The Notebooks of Michel Bras: Desserts
The Notebooks of Michel Bras is a book about inspiration, and isn’t really a recipe book or a typical food book (although it does contain almost 90 recipes and lots of culinary suggestions). It functions mainly as a diary of this Master Pastry Chef’s creative process, as he documents his unusual ideas and concoctions, from the inspiration of nature through to the dessert table. It is illustrated with hand-drawings and doodling, with no real photographs; together with his writing style, it gives the effect of being a notebook, without actually being one.
I am a big fan of Michel Bras, and took a pilgrimage to his restaurant Laguiole in France several summers ago, inspired and excited by the ‘cuisine of well-being’, his passionate commitment to fresh and local seasonal ingredients. Of course that means I love this book, it is very personal to me – I just melt. Reading it I am almost transported to the Auvergne, thrilled by his love of food. The intimacy of his notes make the book special, even romantic; he talks about his memory of why he loves specific foods, his connection with local ingredients and farmers, how the shape of a leaf or smell of a flower will influence his creative nature, contributing to one of his unique and graceful dishes.
Of course, I am a pastry chef, and his musings are far more interesting to me than possibly to the casual reader, and will definitely be a bit too experimental for most cooks. Such extreme-french concepts as pastry dough made with duck fat, or french seminola pudding, are at best an acquired taste for most of us! Michel has the courage and passion to bring these to the table, and discuss his choices clearly with good humor and style.
This is not a book I use, however; it is more a pleasurable read with interesting ideas than it is useful. Cooks wanting some new ideas for their kitchen should probably skip this one, while readers with a taste for the adventurous and the cutting-edge should pick it up.