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margardenlady's review against another edition
4.0
OK, so I didn't read it cover to cover. This is one of those reference, sit-on-the-shelf books, for sure. But it does have excellent, readable explanations for a lot of the science behind cooking and the history of foods and processes used to prepare them. I will turn to it often over the years, I'm sure, but I'm tired of it in my 'currently reading' list, so we'll call it done.
mattm's review against another edition
5.0
For an encyclopedia-style book like this I don't know if a person can easily distinguish "read" vs. "currently reading", but I've read enough of it to know that this is the most comprehensive, well-researched, and informative book on food and food ingredients I've ever seen.
Part science textbook, part history lesson, and part cooking instruction manual, the book delves into the technical reasons food ingredients behave the ways they do, the histories of their use in various dishes, and advice for how to make the most of them.
And the icing on the cake, so to speak, is that nearly every page teaches you some bit of food trivia that you can't wait to tell someone else. Dill is in the carrot family? Almond extract coming from a completely different kind of almond than the ones you buy in the store?
This is the very best reference book for any foodies out there.
Part science textbook, part history lesson, and part cooking instruction manual, the book delves into the technical reasons food ingredients behave the ways they do, the histories of their use in various dishes, and advice for how to make the most of them.
And the icing on the cake, so to speak, is that nearly every page teaches you some bit of food trivia that you can't wait to tell someone else. Dill is in the carrot family? Almond extract coming from a completely different kind of almond than the ones you buy in the store?
This is the very best reference book for any foodies out there.
megfang315's review against another edition
3.0
This book is very dense. There’s a ton of information about the science; because of this, I think it’s a great reference book to check when you’re not sure what went wrong or are curious why something happened, but it’s not something that one would typically devour in one sitting. There’s also interesting tidbits of history strewn here and there, but they’re not consistently present (which is fine, since I do not believe it’s the main aspect of this book).
greymalkin's review against another edition
5.0
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.
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