Simmer

The goal when making any sorbet is to capture the purity of ripe fruit while making the smoothest texture possible. This sorbet does that beautifully for ripe summer strawberries.

My issue with fruit ice creams is not being able to taste the fruit, so to keep that flavor foremost, I cook the ice cream base on its own and then add fresh fruit. Less fat—no eggs in the ice cream base—allows the berry flavor to stand out.

Thai basil is spicier than sweet basil and more pungent. And that flavor pops when this ice cream is paired with cherries.

François Payard loves the combination of balsamic vinegar and strawberries and serves it every season. I wanted to tie the flavors together but in a different way, so I came up with this ice cream, which I pair with Strawberry Sorbet (page 236). You could just serve this with Slow-Roasted Strawberries (page 245), of course.

The first thing I do when I feel a sore throat coming on is make some hot honey and ginger tea. And the more I thought about those flavors, the more I thought they would make a great ice cream. They do.

One bite of this ice cream, and you’re transported to a beach in the Caribbean.

This is it: pure vanilla flavor in a nice, creamy ice cream.

I make this garnish with the vanilla pods I have left in the restaurant from other desserts. I’m not giving quantities here, since it will all depend on how many vanilla pods you have on hand. (The photograph is page 178.)

When sucrose—which is table sugar—is treated with an enzyme or acid, it breaks down into its component parts: fructose and glucose. When invert sugar is made commercially, the enzyme used is invertase, but you can easily make invert sugar at home, using lemon juice. Like simple syrup, it lasts for months in the refrigerator. I use invert sugar in ice creams, sorbets, and other frozen desserts for two main reasons: It creates a smoother texture and softer mouth-feel, and it prevents water from crystallizing, so the ice creams won’t crystallize or be dense and rock hard.

I’ve always wanted to create some interesting chocolate texture to pair with strawberries, and one night during a brainstorming session, Michal Shelkowitz—one of my cooks—suggested spaetzle. After much manipulation, we figured out how to make it something great and new and a cool contrast to the berries.

I’ve been exploring new ways to make chocolate soups. In particular, I wanted to find a way to remove the fat and keep a full, deep chocolate flavor, and I thought it would be interesting to contrast cold white chocolate with warm dark chocolate. I’ve succeeded in this recipe, which is a play on temperatures, textures, and techniques. A scale is essential for this recipe. You will also need a hotel pan and a perforated hotel pan, both half size. You can get these online from BigTray. The technique of clarifying the soup base by freezing and slow defrosting comes from Wylie Dufresne of wd-50 in Manhattan and Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck in England.

Growing up, the one thing I wanted when I went to the movies was a box of Whoppers, those malted milk balls. When I was looking around for a flavor to add to a chocolate rice pudding, I remembered that taste.

In this dessert, a grapefruit gelée gets poured over grapefruit segments, which brings a different flavor note out of the grapefruit. It’s important to add the zest at the end to avoid bitterness. The combination of grapefruit and tarragon is one I really love, but I also wanted to add something spicy. Ginger is a natural, since it enlivens the herb flavors and is intense enough to carry through the ice cream, which gives this dessert its great mouthfeel.

This dessert was the brainchild of Amanda Clarke, one of my cooks, who went on to become pastry chef at Jean-Georges’s Perry Street Restaurant in New York. The floral notes of the rose, the bitter edge of the Campari, the sweet acids of the tangerine and citrus, all meld into a unique balance of flavor and texture.

We had Concords growing in the backyard when I was a kid, but I didn’t like them. They were just too strong for my young palate. But I came to love this flavor and now I wait all year for the grapes to be in season so I can make this sorbet. It’s my favorite thing to do with Concords. I always serve this sorbet on its own—pure and simple.

I go apple picking every year, and I’m always amazed by how easily you can taste the difference between varieties right off the tree. So when I work with apples, I try to capture those flavors. This soup reminds me of mulled cider but lighter and fresher.

One summer, the peaches were so amazing that I didn’t want to do anything to them. Unfortunately, you can’t put a peach on a plate and send it out to a customer. So I chose ingredients—mellow cheeses, sweet and crunchy pistachios, and a mild balsamic vinegar glaze—that complemented the sweet raw peach.

These ingredients all strike floral notes and to my mind are a natural combination. Raspberries contribute sweetness; champagne, acidity; rose water, depth of flavor; and the apricots, texture.

I’ve adapted this dessert from one of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s recipes. It starts with his base soup, and I’ve added the tanginess of yogurt and the toasted nuttiness of sesame for depth of flavor and contrasting textures.

Recently, I’ve become infatuated with bubbles and carbonation, and I’ve been on a mission to find ways to introduce bubbles as a texture in desserts. So adding a soda to the menu was a natural. With the help of David Arnold, Director of Culinary Technology at the French Culinary Institute, I’ve built a carbonation rig for the pastry kitchen at Jean Georges. Don’t let that scare you from trying this recipe, though. All you need at home is a soda siphon. Using a half-size hotel pan and perforated hotel pan (which you can buy online from BigTray) ensures that the strawberry water freezes and defrosts evenly during the clarification process.