Sherry Yard: Desserts by the Yard

By JULIETTE ROSSANT How do dessert chefs pair their creations with savory dishes? How do they think up the perfect finish to a lavish meal? Sherry Yard's new book, Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills, Recipes from the Sweetest Life Ever (Houghton Mifflin 2007) goes a long way into exploring the thinking of a pastry chef. This is autobiography as recipe book. Here is Sherry discussing the change from large cakes and pies to a la minute preparation plated desserts: Sherry is the executive pastry chef for the Wolfgang Puck Empire of fine dining restaurants, which includes Spago, Chinois and Cut. She is also the author of The Secrets of Baking (Houghton Mifflin 2003). Desserts by the Yard starts with recipes inspired by her upbringing in Brooklyn, including a No-Bake Cheesecake (p.p. 10-11). The headnotes describe an incident involving exploding cans of green beans and creamed corn that ruined the oven, thus requiring a no-bake cake. There is also a Charlotte Russe (pp. 35-37), pictured on the cover of the book, inspired by a family trip to Atlantic City to see Frank Sinatra. It is the vanilla version of a dessert on the cover of The Secrets of Bakings. Here is Sherry discussing her food memories and how they inspire her desserts: The next chapter, New York City: From Cigarette Girl to Pastry Chef, finds Sherry working in Joe Baum's Rainbow Room, eventually under pastry chef Albert Kumin. The recipes in this chapter include a series of chocolate desserts, classics from the Rainbow Room like the grand Chocolate Velvet (pp. 74-76) and the far simpler, but equally decadent Chocolate Hot-and-Cold (pp. 78-79). The last half of the book is about Sherry's adventures in Northern and Southern California, including her work at Spago and Campton Place. She includes some of the spectacular desserts she created for the Oscars parties catered by Wolfgang Puck each year. Here is Sherry discussing her recipe for Kaiserschmarren (pp. 223-225): In addition, the book also has some of the more exotic desserts served at Chinois from Almond-Ginger Fortune Cookies (pp. 266-268) and a marvelously inventive dessert borrowed from Pichet Ong called Chocolate Rice Krispies Bars Topped with Ovaltine and Milk Chocolate Bavarian Cream (pp. 294-295). It calls for Thai Ovaltine that is maltier than the American kind. This dessert brings the book full circle, playfully updating, rethinking, and recasting childhood desserts. What makes Desserts by the Yard so good is Sherry's personality – vibrant, imaginative, and full of energy. Here is Sherry discussing a possible TV show in the future: Thinking of Julia Child, Sherry feels she has time before she needs to start a food show. Video: Sherry Yard (4 videos together, by Super Chef) Previous articles: Wolfgang Puck's Spago: Wherever You Are [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, Sherry Yard --> back to Super Chef