Nancy Silverton's Pastries from the La Brea Bakery
Author: Nancy Silverton
"The pastries we make are deliciously simple and rustic and never too sweet. Woven into many of them are my favorite flavors: butter, cinnamon, nuts, and fruit. They're familiar, uncomplicated, and satisfying. One taste and you're instantly comforted. Inspired by a sweet memory from childhood, a European classic, or a time-honored bakeshop standard, they are flavors you never tire of. Like my bread, these are pastries you want to eat every day." —from the Introduction
When celebrated pastry chef and baker Nancy Silverton decided to add sweets to the La Brea Bakery's shelves of artisanal breads, she knew that they couldn't be just any sweets. Instead of baking fastidious and overelaborate desserts, she creates deliciously simple, rustic pastries, full of texture and flavor, that complement perfectly her hearty, country-style breads and have people lining up morning after morning. Now, in Pastries from the La Brea Bakery, Silverton shares her passion and expertise in more than 150 recipes of her most scrumptious favorites—virtually every pastry in the La Brea Bakery's impressive repertoire.
Silverton distills years of experimentation and innovation into simple and accessible directions. Many of her recipes are surprisingly quick and easy—not to mention incredibly tasty—like her crisps, cobblers, and crumbles, and her ever-popular scones, which run the gamut from Chocolate-Walnut to Ginger to Mushroom-Onion. Her muffins are moist and distinctive, from the healthful Bran to the rich Crotin de Chocolat. She offers an array of quickbreads and quickcakes forall tastes (including Madeleines, Canellés, and Cranberry-Almond Tea Bread), and her tarts bring out the best qualities of the finest ingredients, from the intense, fresh fruit of her Cherry Bundles to her elegant Triple Almond Tart. Beautiful cookies, such as Almond Sunflowers, Nun's Breasts, and Swedish Ginger Wafers, are centerpiece desserts on their own. Silverton also deftly teaches the delicate art of confections—here you'll find Almond Bark, English Toffee, and Lollipops—and demystifies the sometimes intimidating technique of doughnut making.
The crowning touch is her detailed section on Morn-ing Pastries, where she guides us to mastery of the classic doughs: the quick and rich bobka, the fine-textured traditional brioche, the famous and flexible croissant, and the pièce de résistance: puff pastry.
An important book from a baking and pastry icon, Pastries from the La Brea Bakery, like Nancy Silver-ton's acclaimed Breads from the La Brea Bakery, is a bible of the craft for bakers everywhere.
A selection of recipes from
Nancy Silverton's Pastries from the La Brea Bakery
Apple Fritters * Asparagus-Egg Pie with Potato Crust * Black Currant Silk Tart
Blueberry-Almond Muffins * Brownies with Irish Whiskey and Currants * Canellés
Caramel Candy Kisses * Cheese Croissants * Chocolate-Walnut Scones * Cinnamon Custard Tart ¸ Country Feta Pies * Crème Fraîche Coffee Cake * Croissants * Crotin de Chocolat ¸ Espresso Wheels * Everyone's Mother's Berry Cobbler * Ginger Scones * Hazelnut-Banana Tart ¸ Iced Raisin Squares * Jelly Doughnuts * Lemon Turnovers * Madeleines * Moravian Ginger Snaps ¸ Nectarine-Ginger Crisp * Nun's Breasts * Parma Braids * Pecan Sticky Buns * Ricotta Muffins ¸ Rosemary Corncakes * Rugelach * Sesame-Pumpkin Seed Brittle ¸ Sticky Toffee Pudding * Viennese Cream Brioche
Publishers Weekly
Passionate bakers will find Silverton's latest collection of recipes as absorbing as this year's hottest potboiler: "What happens next?" is the question after each page is turned. Here, the answer is one enticing pastry after another: "quickcakes," quick breads, savories, cobblers and crisps, muffins, tarts, doughnuts, confections. Fans of Silverton's La Brea Bakery fare will want to know how she makes her fudge-swirled Almond Poundcake and incomparable Cinnammon Buns; and what's the secret of those famous Bran Muffins? (Pureed Raisins) Hers are "rustic" but elegant creations--straightforward, but evocative of browned butter and vanilla, toasted pecans and ricotta. Breakfast Pastries, for example, include Russian Coffeecake, laced with chocolate and sour cream, and lush, brioche Sticky Buns. Although this is a book for the serious cook, its brisk, encouraging tone and intelligently written instructions could help even a novice turn out memorable Chocolate Madeleines, Ginger Scones or Lemon Picnic Tarts--while experienced cooks can dive into puff pastry or croissant dough, as well. Anyone would be thrilled to sample this combination of pastries, and Silverton's excellent teaching skills make this volume accessible to almost everyone. Photos by Steven Rothfeld. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|
Library Journal
The wonderful artisanal breads from Silverton's La Brea bakery in Los Angeles have a national reputation. But Silverton is a pastry chef as well--her first book was the excellent Desserts--and several years after she opened the bakery, she added pastries and other sweet baked goods to its repertoire. The follow-up to Breads from the La Brea Bakery, this book includes 150 recipes for mostly homey, rustic, though not necessarily simple-to-make treats--Silverton says "show-off desserts" are not her style. There are her delicious Pecan Sticky Buns, Chocolate Croissants, and other "Morning Pastries"; Peach Cobbler, Nectarine-Ginger Crisp, and Belgian Sugar Pie; and muffins, quick breads, scones, and more, including a chapter of savory recipes. Recipe instructions are detailed and clear, and although there are old favorites here, there are many more unusual pastries as well. Highly recommended. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Internet Book Watch
Pastries from the La Brea Bakery shares Silverton's passion for pastries with over 150 of her favorites featured in La Brea Bakery. This includes a fine range of savory pastries as well as sweet dishes: instructions for classic doughs will appeal to beginners while those more advanced will delight in innovative recipes such as Black Currant Silk Tart and Nectarine Ginger Crisp. An appealing title, sans photos.
Christian Science Monitor - Jennifer Wolcott
More than 150 recipes stick to Silveron's trademark—rustic, simple, European style baked goods with a dash of inventiveness tossed into the mix. She also shares techniques, lists of ingredients, equipment, and sources, making this book a virtual bible of its craft.
See also: Crave or Complete Gluten Free Cookbook
Cocina De La Familia: More Than 200 Authentic Recipes from Mexican-American Home Kitchens
Author: Marilyn Tausend
A collection of more than two hundred treasured family recipes and the stories behind them, Cocina de la Familia is a celebration of Mexican-American home cooking, culture, and family values.
For three years, Marilyn Tausend traveled across the United States and Mexico, talking to hundreds of Mexican and Mexican-American cooks. With the help of chef Miguel Ravago, Tausend tells the tale of these cooks, all of whom have adapted the family dishes and traditions they remember to accommodate a life considerably different from the lives of their parents and grandparents.
In these pages you will find the real food eaten every day by Mexican-American families, whether they live in cities such as Los Angeles, the border towns of Texas, the farming communities of the Pacific Northwest, or the isolated villages of New Mexico. An Oregonian from Morelos, Mexico, balances sweet, earthy chiles with tart tomatillos for a tangy green salsa that is a perfect topping for Chipotle Crab Enchiladas or Huevos Rancheros. A Chicago woman from Guanajuato pairs light, spicy Chicken and Garbanzo Soup with quesadillas for a simple supper. A Los Angeles cook serves a dish of Chicken with Spicy Prune Sauce, the fire of the chiles tamed by Coca-Cola, and in Illinois a woman adds chocolate to the classic Mexican rice pudding.
Now you can re-create the vibrant flavors and rustic textures of this remarkable cuisine in your own kitchen. Most of the recipes are quite simple, and the more complex dishes, like moles and tamales, can be made in stages. So take a savory expedition across borders and generations, and celebrate the spirit and flavor of the Mexican-American table with your ownfamily.
Library Journal
These two excellent new collections featuring contemporary Latin American cooking in the United States complement each other nicely. Tausend, coauthor with Susanna Palazuelos and others of Mexico the Beautiful (LJ 11/15/91), traveled throughout the country seeking the simple, traditional dishes that second- and third-generation Mexican Americans are cooking for everyday meals, recipes from their mothers and grandmothers. With Ravago, former chef/owner of Austin's Fonda San Miguel, she presents a broad selection of mouthwatering recipes, for both more familiar dishes such as Crispy Chicken Tacos and unusual ones like Pork and Purslane Stew. Tausend writes well, and headnotes include background on the various dishes as well as on the contributor. Highly recommended. Novas and Silva's more wide-ranging book draws on the diversity of Latin American cooking from 26 different nationalities in this country. Although the authors include homey, traditional dishes, they offer more sophisticated and elegant recipes from both home cooks and chefs, often in the cross-cultural nuevo style: New Southwestern Gnocchi di Patate, for example. The knowledgeable headnotes give culinary and cultural context for each recipe, often describing similar dishes from other Latin American countries, and more "exotic" ingredients are identified in glossary sections scattered throughout the book. Highly recommended. [There is also a Spanish-language edition, La Cocina Latinomericana en Los Estados Unidos, ISBN 0-679-44803-9.Ed.]
Table of Contents:
| Introduction | 15 | |
| Basic Techniques of the Mexican-American Kitchen: Roasting, Toasting, Searing, and Souring | 19 | |
| Everyday Basic Ingredients | 25 | |
| New Mexico Impressions | 27 | |
| Beginnings/Botanas | 31 | |
| California Impressions | 47 | |
| Salads and Seafood Cocktails/Ensaladas y Cocteles de Marisco | 49 | |
| Texas Impressions | 66 | |
| Soups and Meals in a Pot/Sopas, Caldos, Pozoles, y Menudos | 69 | |
| Arizona Impressions | 103 | |
| Quick Bites/Antojitos y Tortas | 105 | |
| Illinois Impressions | 134 | |
| Main Dishes: Fish, Poultry, Meat, and Lighter Fare/Platillos Principales | 137 | |
| Colorado Impressions | 218 | |
| Comfortable Companions: Beans, Lentils, Rice, and Vegetables/Comidas Adicionales: Frijoles, Lentejas, Arroz, y Legumbres | 221 | |
| Washington Impressions | 256 | |
| Finishing Touches: Salsas, Relishes, Condiments/Salsas y Encurtidos | 259 | |
| Michigan Impressions | 286 | |
| Tamales/Tamales | 289 | |
| Florida Impressions | 307 | |
| Bread and Breakfast/Pan, Pan Dulce, y Huevos | 309 | |
| New York Impressions | 340 | |
| Sweet Endings/Postres | 343 | |
| Oregon and Idaho Impressions | 371 | |
| And to Wash It All Down/Bebidas | 373 | |
| Selected Bibliography | 387 | |
| Product Sources | 391 | |
| Permissions Acknowledgments | 393 | |
| Index | 395 | |
| Metric Equivalencies | 415 |
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