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December 5, 2007
Sherry Yard -- an unlikely master of pastry
Above, Sherry Yard shows how it's done at Spago in Beverly Hills. Photo by Michael Owen Baker/Los Angeles Daily News
BY NATALIE HAUGHTON, Food Editor
It's the year for dessert cookbooks written by pastry chefs.
To be part of the world of these dessert mavens, open their books (see accompanying list), start baking and indulge. Designed for amateurs as well as professionals, you'll find a wealth of dazzling treats that will impress guests and friends this holiday season and beyond.
In "Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills … Recipes From the Sweetest Life Ever"' (Houghton Mifflin; $35.95), Los Angeles' top pastry queen and dessert superstar Sherry Yard, the executive pastry chef for Wolfgang Puck Worldwide (including Spago, Cut, Chinois and other fine dining establishments throughout the country), includes 150 recipes. They range from the homey sweets of her youth to exquisite Oscar party masterpieces.
"The whole book is all one big memory of my life and desserts," says Yard. "My first book taught people how to bake, and this one has all my secret recipes." Many she has made over the years have been revised and updated. "Years ago, pastries used to be too sweet. I've cut down on the sugar."
Several are simple and easy and can be duplicated with success by any home cook. For starters, try the mini No-Bake Cheesecakes, Cafe Glace or Quintessential Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Yard shares fun reads about stints in the pastry line at the Rainbow Room in New York, as a pastry assistant at New York's Montrachet, pastry chef at Campton Place Hotel in San Francisco and Catahoula in Calistoga before landing at Spago in 1994. The book is also filled with stories about her travel escapades and baking for the rich and famous.
"We bake 250 desserts, minimum, a day at Spago Beverly Hills … and that's close to 75,0000 to 90,000 desserts a year," she notes, adding that the most popular are Kaiserschmarren, a 12-layer Flourless Chocolate Dobos Torte, Apple Strudel and a Lemon Souffle Tart.
Yard's love affair with desserts began in her childhood years, growing up in Brooklyn. For special occasions, the family (her parents and three sisters) ordered bakery cakes.
"I have almost no memory of homemade desserts since my mother didn't bake and did not like to cook. We rarely even had dessert other than store-bought cookies."
But the favorite desserts of her youth, she recalls, included toasted almond ice cream bars from the Good Humor truck, Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies, chocolate-covered cherries and blackout cake … all re-created in some form in the book.
"If I had a choice of a hamburger or a piece of cake on the table, I would go for a piece of cake first," says the enthusiastic 43-year-old, with a laugh. "I could live on pastries alone … and bread. I love ice cream (stracciatella), fruit desserts."
But what is Sherry Yard's recipe for such resounding success?
"I wanted to be a great pastry chef. But getting here was not easy," she says
She left home without much money and followed her dream. There were financial challenges, living far away from her family on the East Coast, and working long, exhausting hours. But it paid off and has brought her numerous awards, rewards, fame and good fortune.
"I think I am a dessert chef, not a pastry chef per se, because I consider every part of the meal which leads up to the dessert. I create a balance in the meal."
Most fun about her job is "licking the bowls and beaters clean, which I still do."
The worst and best parts relate to her wardrobe. "You never have to worry about what to wear … it's always the same thing … a uniform. Your form of expression is in the food."
For home cooks, she passes out a few tips. Measure ingredients out in advance … and make components of desserts (i.e. tart shells) ahead. "Don't be afraid to give your pastry and cookies color (when baking)." Use a slightly hotter oven, if necessary. Use good-quality chocolate … Scharffen Berger, Callebaut, Valrhona or Guittard.
"We double sift (the flour) no matter what at the restaurant. For home cooks, it doesn't take that much effort to do, but whisk it if you don't have a sifter."
These days, you'll find Yard traveling 20 percent of the time overseeing the pastries at various Puck restaurant locations throughout the United States … including Chicago; Detroit; Las Vegas; Washington, D.C.; Maui and more.
She recently returned from the newly opened Spago at the Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch in Vail, Colo. "It was most challenging because at 8,000 feet up, every recipe needed to be reformulated … all leavening decreased and baking temperatures increased."
When it comes to food, "Never deny yourself anything," she says. Yard is a stickler for the freshest, best-quality in-season fruits, chocolate and other ingredients.
"You taste with your eyes first, so presentation should always be lush."
RECIPES
Recipes are from "Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills … Recipes From the Sweetest Life Ever," by Sherry Yard:
NO-BAKE CHEESECAKES
Yard has refined these by making the little crusts out of vanilla cookie crumbs instead of whole vanilla wafers like her mother did.
12 vanilla wafer cookies
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
12 ripe strawberries, hulled and halved OR quartered (depending on the size) OR fraises des bois
Pulse cookies in a food processor until you have crumbs. Line the cups of 2 mini muffin pans with paper liners and spoon a layer of cookie crumbs into the bottom of each.
In bowl of a stand mixer, using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. On low speed, beat in sour cream and lemon juice until well combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl.
Spoon or pipe filling into cups, dividing evenly. Refrigerate 2 to 4 hours, until set, or overnight. Before serving, top each cheesecake with a strawberry piece or two. Makes 24 mini cheesecakes.
SOUR CREAM TART ROYALE
At lunchtime, the 65th floor of the Rainbow Room became the Rockefeller Center Club, a private members-only club. Executives from the building, much of which was occupied by NBC, loved this tart, topped with fresh fruit. Red currants are my favorite.
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 (10-inch) tart shell made with Pâte Sucrée (below), prebaked
1 pint red currants OR raspberries
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted withthe whisk attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, gently beat eggs until broken up. Beat in sugar until well combined.Beat in sour cream, then slowly add cream, beating until smooth.Line prebaked tartshell with red currants or raspberries. Pour custard over the top. Let stand for a minute, then lightly tap pan against your work surface to eliminate air pockets.
Bake on rack in middle of a preheated 325-degree oven35 to 40 minutes, until the custard is set (the top should not brown). Remove from ovenand cool on a rack. (The tart can be refrigerated at this point, if desired, up to 1 day, tightly wrapped.) Serve chilled or at room temperature. Makes 1 (10-inch) tart.
PATE SUCREE (SWEET PASTRY): Combine 2 1/2 cups all-purposeflour and 3/4 cup powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat on low speed 1 minute. Add 8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter,cut into 1/2-inch pieces, and beat on medium-low speed until butter pieces are barely visible, about 3 minutes. Add 2 cold largeegg yolks and beat on medium-low speed just until the dough comes together, about 1 minute. Turn machine to low and stream in 2 tablespoons very cold heavy whipping cream. Stop machine and scrape down sides of bowl and paddle. Continue to beat on low speed 1 minute.
Remove dough from bowl and divide into 2 equal pieces. Place each one on a piece of plastic wrap and flatten into a disc about 1/2-inch thick. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 4 hoursor overnight.
Place one piece of dough at a time in a stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment. Work the dough on medium-low speed just until pliable. If you don't have a stand mixer, soften dough by pounding it with a rolling pin on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out each piece with a rolling pin on a lightly floured work surface to a 12-inch-wide, 1/4-inch-thick circle. Place between pieces of parchment paper, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours. Alternatively, line lightly sprayed pie or tart pans with dough and wrap tightly. (The dough can be stored inrefrigerator up to 3 days or in freezer for to 3 months.)
To blind-bake (prebake), lightly spray 2 (9- or 10-inch) pie or tart pans with nonstick pan spray and line with dough. Prick bottom of pastry shell a few times with a fork. Line pastry with parchment paper or large coffee filters. Fill lined shell to rim with dried beans, uncooked riceor pie weights and gently press the ``faux filling'' into the corners. Bake on a rack in the lower third of a preheated 350-degree oven 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, carefully remove weights using a dry measure and transfer to a container. Gently pull up on the liner. If it sticks, return the covered pastry shell to the oven for another 3 minutes, or until you can easily lift off liner. Bake another 10 minutes, or until pastry is a deep golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack. Makes 2 (9- or 10-inch) tart or pie crusts.
CAFE GLACE
1 pint vanilla bean ice cream, homemade OR store-bought, slightly softened
1/2 cup cold brewed espresso
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped to medium-stiff peaks
1 tablespoon finely shaved chocolate OR thin chocolate curls
Rolled wafer cookies (such as Pepperidge Farm Pirouette) for garnish
Place the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl and the beaters of a hand mixer, and 6 (4-ounce) or 4 (6-ounce) cups or glasses in the freezer 30 minutes. Spoon ice cream into ice-cold mixer bowl and add espresso. Using beater, blend at low speed until smooth. Spoon into frozen cups or glasses, top with whipped cream, and sprinkle on chocolate shavings or curls. Serve immediately or place in freezer up to 4 hours. Served garnished with cookies. Makes 4 to 6.
Posted by Steven Rosenberg at December 5, 2007 8:00 PM
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