[.ca] In the Sweet Kitchen: The Definitive Guide to the ... (ISBN 0679309748)

Amazon.ca:
Few Canadian cookbooks can match Regan Daley's In the Sweet Kitchen at once for wit, wisdom, and completeness. No surprise, then, that Daley's book won the 2001 International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook of the Year Award (no mean trick for a rookie author). It's a sturdy, handsome work with stitched signatures that won't let the 704 pages spring from their spine. There's something to learn here for everyone, from the total tyro to the self-assured pro. Daley, a pâtissière who has worked at a couple of top-drawer Toronto restaurants, is big on method, but her vast knowledge and infectious energy still sweep you along. She lists all the tools and ingredients for anything desserty, whether baked, steamed, or fried. These instructions comprise just over half the text. First Daley anatomizes the Big Four ingredients: flour, sugar, butter, eggs (in 100 pages). How well or badly do they work? How hard are they to find? How should they be stored? She limns other fixings--fruits, nuts, spices, and allied flavourings--complementing the compendium with charts stating what goes with what and what to use if you must make, say, Dark Chocolate and Hazelnut Biscotti and can't find fresh hazelnuts. Daley's no snob, just precise about taste: for Wild Blueberry Pie, "YOU NEED WILD BERRIES!! Never use the cultivated ones! They make lousy pies, and lousy everything else for that matter." Her Hazelnut Crème Brûlée with a Crushed Praline Crust, caramelize with a blowtorch, is beyond bliss. Daley's boldly sophisticated desserts add big-city flair to homey preparations. She crafts a crumble of tropical fruits and a guava cheesecake with a cashew-ginger crust. And the leads to these detailed recipes are come-hitherish, passionate outbursts that are crammed with culinary smarts. Vaut le détour, every cookie, every cake, every word! --Ted Whittaker

A Remarkable Achievement from a Remarkable Person:
I have owned this book from the moment it was released and it is an invaluable addition and edition in my kitchen. Regan is meticulous in the details and her knowledge of these intricacies comes through in each scrumptious recipe. I have had the great pleasure of experiencing her baking and she is second to none. BUY THIS BOOK! You will be thrilled with it.