This book is written by a dynamic young pastry chef from Spain. His name is Oriol Balaguer, and he is little-known outside his native shores. I first came across him three years ago when I worked in the kitchen of Ferran Adrià's three-Michelin-starred restaurant, El Bulli, in Catalonia, where he and Ferran's brother, Albert Adrià, used to do the menus for El Bulli and Ferran's second restaurant, Talia, in Port Olimpic in Barcelona.
Ideally, the book needs to be used by a chef with a good pastry knowledge because it features very advanced pastry techniques and does not include much basic practical work. It covers much of the science of pastry, including subjects like salt in desserts and yeast-based dishes, and there are also lots of tips on garnishing desserts, from tuiles to different chocolate finishes.
In addition, it features some in-depth marriages of flavours, like the wine-poached pear with an almond tuile and star anise ice-cream; eucalyptus soup and coffee jelly; and ravioli of tomato, yogurt sorbet and basil jelly.
There is also a section which deals with all the old classics, but gives them a modern twist. For instance, tiramisó, which comprises mascarpone sabayon, cocoa génoise, coffee ice-cream and little shots of amaretto gelatine. Interestingly, most of the desserts in the book are served on beautiful glass plates, a presentation which has become very popular in the UK over the last two years.
All in all, this is a stunning book, both photographically and in culinary terms, put together very well by a talented pastry chef. If, like me, you are an avid collector of cookery books and you have the patience to translate the recipes from Spanish, it's a great addition to the library. The book is expensive, but if you take your cooking seriously it's worth every penny.
by Jason Atherton, head chef, L'Anis, London
La Cocina de los Postres - Oriol Balaguer. Montagud Editores, £65
ISBN 84-7212-082-1