XOK - David Gil, Ingrid Serra

David Gil and Ingrid Serra go beyond the concept of traditional nougat to go much further, entering the world of chocolate, ganaches, giandujas, pralines, and marzipan.

This is how XOK was born, the first and only book dedicated in a monographic way to both classic and modern nougat. In addition to a detailed tour of the historical nougat varieties, such as Alicante, Jijona, Montelimar, Guirlache, Mazapán or Yema Quemada, Gil and Serra invite us to a universe of fantasy, creativity, illusion, and fun.

Their nougats not only take on forms as unlikely as a panettone, a king's cake, a candle, a star, or a sock, but they also recreate formats of classic cakes and desserts such as Saint Honoré, Black Forest, Lemon Pie, or Cheesecake. The new nougats are close to and almost assimilate the concept of the chocolate bar, even including chocolate snacks, thus creating a whole range of products that are perfectly valid throughout the year, and that can be found in all types of chocolate, pastry, and restaurant establishments.

But in addition to these magical shapes and designs, XOK proposes pieces of high gastronomic value, balanced in terms of texture and conservation, with professional pastry techniques and studied fillings based on pralines, giandujas, fruit pastes, ganaches, marzipan, marshmallow, caramels, and more. They are nougats, but at the same time they are haute patisserie desserts. In short, a nougat can be something simple and something complex, something predictable and something surprising, something flat and something very sophisticated, something sober and boring, and something fun and endearing.

XOK is presented as the first great professional treatise on nougat, with its theory, its techniques, its recipes, and at the same time it is a catalog of ideas, fantasy, magic, smiles, and surprises. Not only is it a book to study and learn, but it is also for imagining and dreaming.