OP: The Pâtisserie of Pierre Hermé

Montagud Editores, Barcelona, 1997. Hardcover. Very Good Plus.

In the fourth generation of a family of bakers and confectioners and, at age 14, apprentice to Gaston Lenôtre, Pierre Hermé (1961– ) seems to have been destined to become one of the world’s most admired and successful pastry chefs. 

The Pâtisserie of Pierre Hermé, first published in French in 1995, is an exhaustive collection of Hermé’s time leading the boutique pastry shop Fauchon, known for their delicately assembled cakes and tarts. This book is an essential precursor to those that followed, which focus on macarons and chocolate. 

Hermé is most certainly addressing professional pastry chefs with this work. A strong understanding of classic French techniques and terminology is assumed. Most items consist of no fewer than six components, some of these with sub-recipes.

One might wish to try a hand at a coconut dacquoise with papaya, lemon, and mango and coconut mousses; or the “Harlequin,” a cherry syrup-steeped génoise with pistachio bavarois, cherry gelée, and ladyfingers; or a pinecone-shaped almond cake with chocolate mousse and “scales.” There are also recipes for such bakery favorites as croissants, kouign-amann, and canneles. Instructive photographs and illustrations showing process and assembly are included throughout.

Our copy is a bilingual edition, written in both French and English, in Very Good Plus condition. Minor shelfwear. The Pâtisserie of Pierre Hermé, now quite scarce, is always in demand.