
edited by Dorothy Hamilton (of the French Culinary Institute) and Patric Kuh

This is the companion book to the great new PBS series Chef Story. All 27 chefs are culinary legends. Each chef has their own chapter with bio and recipes. I recently saw the Suzanne Goin TV episode -- very good!

http://chefsstory.com/companionbook.html

[sugarbuzz]

Andrew MacLauchlan has a book called The Making of a Pastry Chef. Google it to find out more about it ..but it's pretty much a lot of pastry chefs that were interviewed & telling how life really is in a pastry kitchen.
My old boss is in it & he gave all of us in the shop a copy. Some recipes but mostly everyone telling why & how they got in the business. Pretty good reading for a newbie like I was when I got it.

[soupkitten]

kaffehaus is a good book, lots of text & pics of the great coffeehouses of Budapest, Vienna & Prague--great recipes & the book is pretty!

http://www.amazon.com/Kaffeehaus-Exqu...

[funkjester]

It's out of print, and you'll have to do some real detective work to come up with a copy, as well as pay a pretty penny for one, but "the New International Confectioner" is an awesome book that your friend will turn to throughout his or her entire career. Indispensible for a serious pastry chef.

[kudru]

Ooh, this looks interesting. Thanks!

[LabRat]

Abebooks.com is the best place I have found for out-of-print books. They have inventories from over 13000 inedpendant used book shops. I just did a check and came up with 17 hits for "the New International Confectioner".

[elizabeththinks]

Not pastry-centric, but Jacques Pepin's memoir/bio is fabulous!

[kudru]

Oh, I read that one -- I loved it, too!!