Pierre Hermé: Chocolate Cookbook Review
4.3 / 5
Overall Rating
Pierre Herme: Chocolate
Pierre Hermé is the most-influential pâtissier of the modern era. His Chocolate cookbook is the canonical reference for serious home chocolate work.
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TL;DR
Pierre Hermé's Chocolate (originally Chocolat) is the canonical chocolate cookbook from the most-influential French pâtissier of the modern era. Hermé is the chef behind dozens of iconic creations — Ispahan, Macaron Pierre Hermé, the Mogador. This volume focuses entirely on chocolate work: ganaches, truffles, glazes, mousses, entremets, and the technique-precision French pastry demands. At ~$60+ retail, it's premium-tier — but for serious home chocolatiers, this is the reference book that defines the upper edge of the craft.
Why It Matters
French pastry is its own discipline, and Pierre Hermé arguably invented modern French pastry's contemporary phase. His chocolate work specifically rewrote what "a chocolate dessert" could mean — combining classical technique with unexpected flavor pairings (chocolate-passion fruit, chocolate-rose, chocolate-saffron). For home chocolatiers who've mastered tempering and basic ganaches, this book is the next step up.
Key Specs
- Author: Pierre Hermé
- Format: hardcover, large format
- Pages: ~250-300
- Recipes: ~100+ chocolate-focused recipes
- Photography: full-color throughout, Hermé's pastry-photography quality
- Difficulty: advanced (assumes baseline French pastry skill)
- Topics: tempering, ganaches, truffles, mousses, entremets, glazes, decorations
- Languages: originally French; English translation
Pros
- Most-influential modern pâtissier's canonical chocolate volume
- Recipes range from accessible (ganaches) to advanced (entremets)
- Photography is gorgeous and instructive
- Cultural and technical context for each recipe
- Hardcover construction handles kitchen wear
- Includes Hermé's signature flavor-pairing approach
Cons
- Premium pricing — $60+ for a single-author cookbook
- Difficulty level is genuinely advanced — beginners will be lost
- Some specialty ingredients require specialty French pastry suppliers
- Imperial-vs-metric varies by translation edition
- Recipe titles in English translations vary by edition
Who It's For
Advanced home pastry hobbyists. Chefs and pastry-school students. Chocolatiers wanting to expand technique vocabulary. Skip it if you're new to French pastry (start with simpler references like Pierre Hermé's Macarons or Yotam Ottolenghi's pastry titles), if you only want quick recipes (this is for time and precision), or if you want comprehensive multi-genre pastry coverage (this is chocolate-only).
How to Use It
Read the technique introductions before tackling specific recipes. Source specialty ingredients (Valrhona, Cacao Barry, specific cocoa butters) before starting. Practice ganache fundamentals before attempting entremets. Have a stand mixer, immersion blender, and IR thermometer before serious work. Pair with Hermé's Macarons book for adjacent technique.
How It Compares
Vs. Bo Friberg's The Professional Pastry Chef: Friberg is comprehensive professional reference; Hermé is artisan-focused. Vs. Christophe Felder's Pâtisserie!: Felder is comparable elite-tier; different stylistic approach. Vs. The Bakers Manual by Joseph Amendola: Amendola is more textbook; Hermé is more artistic. Vs. Pierre Hermé's other titles (Macarons, Pastries): each focused on different specialty.
Bottom Line
The right canonical chocolate cookbook for advanced home pastry hobbyists. Buy it for the next-level chocolate technique. Skip it if you're new to French pastry or want comprehensive multi-genre coverage.
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