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The Science and Lore of the Kitchen #1
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
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.
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.
896 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1984
2470 people are currently reading
33422 people want to read
About the author
Harold McGee
12 books188 followersHarold James McGee is an American author who writes about the chemistry and history of food science and cooking. He is best known for his seminal book On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen initially published in 1984 and revised in 2004.
McGee is a visiting scholar at Harvard University. His book On Food and Cooking has won numerous awards and is used widely in food science courses at many universities. McGee's scientific approach to cooking has been embraced and popularized by chefs and authors such as Heston Blumenthal, David Chang, Alton Brown, Shirley Corriher, Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Russ Parsons.
McGee is a visiting scholar at Harvard University. His book On Food and Cooking has won numerous awards and is used widely in food science courses at many universities. McGee's scientific approach to cooking has been embraced and popularized by chefs and authors such as Heston Blumenthal, David Chang, Alton Brown, Shirley Corriher, Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Russ Parsons.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 536 reviews
September 25, 2007
This book is endlessly fascinating. Interesting tidbits McGee's has taught me: raw pineapple will curdle milk, but cooked pineapple will not. Some of our fellow humans will be repulsed by cheese because of an instinctual reaction to fermented foods. See? Fascinating!
McGee's contains necessary information that you can not get from a recipe on practically every dish and ingredient known to man. This is the kind of book that will sit next to the stove, dog-eared and grease-spattered, eternally useful, until Personal Chef Robots become fixtures in all of our homes.
McGee's contains necessary information that you can not get from a recipe on practically every dish and ingredient known to man. This is the kind of book that will sit next to the stove, dog-eared and grease-spattered, eternally useful, until Personal Chef Robots become fixtures in all of our homes.
July 27, 2007
Once upon a time, I was expressing my frustration with books on cooking to a chemist friend -- primarily that most books on cooking treat cooking as this magical art. They presume lots of knowledge on the part of the reader and they give directions that theoretically make the food what it's supposed to be, rarely explaining WHY you want to cook this meat at temperature x or mince this thing instead of slice, or whatever. I wanted something that answered a bit more of the Why?
This friend suggested that I hunt down something on the topic that approached things from a scientific perspective, and while looking I stumbled upon McGee. It's certainly less front-to-back readable than I would have liked, and more encyclopediac. And while it has not exactly unlocked the black art of cooking for me, it's a great resource book to have in the kitchen. Any time I'm using a technique or ingredient I haven't used before, I consult Good Harry McGee. And it's a pretty well-written and researched book too (with lots of great historical context), and as such, it's fun to pick up and read random sections from, on occasion.
This friend suggested that I hunt down something on the topic that approached things from a scientific perspective, and while looking I stumbled upon McGee. It's certainly less front-to-back readable than I would have liked, and more encyclopediac. And while it has not exactly unlocked the black art of cooking for me, it's a great resource book to have in the kitchen. Any time I'm using a technique or ingredient I haven't used before, I consult Good Harry McGee. And it's a pretty well-written and researched book too (with lots of great historical context), and as such, it's fun to pick up and read random sections from, on occasion.
April 4, 2008
Before there was Alton Brown, there was Harold McGee. This is a smart, dazzling, fabulously eclectic collection of information about what we eat. From Plato’s views on cooking to electron micrographs of cheese to a description of how eggs form in a chicken’s body to the history of beer and chocolate, this book offers an intoxicating wealth of food information, trivia, and science. Did you know that the cell walls of mushrooms aren’t made up of cellulose, like plants, but rather of chitin, the carbohydrate-amine complex that makes up the outer skeletons of insects? Or that raw lima beans contain sugar-cyanide complexes that can shut down your respiratory system? Or that a strawberry is a “false” fruit? If you want to know which vegetables were available at the court of Richard II, why fish is white, or the chemical composition of a saturated fat, then this is the book for you. Practical information, like how to tell stale eggs from fresh, is liberally sprinkled amid the science and anecdotes. Even if you don’t cook and only rarely eat, this is a fascinating book.
February 4, 2015
The 2nd edition. Concentrated knowledge; yet NOT written in impenetrable ‘academicalese.’ McGee's ability to amass, sort, analyse, and order an enormous amount of relevant information is awesomely impressive. He makes the average PhD. thesis look sheepish.
This is definitely a reference book to be laid open on a table and lovingly dipped into by an enquiring mind. Not held open in the hands: too heavy. However, I’ll keep my (much smaller) copy of the 1st edition, because I want to follow how McGee’s thinking has modified and changed over the twenty years between 1984 and 2004.
Every school library ought to have a copy on their shelves. How better to turn children onto the joys of science than a book on ‘edible science’?
This is definitely a reference book to be laid open on a table and lovingly dipped into by an enquiring mind. Not held open in the hands: too heavy. However, I’ll keep my (much smaller) copy of the 1st edition, because I want to follow how McGee’s thinking has modified and changed over the twenty years between 1984 and 2004.
Every school library ought to have a copy on their shelves. How better to turn children onto the joys of science than a book on ‘edible science’?
May 22, 2012
On Food and Cooking is one of those few books that I can drop on a table, let it fall open to any page, and read for the next hour.
As I said to someone once: you may not cook, but you probably eat. If so, this book should keep you entranced. Nearly anything you might want to know about the history, etymology, and process of gastronomy is covered in this volume, but even that is too dry a description to really explain how fun it is.
Want to know why there are so many Sugar Loaf mountains around the U.S. countryside? That's how sugar used to be sold. Did you know part of the cashew is poisonous and the other can be made into beer? Want to read a description of all the kinds of distillation there are? Or how the science of nutrition was founded and where it may have gone wrong?
All homes could use a small shelf of reference books: the dictionary, an encyclopedia, a basic cookbook. But right next to all of them should be On Food and Cooking.
As I said to someone once: you may not cook, but you probably eat. If so, this book should keep you entranced. Nearly anything you might want to know about the history, etymology, and process of gastronomy is covered in this volume, but even that is too dry a description to really explain how fun it is.
Want to know why there are so many Sugar Loaf mountains around the U.S. countryside? That's how sugar used to be sold. Did you know part of the cashew is poisonous and the other can be made into beer? Want to read a description of all the kinds of distillation there are? Or how the science of nutrition was founded and where it may have gone wrong?
All homes could use a small shelf of reference books: the dictionary, an encyclopedia, a basic cookbook. But right next to all of them should be On Food and Cooking.
December 14, 2007
This is an invaluable resource when your kids ask "does THIS cheese have mold in it" or "why does it all stick together if you cook it too long" or when you want to know what makes espresso different from coffee. Is is not about cooking, but about why and how cooking works, about where the flavor is in the spices and why the tomato ripens, what makes a sauce a sauce instead of gravy or soup, and what nougat really is. The style is accessible but unafraid of chemistry. A wonderful companion to the cookbooks you read for recipes.
Want to read
December 3, 2022This will take me forever to read, which is why I purchased on kindle. On the advice of friends, I started at the back, with the basic science. It 100% passes the science sniff test.
January 27, 2011
I think I am going to be currently reading this for a very very long time. It´s 800 pages, small print, massive index (essential) and bibliography. Human imagination and cultural complexity regarding food being as it is, not even 800 pages will be enough, so I don´t think it has EVERYTHING on food but it does have practically everything of the most common kind, in a wide global way.
First thing - this is not a recipe book and it is a pretty serious book. You can use it as dictionary, using the very good index to browse and learn snippets at will. Reading a chapter from beginning to end takes its time and it is incredibly rewarding. I have been reading about cooking, and experimenting since I was a child, I own too many cookbooks to easily confess, and this is finally a book which puts things in context, which makes me understand the science of why this or that, put into cultural and historical context. For example did you know about differences between american and european flour?
Maybe the most useful and interesting book on food I have yet found.
First thing - this is not a recipe book and it is a pretty serious book. You can use it as dictionary, using the very good index to browse and learn snippets at will. Reading a chapter from beginning to end takes its time and it is incredibly rewarding. I have been reading about cooking, and experimenting since I was a child, I own too many cookbooks to easily confess, and this is finally a book which puts things in context, which makes me understand the science of why this or that, put into cultural and historical context. For example did you know about differences between american and european flour?
Maybe the most useful and interesting book on food I have yet found.
July 11, 2010
It would be a stretch to say that I am a cook or a 'foodie', but I imagine that every culinary master in America must own this book.
This is NOT a cookbook -- it's a guide to food, a dynamic explanation about where your food comes from, the science behind how it cooks/blends/rises and how preparation techniques impact taste.
It's a book that is hard to peg, and not one that you'll read cover-to-cover in one sitting. The writing is succinct but not tedious to follow, and every chapter packs in a spectrum of interesting facts.
This is NOT a cookbook -- it's a guide to food, a dynamic explanation about where your food comes from, the science behind how it cooks/blends/rises and how preparation techniques impact taste.
It's a book that is hard to peg, and not one that you'll read cover-to-cover in one sitting. The writing is succinct but not tedious to follow, and every chapter packs in a spectrum of interesting facts.
August 18, 2016
At $25, it's rather more palatable (pun intended!) than Modernist Cuisine's $675, and was referenced in the same New Yorker article. According to GnuCash, I spent more money last year on cigarettes than groceries; changing that seems a noble enough objective. I'll likely start by stocking pepper.
btw, wenger, i dig your taking up of my "*-acquire*" bookshelf semantics!
btw, wenger, i dig your taking up of my "*-acquire*" bookshelf semantics!
August 26, 2012
Being a total food nerd, this book was heaven for me. I am curious about the chemistry, preparation and anthropology of food and McGee has all of those bases covered. If you cannot handle information purveyed to you in a dry, textbook-like manner this is not the book for you. However if you want to know everything there is to know about eggs, milk, herbs, veggies, meat and more and why they all work together so well (or don't) you definitely need to pick this one up!
May 14, 2020
While "On Food and Cooking" was not the type of book that I typically read, I found that I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Despite the fact that it took me nearly three months to read, I found just about every single page deeply informative and interesting. At times, the book feels like a textbook that one would read for some sort of chemistry or cooking class, but I wouldn't say that the book as a whole is so dry as a typical textbook. It certainly did a fine job of walking the line between informative and entertaining.
There is so much information packed into this book. Throughout "On Food and Cooking", McGee manages to cover a huge range of foods, from raw ingredients like fruits, vegetables, and eggs, to more complex creations such as sauces, breads, pastries, and candies. While discussing each subject, McGee does not limit himself to the physical properties of the food at hand, or even how to prepare it. Instead, there are entire pages of historical and scientific context, giving a complete picture of each topic being covered.
I truly wish that all educational books would take a page from "On Food and Cooking". The breadth and depth of topics covered was fantastic, and all of the accompanying information made this book absolutely fascinating.
There is so much information packed into this book. Throughout "On Food and Cooking", McGee manages to cover a huge range of foods, from raw ingredients like fruits, vegetables, and eggs, to more complex creations such as sauces, breads, pastries, and candies. While discussing each subject, McGee does not limit himself to the physical properties of the food at hand, or even how to prepare it. Instead, there are entire pages of historical and scientific context, giving a complete picture of each topic being covered.
I truly wish that all educational books would take a page from "On Food and Cooking". The breadth and depth of topics covered was fantastic, and all of the accompanying information made this book absolutely fascinating.
July 21, 2012
This is a truly epic book. It covers food from every relevant angle: gastronomically, biologically, chemically, historically, culturally. It's exhaustive and, as a result, can be exhausting sometimes. It took a month of fairly regular reading to finish, and I skipped some parts. But if you read this book from cover to cover, you probably should skip some of it, too. It covers so many aspects of nourishment that while you're basically guaranteed to find parts that are interesting or intriguing to you, you're also likely to run into parts that don't grip you that much. So skip the latter and dwell on the former to get the most enjoyment. And it makes for a good reference book, if you ever feel like learning about some given food or cooking process.
The main takeaway I got from this book is the sheer magnitude of how much we as a species shape our food for our diverse and often competing needs and desires, and have for thousands of years. Animals and plants evolved to survive, not to nourish us. But between breeding, cooking, and various other tricks, we have optimized or otherwise significantly altered almost everything we consume, with some trade-offs but largely for the better. Plants as common as cabbage, lima beans, potatoes and lettuce have had some of their old wild, natural toxicity bred out of them. We cook them to draw out or disable more undesirable toxins and enzymes and to unlock nutrients, and we dilute toxins in the case of spices and herbs to the point where we find them enjoyable. Or we simply learned to love them, such as with chili plants which literally cause us pain. And for any two foods that technically come from the same plant or animal, in reality they come from different varieties that have been bred specifically for those foods (corn for eating plain vs for popping, grapes for wine vs for raisins, cows for meat vs for milk, etc). Strictly speaking, then, there's very little you could say is purely 'natural' out there no matter where you look. So it's not about whether or not you want to eat food taken straight from the bosom of mother nature, it's about in what way and to what extent you want to modify and control the food you eat. Organic vs processed is such a gross oversimplification, and means very different things from one type of food to the next.
I read the ebook on my Kindle Fire, and there were some issues with the formatting. I hope whoever is in charge of that cleans it up someday. That said, the issues were minor, mostly just chunks of text where they shouldn't be. The links and most everything else was fine.
The main takeaway I got from this book is the sheer magnitude of how much we as a species shape our food for our diverse and often competing needs and desires, and have for thousands of years. Animals and plants evolved to survive, not to nourish us. But between breeding, cooking, and various other tricks, we have optimized or otherwise significantly altered almost everything we consume, with some trade-offs but largely for the better. Plants as common as cabbage, lima beans, potatoes and lettuce have had some of their old wild, natural toxicity bred out of them. We cook them to draw out or disable more undesirable toxins and enzymes and to unlock nutrients, and we dilute toxins in the case of spices and herbs to the point where we find them enjoyable. Or we simply learned to love them, such as with chili plants which literally cause us pain. And for any two foods that technically come from the same plant or animal, in reality they come from different varieties that have been bred specifically for those foods (corn for eating plain vs for popping, grapes for wine vs for raisins, cows for meat vs for milk, etc). Strictly speaking, then, there's very little you could say is purely 'natural' out there no matter where you look. So it's not about whether or not you want to eat food taken straight from the bosom of mother nature, it's about in what way and to what extent you want to modify and control the food you eat. Organic vs processed is such a gross oversimplification, and means very different things from one type of food to the next.
I read the ebook on my Kindle Fire, and there were some issues with the formatting. I hope whoever is in charge of that cleans it up someday. That said, the issues were minor, mostly just chunks of text where they shouldn't be. The links and most everything else was fine.
Read
April 17, 2021This is the rare book that I am marking as read but not rating. I can't remember where I saw this recommended or what I expected, but it is definitely not for me.
On Food and Cooking is basically a textbook or encyclopedia of ingredients and cooking techniques. There are no recipes and while it might be interesting to flip through once or twice, I can't imagine why I would ever need or want this book. I don't really care that someone reported eating beets around 300 BC or that eggs are 75% water. I really don't want to be bogged down in the science of cooking; I just want to cook.
So for me personally, this book is 1-star. However, I can't bring myself to actually rate it that because it is obviously well-crafted. For what it's trying to be, this book is definitely 5-stars. It's 800 pages of all the tedious details about ingredients and cooking methods that you never wanted to know, and Harold McGee gets props for putting together these comprehensive tome.
On Food and Cooking is basically a textbook or encyclopedia of ingredients and cooking techniques. There are no recipes and while it might be interesting to flip through once or twice, I can't imagine why I would ever need or want this book. I don't really care that someone reported eating beets around 300 BC or that eggs are 75% water. I really don't want to be bogged down in the science of cooking; I just want to cook.
So for me personally, this book is 1-star. However, I can't bring myself to actually rate it that because it is obviously well-crafted. For what it's trying to be, this book is definitely 5-stars. It's 800 pages of all the tedious details about ingredients and cooking methods that you never wanted to know, and Harold McGee gets props for putting together these comprehensive tome.
October 1, 2020
What an absolute chunker.
It's a lovely compendium, but stressful to read when you know you'll be quizzed on it.
Areas my knowledge has grown the most:
-differences in types of alcohols
-methods by which coffee is made and the effects
It's a lovely compendium, but stressful to read when you know you'll be quizzed on it.
Areas my knowledge has grown the most:
-differences in types of alcohols
-methods by which coffee is made and the effects
March 21, 2024
Tons of fascinating information and ... Mental scaffolding? About food. The version I read was the original from 1984, so rather dated science here and there, but even that was of some historical interest.
February 28, 2021
Originally published in 1984 and then added to before being released as a second edition in 2004, On Food and Cooking sets out to explain the how and why of food. Why starches are good thickening agents, why beer in a green or clear glass bottle begins to smell almost skunk-like if left out in the sun, how different types of meats react to different temperatures, acids and alkalis. How different grades of soy sauce are made, what blood clots in an egg mean. And so on.
Across fifteen mammoth chapters, McGee examines every major category of ingredient, from various angles. Beginning with the two foods that nature designed specifically to provide nutrition (milk, followed by eggs), he discusses the chemical structure of each ingredient, the history of its usage, how it’s used in some major cuisines across the world (in particular, when a culture uses an ingredient in an unusual way), and—how it interacts with other ingredients and with elements such as air, water, and heat. McGee provides interesting trivia here and there, such as ancient recipes, quotations from old texts, and so on. He also looks at the nutritive aspect of various ingredients, and how this is affected by the treatment of the ingredient. Processing (both in bygone days, as well as modern industrial techniques) is discussed as well.
He does this not just for milk, eggs, meat and poultry, fish and seafood, grains and seeds, vegetables and fruits, herbs and spices, breads and doughs, sauces, and wines, beers and spirits, but also for what is processed from them. For instance, there are subchapters on everything from chocolate (a very major subchapter!) to maple syrup. There are detailed diagrams to explain scientific (especially chemical and occasionally botanical) concepts, and charts aplenty with nutritive values and more.
This is not the sort of book you’d probably sit down and read cover to cover at one go (even I, who do tend to read books from cover to cover, ended up taking breaks after every five chapters or so). It’s a lot of information, and I know for a fact that much of it (especially some of the more involved chemistry) probably didn’t completely sink in. But it certainly made me look at even everyday food with far more respect than before, and I learnt the science behind some common cooking practices. And I got some tips on cooking more efficiently, or choosing ingredients more wisely.
A fascinating book.
And yes, did you know this?
… each of the four major legumes known to Rome lent its name to a prominent Roman family: Fabius comes from the fava bean, Lentulus from the lentil, Piso from the pea, and Cicero—most distinguished of them all—from the chickpea.
Plus loads more of such delightful trivia.
Across fifteen mammoth chapters, McGee examines every major category of ingredient, from various angles. Beginning with the two foods that nature designed specifically to provide nutrition (milk, followed by eggs), he discusses the chemical structure of each ingredient, the history of its usage, how it’s used in some major cuisines across the world (in particular, when a culture uses an ingredient in an unusual way), and—how it interacts with other ingredients and with elements such as air, water, and heat. McGee provides interesting trivia here and there, such as ancient recipes, quotations from old texts, and so on. He also looks at the nutritive aspect of various ingredients, and how this is affected by the treatment of the ingredient. Processing (both in bygone days, as well as modern industrial techniques) is discussed as well.
He does this not just for milk, eggs, meat and poultry, fish and seafood, grains and seeds, vegetables and fruits, herbs and spices, breads and doughs, sauces, and wines, beers and spirits, but also for what is processed from them. For instance, there are subchapters on everything from chocolate (a very major subchapter!) to maple syrup. There are detailed diagrams to explain scientific (especially chemical and occasionally botanical) concepts, and charts aplenty with nutritive values and more.
This is not the sort of book you’d probably sit down and read cover to cover at one go (even I, who do tend to read books from cover to cover, ended up taking breaks after every five chapters or so). It’s a lot of information, and I know for a fact that much of it (especially some of the more involved chemistry) probably didn’t completely sink in. But it certainly made me look at even everyday food with far more respect than before, and I learnt the science behind some common cooking practices. And I got some tips on cooking more efficiently, or choosing ingredients more wisely.
A fascinating book.
And yes, did you know this?
… each of the four major legumes known to Rome lent its name to a prominent Roman family: Fabius comes from the fava bean, Lentulus from the lentil, Piso from the pea, and Cicero—most distinguished of them all—from the chickpea.
Plus loads more of such delightful trivia.
January 12, 2022
Ein gutes und umfangreiches Buch über alles essbare, wissenschaftlich angehaucht mit teils geschichtlichen Aspekten. Gab mir ein sehr gutes Grundverständnis und werde ich wohl als Nachschlagewerk noch nutzen.
March 17, 2014
Very comprehensive book for the average person who is really into food. It goes into the historical and scientific background of various foods. The writing style is easy to follow, so there's no getting lost with this book!
I found the author's writing style to be a little too flowery, but it may just be that I am not enough of a food connoisseur to understand some of his descriptions. For example, he describes buffalo milk as being barnyardy and reminiscent of mushrooms and freshly-cut grass. These descriptions seem a bit subjective to me, but what do I know?
This was one of my class texts, and it was surprisingly readable. Still a bit dull for reading on your own though. Some chapters look like they'll be exciting, like the chapter on sauce, but it's pretty much a chapter on the chemistry of thickening reagents.
I found the author's writing style to be a little too flowery, but it may just be that I am not enough of a food connoisseur to understand some of his descriptions. For example, he describes buffalo milk as being barnyardy and reminiscent of mushrooms and freshly-cut grass. These descriptions seem a bit subjective to me, but what do I know?
This was one of my class texts, and it was surprisingly readable. Still a bit dull for reading on your own though. Some chapters look like they'll be exciting, like the chapter on sauce, but it's pretty much a chapter on the chemistry of thickening reagents.
January 30, 2014
When I ruined cream sauce by cooking it at a too hot temperature (so that instead of thickening, the cream just broke down into water and oil), I thought I needed to know a little more about exactly what was going on when I cooked. I asked my brother (scientist and cook) to get me something like that for my birthday, and he sent this book. Lots of interesting information for cooking geeks. I am not sure yet if it has improved my cooking, but it's still fun to read. Most interesting to me: the sections on nuts and bread.
February 10, 2010
Such a fun and interesting book. As a foodie and a scientist I appreciate his approach to cooking and food. I also love the sense of joyful curiosity that suffuses the book. I was lucky enough to attend a talk by Harold McGee and he is still just as charming and enthusiastic as he seems in the book. He had so many interesting facts to impart that I wished the talk was three times as long. I'd love to sit down and chat with him.
March 17, 2018
Finally! I'm not sure how many people read this book cover to cover, but I did! I learned a lot about food and cooking food and feel this has already helped me become a better cook. Probably too dry for most people, though, especially if you're not into the minutia of cooking... down to how atoms and molecules react. I learned about this book from the HarvardX class on EdX called: Science & Cooking. A great class if you're into cooking and/or science.
April 19, 2008
This is the most hardcore, badass book about food I have ever seen. Any time you want to know what you're actually doing when you're in the kitchen, this will spell it out for you. If the OED had a one night stand with your O-Chem textbook while watching to food network, this would be their lovechild.
March 1, 2013
Who knew that food science could keep you up late at night? This is a can't-put-it-down explanation of how cooking, pickling,preserving, fluffing, rising, kneading and all manner of other cooking techniques work. I return to McGee's explanations again and again. I am a better cook and a more appreciative eater as a result. Bravo Mr. McGee!
May 6, 2013
The finest book on food science and food history on the market!
I will never actually be done reading as I go back to it all the time.
I will never actually be done reading as I go back to it all the time.
February 9, 2016
Great reading about a lot of facts on cooking, or debunking a lot of urban legends such as 'sealing' the meat in order to preserve tenderness.
May 5, 2020
It is not a cookbook, but rather the context for all cookbooks: a stupendous compendium of how food -- every type of food -- works. It is heavy on chemistry (and its closing pages are a chemistry primer I wish I'd had in high school; read this first), but also patient explanations that a layperson / foodie will like: What is emulsification? Why do so many foods turn brown on exposure to air? How does the Maillard reaction work, and why is it the greatest thing to hit the culinary art since well before sliced bread? This is a reference book to be consulted often -- but I read it cover to cover, and enjoyed it lots.
December 4, 2022
Not so much something to read cover to cover. But super interesting to dip into if, for example, you want to know how caramelization works, what the difference is between the fermentation of sake and beer, or how the compositions of cow, human, and whale milk compare.
October 16, 2019
It's like an encyclopedia of food. It took me months to finish it but it was worth it. I feel i can trust everything he writes and the references at the end of the book are endless. I wish it would have more examples of common mistakes in the kitchen that could be explained by theory.
August 15, 2020
Absolutely fascinating! Looking forward to adding this as a culinary reference
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