Top 50 Cookbooks Of All Time, Our Favourite Cookbooks & What We Are Waiting For & The One We Can't Find!

Richard Olney's 'The French Menu Cookbook' Came Out On Top

David Thompson Was Australia's representative In The Top 10 

The UK's Guardian newspaper recently published it's annual list of the top 50 cookbooks of all time. This of course is highly subjective and is understandably English-centric coming from the UK, but it does raise the question 'What makes a good cookbook?' A good cookbook is different things to different people, our choices and reasons may differ from another persons, and who's to say who is right?

As you may know if you have followed this blog for some time now, we are passionate about our cookbooks, especially pastry orientated ones. This does not discount the fact though that our favourite books of all time are often from the savoury side. Heston's 'The Big Fat Duck Cookbook' is one of our absolute favourites but it is not found in the list published by the Guardian. This may be because of its accessibility to the home cook (and most chefs!). This exposes flaws in 'lists' and reinforces the fact that one cannot generalise a vast genre into one list. So with that, check out the link to the Guardian articles and if your favourite books are not on there, so be it! They are valuable to you and that's all that matters.

Guardian Article Top 50 Cookbooks 50-11  

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/aug/13/50-best-cookbooks-ofm

Top 10

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/aug/15/top-10-best-cookbooks

Here is a list of some our favourite cookbooks (in case you were interested) and in no particular order.

Ramon Morato signing us copies of his 'Chocolate' cookbook.

Chocolate by Ramon Morato http://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-Ramon-Morató/dp/3875151135/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282605420&sr=8-1

The Big Fat Duck Cookbook by Heston Blumenthal http://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Duck-Cookbook/dp/1596915501/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282605546&sr=1-1

Sous Vide Cuisine by Joan Roca http://www.amazon.com/Sous-Vide-Cuisine-Joan-Roca/dp/8472121127/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282605630&sr=1-7

Essential Cuisine by Michel Bras http://burchandpurchese.blogspot.com/2009/05/burch-purchese-recommended-books-1.html

Fusion Chocolate by Frederic Bau http://www.amazon.com/Fusion-Chocolate-Frederick-Bau/dp/8472121178/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282605834&sr=8-1

Natura by Albert Adria https://secure.elbulli.com/elbullibooks/

We could go on all day with this and we are fortunate enough to have an extensive library, which is difficult as cookbook collecting can turn out to be an expensive hobby.

One book that you will just HAVE to save your pennies (LOTS OF PENNIES!!) for though is Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold and colleagues.

You know when a book is going to be really special (and pricey), when it has its own website! http://modernistcuisine.com/

This book is really going to be something, out in December 2010 it should encompass everything you need to know about modern cookery. Stunning photography and top quality printing along with years of research will make this a must have for us. 

2400 pages of pure information and essential images and recipes, this is the one we have been waiting for. Chefs Ferran Adria and Heston Blumenthal wrote the forewords and we are putting our money away and counting the days to is release. 

One book that does elude our collection though is Albert Adria's first release 'Los postres de El Bulli', this is a very rare book indeed and was deleted a short time after its minimal release in 1998. We have only ever seen one copy (two actually - bit greedy!) and that was in Ramon Morato's collection (above) when we visited him at Chocovic in Spain.

Ramon's TWO!! copies.

This is the elusive book that we will continue to hunt down - so if anybody has a spare that they would like to sell, then drop us a line and we promise it will go to a good home!!

Enjoy your cookbooks everyone, hopefully we will have one out one day if we continue to learn, work hard and persevere! 

Cake Tasting

When we are asked to commission a special creation for a client we often provide them with a tasting. It is generally a smaller version of the proposed finished product and sometimes has a small sculpture or a feel of how the cake will look as well as the exact flavour profile. The cake above was delivered as a tasting last week to some clients who had expressed an interest in Burch & Purchese creating their wedding cake. The brief was to have a multi-layered creation with chocolate (of course) being the star. We were pretty much given a black canvas to create something rustic, earthy and delicious. We came up with this and the layers inside include hazelnut daquoise, hazelnut brownie, salted caramel and pear jelly. We garnished the tasting cake with chocolate flowers, toasted hazelnuts, hazelnut cream and charred poached pear. We'll let you know how we go once it's been approved or revised.

Latest Trials, Products & Dishes This Winter

To celebrate the increasing quality and abundant supply of Australian truffles, we have created our own out of aerated dark chocolate and fresh truffle salsa. These can be shaved at the table.

Testing new different chocolate shades for spraying our celebration cakes and individual desserts.

 

A Spanish style polvoron made with powdered cocoa nibs & hazelnuts - just prior to baking.

A vibrant looking fresh watercress sorbet is ready to go.

Citrus is great in Australia at this time of year and it is a good time to start candying the zests, shown here is candied lime zest.

A reworking of our chocolate, pear & hazelnut dish, with the addition of a hazelnut ice cream.

Warm chocolate mousse, hazelnut meringue & chocolate leaves. Work In Progress!!

Could not resist trying this almond biscuit recipe from the pages of Siete Cookbook. Yummy!!

Latest Bespoke Chocolate Celebration Cakes

We are now making more cakes than ever before and two we finished recently are pictured here. The first was a request for a stunning table piece with individual portions and a 'goldfish bowl' filled with chocolate spheres, it was flavoured with burnt orange and bay leaf sable breton. The second cake was chocolate mousse, salted caramel and ginger cake and the client wanted gold garnishes and the birthday person's name written in this font. Both cakes were greatly received and enjoyed and we really enjoy working closely with our clients to give them the best possible product.

Wild Rice Fudge!!

Just a quick post on one of our latest experiments. The wild rice in this chocolate covered fudge lends a delicious and different flavour profile. It is earthy and nutty and the crunchy texture provides a refreshing contrast. We have been busy coming up with new flavours and textures in confectionary in preparation for a new retail line.

The Architecture Of A Celebration Cake

The Chocolate & Orange Wedding Creation Assembled Yesterday.

Initial Sketch After Consultation With The Clients.

Some Of Our Chocolate Spheres.

Ian Concentrating On The Chocolate Centre Piece.

Close Up Of The Spheres.

The 'Jaina' Chocolate Is Bleached With Titanium Dioxide.

The Chocolate Centre Piece.

The architecture of a cake? We take our creations seriously and work a lot like architects in constructing our unique celebration cakes. From conception to consumption we work closely with our clients to ensure we make exactly what is wished. We pride ourselves on making cakes "that are as interesting on the inside as on the outside", this particular design was layered inside with a dense and moist chocolate brownie, burnt orange cream and 'Tarakan' chocolate mousse. The brief was to finish the cake in dark chocolate glaze and ultra white chocolate glaze and topped with a bespoke chocolate piece. The deep red flowers set off the cake stunningly in a distinct 'Art Deco' style. We met with the clients a number of months ago for the initial consultation and then set to work on a sketch for us to work with. The next stage was a delivery of small samples of the cake with different flavours inside, we were told that the orange flavoured one was the favourite, which worked really well with this time of the year the best for oranges in Australia. As our cakes are made to order and of a fresh nature, the cake was started on Thursday with the brownie base being made, as well as some of the chocolate shapes for the centre piece. On Friday we assembled the mousse and burnt orange in frames with the base and we got to work on the top of the cake. Saturday morning was spent glazing the top and bottom tiers in dark and white and finishing the deep red flowers for the top. We then went to the venue with all of the components and assembled the creation there. We were happy with the result and received great feedback from the venue staff, hopefully the clients enjoyed the cake as much as we enjoyed making it. We currently have several of these projects lined up for the coming months and have taken orders for as far as November 2011. More and more people want something different for a celebration cake, especially weddings, they seem to want it to be delicious as well as strikingly beautiful. That is our ethos as well, why pay for a cake for a wedding that no one really wants to eat? We hope you enjoy an insight into the process of one of our creations. Let us know if you wish Burch & Purchese to create something special for your event!

Update - Consultancy, Cakes & Finding A Home!

First stages in development of a new dish for a well known restaurant in Melbourne.

A chocolate cake design for a client entering a major pastry competition.

One of our wedding celebration creations earlier this month for a client in Melbourne.

Self made design ideas for the next phase of our business.

One of our latest creations for Sofitel's No.35 restaurant.

Firstly we must apologize for our absence from posting anything on this site for the last three weeks. We try to keep as updated as possible but sometimes it is just to busy to post, this has been one of those times! We thought we would give you a quick update from the world of Burch & Purchese and an idea into what we have been doing and what we have been planning.
Firstly we completed a consultancy job for a restaurant here in Melbourne and we have one commencing this week for a very well known two hatted restaurant. Once completed we will reveal the venue so that if you are in the area you could sample some of our creations. We get approached quite frequently from establishments wanting to employ our knowledge and experience and we are happy to help in any way we can. We firstly ask to see current menus and current equipment and space and speak to the chef involved to try and find out a bit about his or her food style so that the cuisine matches. We feel the desserts should be an extension of the savoury menu rather than an add on and as such like to tailor the sweet menu to provide a seamless flow. We also like to provide contrasts in texture, flavour, temperatures, colour and cooking techniques - armed with this information we set to work compiling a menu using locally sourced ingredients and seasonal produce. The first image above, is of the initial stages of working out a dish, we have all the information and now it's time to put our experience into practice. We always use sketches to help us imagine how a dish looks on the plate and then we start to work on the individual recipes for all of the components. One thing we do remember is the level of staffing ability at a particular restaurant, we don't want to do anything too complicated if there is a chance it cannot be practically replicated. At the same time we like to add new techniques to the business involved and try to create a balance. The second image shows a design we have made on behalf of a client who is entering a major chocolate competition later on this year. He wanted to get an idea of how we would approach the rules, theme and execution of a particular section of the competition - Entremets. We provided the clint with a sketch and demonstration of the architecture of a gâteaux just to help him in his entry. These two recent jobs show the diversity of our consultancy experience and for us it is an enjoyable arm of our business as it lets us work with a range of different personalities and improves our overall understanding or kitchens, cuisine and problem solving.
The third image down is of one of our unique tailored pieces created for a clients wedding just recently. The client had a theme of roses and really like our previous crystallized rose petals on other works. We incorporated this component into the garnish for a rose scented chocolate piece that the client enjoyed immensely.
We have also been looking hard for the last 8 months for a permanent home for Burch & Purchese, we have had many emails from members of the public asking us where they can sample our creations and we would like to say "Be patient" - it WILL happen soon but this process always takes longer than imagined. That said we feel we may be able to make an announcement on the next phase of our business here very soon! We are confident of securing a deal in Melbourne this year and have even gone so far as to start the interior design process - starting with transferring some of our previous creation images into smart waterclolour wall mounted designs.
Of course we are still consulting for No.35 restaurant and we have created this stunning chocolate & pear dish which is perfect for this time of year. So if you are in town, check out the dessert menu there and we hope to announce other places where you can try our work very soon. For now, thanks for your continued support and we will keep you as updated as possible on some pretty exciting events planned from now until the next Melbourne Food & Wine Festival in March next year.
Darren & Ian