The science of cooking is the most fascinating and influential development in cuisine.
Award-winning chefs and cutting-edge restaurants around the world are famous for using the principles of chemistry and physics to create exciting new taste sensations. From Ferrán Adrià of El Bulli restaurant in Spain to Homaro Cantu of Moto in Chicago, great chefs combine unexpected textures and flavors with secrets of new cooking techniques in great dishes.
This is the first reference to bring the science of food to home cooks and professional chefs alike. Organized from A to Z, this highly readable book has more than 1,800 entries that clearly explain the physical and chemical transformations which govern all food preparation and cooking. Entries vary from agriculture and food safety to animal husbandry and flavor science.
Each entry begins with an explanation of the science behind the food, equipment or cooking method. Extensive cross-references encourage the reader to delve more deeply into topics of interest.
More than 200 illustrations and photographs help home cooks visualize the basic principles of food science. Also included are 100 recipes that demonstrate those principles, from how deep-frying works to how to keep red cabbage from turning blue.
The Science of Good Food provides straightforward explanations of the what, the how and the why of food and cooking, encouraging cooks at all levels to be more confident and creative.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Very informative book:
I bought this as a Christmas gift for my mother, who is already very knowledgeable about food and cooking. She has already learned many new things. In my quick perusal of the book I was impressed with it, both the text and illustrations. It is also a very thick book book and I feel it's a good value.
Disappointed:
I generally like this kind of book--one that explains the science behind why recipes work--but this book was a disappointment to me. The encyclopedia format, based on alphabetical entries, made finding the information I was looking for difficult. A lot of the most interesting information was to be found in unindexed sidebars, making this book nice to browse, but really hard to use when you want an answer to a specific question. I finally decided to return the book when I checked out the entry for... more info
The book that answers all questions:
I bought the book for a friend of mine who was a chemistry major. He loves it! We started cooking gourmet meals together as a hobby, and he always had a lot of questions that I could not answer. "What's the difference between searing and browning?" "What's the difference between baking powder and baking soda?"
This book gives very detailed break down of food and ingredients. You will love it if you enjoy watching Alton Brown's food science show.
Science Can Be a Fun Read:
I just got a copy of this big glossy Canadian published paperback and I am having a lot of fun paging through it. So, first off: it's an attractive book with lots of color photos, tables and reader-friendly formatting. At issue, however, is the publisher's claim that this book is the "ultimate reference of how cooking works." That's a bit much since the bibliography cites McGee, Corriher, Wolke and others who, up to now, own the subject. So, is it a contribution to the literature? You betcha! This is a... more info
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