calliecinque's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
5.0
A delightful resource!! It must stink to be someone that doesn’t care about food
firerosearien's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
4.5
Tons and tons of information here. Could be used as a textbook for a cooking class and still not get through everything.
taylormonson's review against another edition
5.0
I’ve slowly been making my way through this over the last month and wow was it educational. It really does feel like a masterclass in cooking and the lessons I learned from it will definitely stick with me in future cooking endeavors
juniper77's review against another edition
It told me to buy different salt. And it's a recipe book; what was I thinking borrowing it from the library. I was too inspired by Freakonomics
kenreid's review against another edition
4.0
A most educational book for a cooking novice like myself. I have only one criticism: many of the dishes described by the author are completely alien to me. Sharing stories of problems found in top French and Japanese restaurants, creating recipes I haven't tasted, smelled or even heard of do not aid in helping me with the basic and important elements in cooking.
That's a small criticism however - I learned much from this book. I had no idea about the benefits salting earlier in the cooking process (for so many foods but not all) vs later. I had a poor understanding of the Maillard reaction. I never really considered acid being such an important element, and really only considered vinegar, citrus and sour candies as acidic. Never before did I realize that salt was *so much more important* than other spices - I just assumed it was one of many, and was particularly favored in the small number of cultural foods I've explored. Turns out it's a key component in seemingly all countries and cultures.
As a non-meat eater, much of the content wasn't aimed at me, but I still found it interesting as an intellectual exercise on the physics of food science (applying heat, acids, etc.).
Well worth the read, especially with the short page count. I even tried making the homemade mayonnaise (which, it turns out, needs a neutral oil rather than olive oil, but it was still enjoyable!).
I'll now watch the Netflix series, as my friend pointed out is based on this book.
That's a small criticism however - I learned much from this book. I had no idea about the benefits salting earlier in the cooking process (for so many foods but not all) vs later. I had a poor understanding of the Maillard reaction. I never really considered acid being such an important element, and really only considered vinegar, citrus and sour candies as acidic. Never before did I realize that salt was *so much more important* than other spices - I just assumed it was one of many, and was particularly favored in the small number of cultural foods I've explored. Turns out it's a key component in seemingly all countries and cultures.
As a non-meat eater, much of the content wasn't aimed at me, but I still found it interesting as an intellectual exercise on the physics of food science (applying heat, acids, etc.).
Well worth the read, especially with the short page count. I even tried making the homemade mayonnaise (which, it turns out, needs a neutral oil rather than olive oil, but it was still enjoyable!).
I'll now watch the Netflix series, as my friend pointed out is based on this book.