Encyclopédie du Chocolat, published by Flammarion (October 2010) under the direction of Frédéric Bau (Ecole du Grand Chocolat Valrhona), won first prize for best cookbook in the chocolate category at the 16th Gourmand Cookbook Awards handed out on March 3 during the Festival du Livre Culinaire in Paris.
The 400-page book features some 150 recipes for eclairs, cakes, mousses, tarts, macarons, ice cream and other desserts, as well as more than 100 chocolate and pastry techniques and tips (tempering, ganaches, mousses, icing).
Among the top French pastry chefs and chocolatiers who share some of their secrets in this complete kitchen companion for creating chocolate desserts are Gilles Marchal (La Maison du Chocolat), Christophe Adam (Fauchon), Jean-Paul Hévin and Frédéric Cassel.
The Gourmand Cookbook Awards were founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau to honour the best food and wine books from around the world.
The competition for this year’s awards was open to books published between November 15, 2009 and November 15, 2010.
An English-language edition of Encyclopédie du Chocolat, due to be released later this year under the title Cooking with Chocolate: Essential Recipes and Techniques