David Lebovitz, trained as a pastry chef in France and Belgium. He worked at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California for twelve years. He now lives in Paris, France, where he leads culinary tours of the city and writes about culture and cuisine, with a special focus on baking and desserts. He has published six books. His recipe books include tips and techniques for making homemade ice cream, chocolates, cakes, tarts, and cookies. His website and blog, DavidLebovitz.com, are widely read.
His newest book is Ready for Dessert, published by Ten Speed Press (April 6, 2010) is subtitled ‘My Best Recipes’. With his unique brand of humor—and a fondness for desserts with “screaming chocolate intensity”—David serves up a tantalizing array of more than 170 recipes for cakes, pies, tarts, crisps, cobblers, custards, soufflés, puddings, ice creams, sherbets, sorbets, cookies, candies, dessert sauces, fruit preserves, and even homemade liqueurs.
1. What was the first cookbook you owned?
The Settlement Cookbook. It was actually my mothers and when I was old enough to be left alone without a babysitter, instead of reheating the TV dinner my parents left me for dinner, I opened it up and made the Chocolate Soufflé. Since we didn’t have a soufflé mold, I used a Pyrex measuring cup. And it worked!
2. What cookbook would you say had the greatest impression on you?
I’d say The Chez Panisse Cookbook. Ever since I read it, I knew I wanted to work there since everything written in that book, and the recipes, immediately spoke to me, and was exactly the way I cooked and felt about food.
3. Could you talk a little about any recent cookbooks you’ve found particularly interesting or inspiring?
I loved the Baked cookbook. Sure the recipes are terrific, but I particularly enjoyed the engaging writing style. So many baking books begin a recipe with “This goes well with afternoon tea”, and it was refreshing that the authors wrote funny headnotes. But the recipes are seriously good, too. My dream is to move into their bakery after reading the book.
I also was thrilled to get a copy of Baking for All Occasions by Flo Braker. This huge volume of desserts, from the best baker in America, is so thorough, if I was trapped on an desert island (or should I say ‘dessert’ island?) this is one of the very few books I’d be clutching in my arms.
4. I’m looking forward to cooking from Ready for Dessert: is there one recipe in particular you’d suggest as representing the book particularly well?
The Chocolate Chip Cookies are a standout. I’ve been making them for over two decades and I’ve not found a better one.
5. I’m curious about how the process of creating a cookbook has changed now that so many writers are active online. Some authors use their online readership as recipe testers and a virtual sounding board. How has your process changed since you wrote Room for Dessert?
That’s a great question. I now realize that I have to cover a lot more bases. Before the site took off, writing a book was a one-sided affair; I’d write recipes and people would make them. And that would be that. Now people want to know how to make something gluten-free, if they need to use corn syrup, what would happen if they switched pan sizes, or can the swap out ingredients. So in a book, I now write with those kinds of things in mind, hoping to answer all those questions in the recipes. Of course, space limits how much information you can give out in a printed recipe (and no one wants a six page recipe for brownies), so it’s a balance between being thorough and editing down to the essentials while still being complete. Online I can include as many photos as I want, so I can simply put a picture of how the dough is supposed to look, instead of using a few sentences to explain it.
6. There has been some talk in the publishing world recently about the place of cookbooks in the era of e-books and online recipe sites. Some think it might be possible to charge for individual recipes like songs on iTunes. Your own site is full of free recipes – do you think that they help sell cookbooks rather than take away from them?
My site wasn’t started to be a ‘recipe’ site, per se. The recipes are included as part of a story I’m telling. In my books, the recipes have been tested at least three or more times in my kitchen, then passed on to a non-professional tester to make sure they work for others. On the site, I don’t always make the recipes several times. And sometimes, I’ll write a recipe using an ingredient that specific to France, acknowledging that it’s not widely available, since the site is about baking and cooking here, where I live. In books, of course, I strive to use ingredients that are as universally available as possible.
I don’t mind giving away a few recipes for free. After all, baking is about giving and sharing. But I hope that people who read the site eventually realize that this is what I do for a living and go out and buy a book. It’s a nice way for people to ‘give back’.
