Essential Cookbooks: “The Last Course”
Recommended by Chef Victoria Vilardi
by Christina Wong
Photo Credit: Victoria Vilardi
Welcome to the Chef Recommended: Cookbook Series where we ask cannabis chefs, “What’s one cookbook you’d recommend to canna-curious food lovers and/or aspiring cannabis chefs?” We’re kicking this series off with one of the culinary cannabis world’s rising stars.
Meet Victoria Vilardi, a private chef, pastry nerd, flavor lover, and cannabis advocate who makes the stunningly beautiful cannabis-infused desserts that have become a signature at 99th Floor, a private cannabis-infused dinner series in NYC helmed by award-winning chef Miguel Trinidad. There, her Michelin-starred background has her creating decadent infused dishes, such as a Vietnamese Coffee Banh Flan, spicy Dark Chocolate Cherry Mousse Cake, Baklava with burnt honey, and gourmet chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches. Follow her here.
Chef Victoria Vilardi Recommends:
“The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern” by Claudia Fleming
Why It’s Essential to Victoria: “One of my favorite cookbooks that I find myself referencing often is The Last Course by Claudia Fleming. The reason I love this book so much is the way that its contents are broken down. It shows that pastry can be so much more than just cookies, cakes, or brownies. It brings a simplistic approach to the complexity that is pastry, focusing on highlighting star ingredients like berries, citrus or stone fruits, chocolate, etc. For me, when I'm building an infused plated dessert, I'm thinking, ‘Am I going to infuse the cream for gelato, the honey for a fruit jam, or the butter for a puff dough? Will I use a fat or alcohol-based infusion?’ A book like this breaks down those components in tangent with your infusion, allowing you to think outside the conventional frame of infused desserts.”
The desserts in The Last Course speak to everyone, as do the easy-to-make recipes, broken down seasonally by fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs and flowers, spices, sweet essences, dairy, and chocolate. Among the 175 recipes featured are Blueberry-Cornmeal Cakes, Tamarind-Glazed Mango Napoleons, Truffled Rice Pudding, Chilled Rhubarb Soup, Earl Grey Ice Cream, Chocolate Espresso Terrine, and Goat-Cheese Cheesecake. Read more about The Last Course.
