For the reader with little experience with food
science reading, I caution you that there are some statements in this book,
which are scientifically incorrect. This may be a small point, since the errors
are not likely to interfere with your practical cooking, but they may interfere
with your ability to extend your knowledge to new situations, which is the
whole point of the scientific inquiry in the first place. The first error I
noticed is the statement that when a water / alcohol mixture is boiled, the
alcohol will all boil off, leaving just water. One of the first things a
freshman chemistry student learns is that this is not true. It is true that
more alcohol will evaporate than water, until the alcohol and water attain
equilibrium. Admittedly, the alcohol will be reduced to a very small level, but
it is still there. This is important if someone has physical or religious
problems with any alcohol. The second error I noticed is the use of the term
`dissolved' when referring to the mixing of flour with water. The proper term here
is `suspension', not `solution'. In some ways, this is a more serious error, as
suspensions behave much differently than solutions, and the two states are
pervasive in cooking techniques, so it is important to know the differences in
behavior between the two states.
After all that nit picking, I can still recommend
this as a really worthwhile source of information whereby one can improve your
cooking, especially for the reasonable paperback price. One especially valuable
feature of this book is the excellent bibliography which gives references for
all the authors and works mentioned above except for Alton Brown, and a whole
lot more.
If you really need to have fun with your reading
about food science, I recommend `The Cook Book Decoder or Culinary Alchemy
Explained' by retired Canadian professor of Chemistry, Arthur E. Grosser. This
book has the added virtue of being great to pass food knowledge on to kids.
The claim to `science' in this book's title is a
bit tarnished, but if you are new to foodie science, this book will give you
lots of useful information and tell you how to avoid a lot of kitchen pitfalls.
- B. Marold, Amazon.com
This book is a cyclopedia of how stuff works in
the kitchen. It is written in question-and-answer format, addressing numerous
kitchen topic, like "Which is better, rock or sea salt?" and
"What's wrong with farmed fishes?". The book is divided into chapters
addressing cooking equipment, cooking methods, meats, seafood, dairy products,
eggs, fruits and vegetables, sauces and thickeners, seasonings, oils and fats,
baking, beverages, food storage, health and nutrition, and diets. It includes a
list of references for further reading, and index. It is clearly not a
cookbook, but there are a few recipes for basic home cooking scattered here and
there for illustration of principles.
This book would make a handy kitchen reference.
Want to know the different cooking and nutritional properties of various oils?
Check the tables found in this book. Trying to choose some new cookware for
your kitchen? Read this book, and you'll learn why professional chefs prefer
stainless steel pots with copper bottoms for many kitchen tasks. A few topics
are covered superficially, such as vegetarian diets, where the author notes
that vegetarians can get all essential amino acids through combining different
foods at meals, but he doesn't note that getting enough vitamin B12 while
avoiding animal products requires extra effort. While most of the information
is up-to-date, perhaps a few articles could do with some revisions, such as the
entry on taste buds, in which Hillman describes the old theory on the zone
distribution of taste buds, which recent research has put into question.
- Erika Mitchell, Amazon.com
I really enjoyed this book! I found it practical,
well organized, easy to access and understand, and engaging. Its format of
Q&A makes it great to break into whatever blocks of time become available,
and is a natural resource for the kitchen. Note: I almost burned some hors
d'oeuvres because I got carried away with the section I was reading!
I basically carried it around with me for 2 weeks
-- catching 10 mins on the bus, 4 mins on the subway platform, 10 mins in the
bathroom, 20 mins while waiting for my roasted asparagus to brown (after
washing my hands, of course). I took it to restaurants to fill in the time
while dining solo. Repeatedly I was asked from strangers about the book, and
their quick scans of the pages prompted many identical reactions: "This is
so cool!"
My thoughts exactly. I just received the similar
in genre "The Science of Food" during the recent holidays, so I have
a basis for comparison. The two are both good resources to have, but meet
different needs. With its smaller size, easy Q&A format, and tons of useful
information, "The New Kitchen Science" is a handy, enjoyable resource
that makes it fun to pick up many many many nuggets of useful information.
