# Spago - Anyone tried recipes from it?



## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

I meant "SPAGO CHOCOLATE".

I just bought the book, all the recipes look so good...

What did you try?

[ April 13, 2001: Message edited by: Kimmie ]


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## w.debord (Mar 6, 2001)

Great Book! Take out your "post its"!

Six layer cassata: Very Good cake, similar to pound. I baked in 2 9" rounds instead. 

Individual chocolate-hazelnut cakes: I couldn't land the baking time. 20 min was underdone and 25 was over. The taste was great, it sets at the level you filled it to. Passed on re-trys.

Classic chocolate truffle cake: didn't work, pass on re-trys.

Roulade Au Chocolate: Truely fabulous!!! The best choc. cake roll ever! I didn't use her filling though. Worth the price of the book!

Cookies and cream cheesecake: pretty good.

Chocolate chunk cookies: pretty good.

Mocha mac. nut choc. cookies: pretty good.

Peanut butter choc. chunk cookies: pretty good, like personal recipe better.

I didn't refrid. any of her cookie recipes, they all worked fine with-out, not alot of spread on any.

Chocolate tiramisu: very good, I've made 3 other versions from their other book too, all very good.

Chocolate Tartufo: EXCELLENT!!!

Crunchy toffee tortoni: EXCELLENT!

I liked this book well enough to become their followers. I purchased their other baking book also. The only disapointments were their molton type cakes, which I have better recipes.
Otherwise, it's a really solid baking book!

Now, you have to tell me your results!O.K.????


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## w.debord (Mar 6, 2001)

P.S. years ago I bought his cookbook, the first thing I tried was sooo bad I never opened the book again!

Anyone have recomendations from it?


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

Wolfgang Puck published a cookbook in the 80's that is on my most used stack....the caramel sauce and flourless chocolate cake are wonderful. I like that he describes cooking as child's play...it looks like he has fun in the kitchen


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## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

YES! Give me a little time and I will keep you posted.

Too funny what you said:

I had the same reaction when he (W. Puck) featured in a book called "Recipes from the Rich and Famous", or something like that. I tried one of his recipes, failed, and NEVER, I say NEVER reopened the book again. See, I can barely remember the title...


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

A review of Spago Chocolate:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/books...ok-review.html


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## w.debord (Mar 6, 2001)

Iza I tried to read the review but I got a long registration page...I don't want any e-mail from them...but I'd love to see their review. Can you type in a more direct address?Please>>>>>>>


Shroomgirl we must be talking about the same book because mine also has a flourless choc. cake and a carmel sauce. It's called Wolfgang Puck's Modern french Cooking. I'd love to know any other recipes you tried that you loved from it????!!!!!!

He certainly does look like he truely loves to cook. But until Shroomgirl wrote her last post I kind of thought he was one of those guys who held back the "whole recipe" so he remained brilliant looking and no one else could make his items as well. Like I said the one thing I tried really stunk and I haven't touched the book since the 80's!


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

That's the book! Those are the ones I use the most. Many Years ago Puck gave classes out of his restaurant, so he's not one to monkey with a recipe.
I like his shortened techniques, and think the pastry part has some good ideas.
I'll look at my copy soon and see if anything else worked well. But those two things I make from his recipes.

My philosophy on giving out recipes is if you have something that is special to your business and you don't want everyone making it DON"T GIVE OUT THE RECIPE. I teach regularly and don't give out my biscuit, chocolate meragine, or almond toffee recipes.
Anything else is exactly as I cook it...


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## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

Just visit
www.bn.com

Search for Spago Chocolate

You will find reviews and more.


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## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

P.S. You can also explore
www.amazon.com


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

Wendy,

It's the New York Times website, and they ask that you register before viewing their site. I never got any junk mail from them. Here's the review.

Dreaming in Chocolate
SPAGO CHOCOLATE 
By Mary Bergin and Judy Gethers.
Random House, $35.


The cover of "Spago Chocolate" by Mary Bergin and Judy Gethers looks like a gold foil chocolate box, but this is not just a book for armchair cooks to nibble on. It deserves full attention in the kitchen, even at the risk of cocoa and butter smudges on its slick pages. 
Ms. Bergin was the head pastry chef at Spago, Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in Los Angeles, from 1987 to 1992 and is now the head pastry chef at Spago Las Vegas. Her collaborator has written and tested the recipes for all the Spago cookbooks. Together the two have compiled user-friendly recipes that are especially noteworthy in the cake department. There are also good choices in ice creams, candies, soufflés, tarts, cheesecakes, brownies and sauces. 

A few of the desserts are elaborate restaurant-style constructions involving cake, filling, glaze, carefully piped decorations and even a dusting of gold leaf. Most, though, are relatively simple and, if you take the butter out to soften in advance, easily whipped up to satisfy a craving. 

If you forget the butter, there is always a rich, dark chocolate chiffon cake, made with vegetable oil. A chiffon cake may sound 1950's, but this one is the foundation of a number of thoroughly modern desserts. 

Many recipes do not require ambitious equipment, just good chocolate. I easily made a moist, bittersweet cake infused with Grand Marnier without an electric mixer. A handsome marble cake was another homey winner, though the pan size specified was skimpy. (A standard 9-by-5 inch pan works better.) 

I'll keep this cookbook handy to make shortbread cookies, chocolate zabaglione and crepes, which can be done in advance and then filled with mascarpone cream. 

The introductory text is mercifully brief, especially as it contains misinformation, like advising that bittersweet chocolate can be kept a year on the pantry shelf (even in a cool, dark spot, it's likely to develop whitish "bloom"); stating that couverture, an extra-smooth chocolate, is not readily available (all Valrhona chocolate is couverture); and describing cocoa pods as smooth and not elongated (they're like ridged footballs). 

Those who want an education in chocolate should look elsewhere. This is a book for those who want to bake with it and devour the results.


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## w.debord (Mar 6, 2001)

Hum....thanks for posting the review. The writer sounded like a weekend baker...which I guess that's who the main buyer is....but I wouldn't have found any negative words for this book.  It's a good buy!!!


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