David Lebovitz, former pastry chef at Chez Panisse, delightful blogger at davidlebovitz.com, cookbook author of several highly acclaimed books on desserts, and frequent commenter on Simply Recipes, has written a gorgeous, informative, delicious book about ice cream, sorbets and granitas (now updated with a new edition). The Perfect Scoop has over 150 recipes and over 50 stunning photographs. Ice cream recipes include the basics such as chocolate, vanilla, and butterscotch pecan, and branch out to aztec “hot” chocolate, apricot-pistachio, and lavender-honey. Papaya-lime sorbet and mojito granitas make appearances as well. One of the things I love about David’s work is that he takes the time to instruct us on the basics of whatever it is he is cooking. His Room for Dessert book has saved me over and over again with his explanations of the “whys” as well as the “hows” of doing a recipe. In The Perfect Scoop David describes right up front the methods you’ll need to employ to make creamy, perfect ice cream. Using a custard base is what is usually called for, but can be a bit tricky for first timers. David’s explanation makes it easy. David includes a section on the equipment needed, describing the pros and cons of the different kinds of ice cream makers that you can use. I’ve been reading David’s blog at davidlebovitz.com for years. It’s better than Comedy Central as David takes his readers on a never-ending tour of what’s it’s really like to live in Paris. You can also follow David’s adventures on Instagram, where he puts on cooking and cocktail demonstrations, and shows us daily life in Paree. Somehow, through all his blog writing and chocolate tours, David managed to write this book, which included developing and testing all of these recipes. Yikes! He must have eaten nothing but ice cream and sorbet for a year, and had to walk 10 miles a day just to work off the calories. But he did it for us, so that we might make the best of our frozen creations. So if you love ice cream and want to try your hand at making your own, get yourself an ice cream maker and a copy of The Perfect Scoop.
