McGee on Food and Cooking: An Encyclopedia of Kitchen Science, History and Culture

Product Information

For its twentieth anniversary, Harold McGee prepared a new, fully revised and updated edition of On Food and Cooking. Harold McGee's original ON FOOD AND COOKING was acclaimed as a masterpiece on both sides of the Atlantic, and won the 1986 Andre Simon Food Book of the Year.

You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. McGEE ON FOOD AND COOKING renders the everyday miracles of the kitchen wondrous and fascinating, shedding light on questions that have puzzled generations of cooks. Now, for its twentieth anniversary, Harold McGee has prepared a new, fully revised and updated edition of On Food and Cooking. If you've ever wondered why fish goes off quicker than meat; how to tell stale eggs from fresh ones; why you're supposed to leave pancake batter to rest; how it is that cheese can possibly have so many different permutations of flavour and texture; why chopping onions makes you cry; about the health benefits of chocolate and alcohol; why Jerusalem artichokes make you fart; or even how to avoid poisoning your guests - then this is the book for you. McGee on Food and Cookery is an expanded version of Harold McGee's classic exploration of science in the kitchen.The work is separated into sections that focus on the ingredients, providing the structure for the author to speculate on the history of foodstuffs and cookery, and the molecular characteristics of food flavors, [6] while the text is illustrated by charts, graphs, pictures, and sidebar boxes with quotes from sources such as Brillat-Savarin and Plutarch. Now completely rewritten for a new generation, reflecting the seismic shifts in science and upsurge in home cooking over the past two decades, this new book will amaze all those who love food. The breadth and depth of topics covered was fantastic, and all of the accompanying information made this book absolutely fascinating.

Overall it will be a good read over winter, but feels like it has been through a photocopier on 75% or something.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. This is a reference book to be consulted often -- but I read it cover to cover, and enjoyed it lots. 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. Among the major themes addressed throughout the 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 foodsOn Food and Cooking is an invaluable and monumental compendium of basic information about ingredients, cooking methods, and the pleasures of eating. 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.