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On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen By Harold McGee ( Scribner )
Release Date: 2004-11-16
Average Customer Rating:
List Price: $40.00
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Product Description
Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking is a kitchen classic. Hailed by Time magazine as "a minor masterpiece" when it first appeared in 1984, On Food and Cooking is the bible to which food lovers and professional chefs worldwide turn for an understanding of where our foods come from, what exactly they're made of, and how cooking transforms them into something new and delicious.Now, for its twentieth anniversary, Harold McGee has prepared a new, fully revised and updated edition of On Food and Cooking. He has rewritten the text almost completely, expanded it by two-thirds, and commissioned more than 100 new illustrations. As compulsively readable and engaging as ever, the new On Food and Cooking provides countless eye-opening insights into food, its preparation, and its enjoyment. On Food and Cooking pioneered the translation of technical food science into cook-friendly kitchen science and helped give birth to the inventive culinary movement known as "molecular gastronomy." Though other books have now been written about kitchen science, On Food and Cooking remains unmatched in the accuracy, clarity, and thoroughness of its explanations, and the intriguing way in which it blends science with the historical evolution of foods and cooking techniques. Among the major themes addressed throughout this new edition are: - Traditional and modern methods of food production and their influences on food quality
- The great diversity of methods by which people in different places and times have prepared the same ingredients
- Tips for selecting the best ingredients and preparing them successfully
- The particular substances that give foods their flavors and that give us pleasure
- Our evolving knowledge of the health benefits and risks of foods
On Food and Cooking is an invaluable and monumental compendium of basic information about ingredients, cooking methods, and the pleasures of eating. It will delight and fascinate anyone who has ever cooked, savored, or wondered about food.
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Amazon.com
A classic tome of gastronomic science and lore, On Food and Cooking delivers an erudite discussion of table ingredients and their interactions with our bodies. Following the historical, literary, scientific and practical treatment of foodstuffs from dairy to meat to vegetables, McGee explains the nature of digestion and hunger before tackling basic ingredient components, cooking methods and utensils. He explains what happens when food spoils, why eggs are so nutritious and how alcohol makes us drunk. As fascinating as it is comprehensive, this is as practical, interesting and necessary for the cook as for the scholar.
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a cooks must have!
"On Cooking and Food" is the tool to obtain the base knowledge nesessary to do food right. This book is a culinary couse unto it's self, you will go to the next level in your cooking with this book.
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Why Chemistry is vital for a cook ( reonek )
The book is wonderful. If you love to cook and wonder why and how foods taste wonderful--or horrible--this the book for you. It explains which methods work and which don't and why they do. Worth every penny. Harold McGee is a good writer which makes the book a pleasant, worthwhile read.
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Improved my cooking many times over
Don't buy this book expecting recipes. Instead, look forward to thousands of little hints on how to make your cooking better couched within the science of why it works. Advice on everything from how to best keep your hard boiled eggs from getting rubbery to how to make good creamy ice cream is in here. Whenever I start making a recipe with new techniques I come back to this book to get advice on how to do it best. Absolutely indispensable if you're teaching yourself how to cook and want to nail down your techniques.
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A True Classic
Not available in bookshops here, it took me a while to track down this much praised book, now in a 2004 updated edition. It can be read at many levels: history, folk lore, chemistry and just marvellous explanations of the 'why' of cooking. It must hold great appeal for anyone with a curiosity about the food we eat and what we do to it, for better or worse.
I found it well written with an easy style, making it a genuine pleasure to read, to skim and to quote. And you will quote. It's that kind of book.
Despite its sober title and apparent depth of research, this is no dreary treatise. The explanations are generally easy to understand and often amusing. While some distant memory of high school chemistry may be useful, the author assumes no knowledge of food sciences on the part of the reader. The last section of the book further brushes up on all the chemistry you have chosen to forget.
Food industry professionals may find the book's format perhaps a bit wandering, making it somewhat clunky for rapid retrieval of specific technical information. As a lay person I can't vouch for its academic rigour, but it does include a long list of references and an extensive index.
A book with over 800 pages about food but with no real recipes does sound daunting, but not so. It's full of those "Wow. So that's why... listen to this!" moments that can get just a little trying for everyone else in the room. I realise how much food instruction I have taken at face value in the past. I will never view the humble egg quite the same way again.
And of course, as an added bonus, the book makes a perfect weight to put on top of the Summer Pudding as it sets. It doesn't even show the stains. McGee really has thought of everything.
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Technical but fascinating
This is probably more than the home cook ever wants to know but what a great reference book! It dispels lots of myths that bedevil the kitchen and are still spouted by too many TV chefs. For factual information it can't be beaten and I keep it to hand for a quick check whenever I am unsure of what to do with a recipe.
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