Louis Bailleux - Le pâtissier moderne - 1856

The Modern Pastry Chef or Elementary and Practical Treatise on French Pastry in the Nineteenth Century, by Louis Bailleux

In the introduction, the author is placed alongside Carême, Gouffé, Garlin, and Dubois. Twenty years of experience are condensed into numerous articles and recipes. The book offers a systematic presentation of fundamental techniques, classic recipes, and principles for organizing a pastry workshop. Bailleux details the preparation of doughs, creams, ice creams, entremets, confections, and wedding cakes, emphasizing the precision of movements and the rigor of proportions. The work also highlights presentation, which was essential in 19th-century pastry, as well as the adaptation of recipes according to the seasons and available ingredients. This treatise is a valuable resource for understanding the evolution of French pastry, at a time when the foundations of many specialties still appreciated today were being established.

Illustrated with 13 plates (nos. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 15, 18, 21, 22, 33, 34, 36), drawn by the author, which notably show the pastry chef's oven model, decorations, Trottier mold models, and a large dessert table.

Without date (around 1856), 18 x 27 cm, 279 pages. Half-chocolate leather binding, spine with four false bands, with gilded title and author. The binding is rubbed and stained, corners worn, missing the front endpaper and the half-title page, foxing more pronounced on some pages than others, a few scribbles in black pencil, and the edges of some pages (mainly the table of contents) have been previously restored.