Synopses & Reviews
All-American Desserts is a treasure-trove of goodies that sustain Americans across the country, whether traditional sweets, back-of the box classics, or newly inspired creations. Every kind of satisfaction imaginable is here-cookies, cakes, pies, puddings, cobblers, pastries, ice cream, candy, and more. A true American dessert is one that either was adapted from another culinary tradition to suit American tastes (Greek Deep Dish Custard Tart, Germantown Lebkuchen) or was created by an American cook using American ingredients (Vermont maple syrup in Maple and Hickory Nut Apple Crisp, New Mexican Pine Nuts in Ole Mole Cookies). These finales have flair: instead of staid carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, for which you already have a recipe, there is Praise and Plenty Cake that has squash and zucchini as well as carrots. And the brownies in All-American Desserts are blue ribbon and double chocolate. Enjoy homemade American treats as you read the story of each dessert, which Fertig puts into historical context along with the recipe.
Review
"Thsi book is jam-packed with American heritage recipes, each one more delicious-sounding than the next!" --Gale Gand, executive pastry chef at Tru and host of the Food Network's
Sweet Dreams "Seductive and compulsively readable . . . Fertig has compiled an exhaustive and valuable collection of American recipes and the lore behind them that will as likely and up on your bedside table as your kitchen counter." --Regan Daley, author of In the Sweet Kitchen
"A significant addition to the sweet subject of desserts, Judith Fertig's American Desserts does not miss a step as it marches along detailing just about any dessert worth preparing and pleasurably consuming." --Marcel Desaulniers, author of Death by Chocolate
Synopsis
All-American Desserts is a treasure-trove of goodies that sustain Americans across the country, whether traditional sweets, back-of the box classics, or newly inspired creations. Every kind of satisfaction imaginable is here-cookies, cakes, pies, puddings
Synopsis
400 star-spangled, razzle-dazzle recipes for America's best loved desserts.
About the Author
Judith M. Fertig is a bestselling and award-winning cookbook author. She lives in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, where she develops recipes that celebrate the rich culinary traditions of the Heartland. A recognized authority on regional Midwestern cuisine and an experienced cookbook author and food writer, she has studied at the Cordon Bleu in London and La Varenne in Paris. Prairie Home Breads follows Fertig's definitive Prairie Home Cooking, a collection of recipes inspired by the abundant produce of the Midwestern states, including wild and heirloom fruits and vegetables, game, grains, and beef. The bestselling Prairie Home Cooking was a 1999 nominee for both the IACP Cookbook Award and the James Beard Book Award. Fertig is also the author of the award-winning Pure Prairie: Farm Fresh and Wildly Delicious Foods from the Prairie, as well as several books on barbeque with coauthor Karen Adler. In addition to these cookbooks, Fertig wrote the Great Plains chapter of the American version of Culinaria, a two-volume book on American culinary traditions. She is a contributor to numerous distinguished magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times, the London Sunday Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Saveur, Santé, Country Living, and Country Home. Fertig was inspired to write the Prairie Home cookbooks while living in London. Although she had lived and traveled all over the Midwest, living abroad gave her a new perspective, revealing the Midwest as a region of culinary innovation, cultural diversity, and fresh and varied native foods and produce. Looking at this familiar region from a new perspective allowed Fertig to capture the honest wholesomeness of Midwestern cuisine in her cookbooks. To write Prairie Home Breads, Fertig visited Old World artisanal bakeries, farmhouse kitchens, rural church suppers, community bake sales, bustling urban ethnic bakeries, farmer's markets, and home kitchens throughout the Midwest. Fertig shares her considerable culinary expertise and her appreciation of the Midwestern kitchen in cooking classes and seminars and as a restaurant consultant.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Almost Paradise: Fruit Preserves and Desserts
The American Cookie Jar
Let's Eat Cake!
American Pie (and Tarts, and Tartlets, and Pastries)
Custard's Last Stand: Puddings, Custards, Mousses, Flans, and Souffles
We All Scream for Ice Cream
The American Sweet Tooth: Candy and Flavored Syrups
Tisane for Two: Teas, Coolers, and Punches to Enjoy with Your American Dessert
Sources
Select Bibliography
Index