Vegetarian (NOT vegan) Patisserie Cookbook?

October 10, 2023 2:41 AM

Everywhere is vegan vegan vegan but my aunt wants to cook with cream and eggs and all those things...just not gelatine. Do you have a Vegetarian patisserie cookbook suggestion?
posted by london explorer girl to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

Not a particular cookbook suggestion, but I would Google “substitute agar for gelatin” and follow some of that advice. It’s made from seaweed and it’s a common stabilizer in Asian desserts!
posted by ceramicspaniel at 7:01 AM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: A kosher dairy cookbook should be vegetarian like this. I think vegetarian baking cookbooks are hard to find because maybe 5% of the recipes in a non-veg cookbook contain gelatin or meat, and some organically happen to be veg.

It’s not explicitly kosher dairy, but I’m pretty sure A Jewish Baker’s Pastry Cookbook - which is really also a pretty good Austro-Hungarian regional cookbook - doesn’t contain the standard non-veg baking cookbook dealbreakers of marshmallows, gelatin-stabilized icebox cakes and pannacottas, and bacon-containing savory tarts and scones because they’re just not part of the tradition.
posted by A Blue Moon at 7:10 AM on October 10, 2023 [6 favorites]

You can get gelatine that is kosher. I made wine jello shots that were kosher for Passover. Kosher recipes are a good option.
posted by theora55 at 7:45 AM on October 10, 2023

Gelatin that is kosher is made from fish instead of pig. Still not technically vegetarian but might work for some.
posted by holyrood at 8:39 AM on October 10, 2023 [5 favorites]

Why not just cook with vegetarian gelatin?
posted by Tamanna at 9:07 PM on October 10, 2023

I'd also venture that >90% of patisserie is vegetarian anyway - gelatin is mostly used in mousses, mirror glazes, and to stabilize whipped cream. In the whipped cream case, you can just leave it out, and as is mentioned above, there are vegetarian gelatin-like options that will work in some (not all) cases such as agar agar.

For instance, in Thomas Keller's "Bouchon Bakery", gelatin is referenced only in three recipes: once in a chocolate glaze , once in a chiboust, and once in marshmallows. (That being said, they also have recipes for bacon cheddar scones, so there's some other non-veg content). If the intent is getting her a book that has lots of options, almost any book will do. If it can't have *ANY* non-veg content, then you probably will have to go for something niche like the vegan options.
posted by Philbo at 1:25 PM on October 13, 2023