On food and cooking
1984
- cookery
- food
- cookbooks
- cuisine
- aliments
- cooking
- cooking, american
- chr 1984
- pro aresty, esther b. (donor) (inscription, oct. 11, 1990)
- pro feinberg, wendy (autograph, oct. 11, 1990)
The story
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, and 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.
What it’s like
Unhurried and curious, with the feel of a well-thumbed reference kept on a kitchen shelf: dense but never dry, the pages full of small revelations about why an onion makes you weep or why meat browns. The prose is clear and companionable, a patient voice explaining chemistry through the stove, the market and the table, with historical digressions that wander across centuries and cuisines. Its sensory world lives in the mind's kitchen, steam rising off simmering stock, the bright sting of acid, the slow sweetening of caramel, and it rewards dipping in rather than reading straight through. The emotional register is warm, enthusiastic and reassuring, with a steady delight in how food works and why it pleases us. Nothing in it is violent, frightening or sexual; the only tension is the occasional surprise of a fact that overturns a kitchen habit. It suits a rainy Sunday with the oven on, a slow evening with a glass of wine, or a comfort read for anyone who has ever cooked or simply wondered what happens to food once it hits the heat. It is for curious home cooks, food lovers and anyone who enjoys learning the reasons behind the recipe.
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