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| On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen | 
 enlarge | Author: Harold Mcgee
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $40.00
Buy New: $22.75
You Save: $17.25 (43%)
New (58) Used (34) Collectible (5) from $17.16
Avg. Customer Rating:  173 reviews
Sales Rank: 518
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Rev Upd
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 896
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.7 x 2
ISBN: 0684800012
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5
EAN: 9780684800011
ASIN: 0684800012
Publication Date: November 16, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
The only cooking science reference you will ever need April 17, 2006
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
This review is written from the perspective of a very serious home cook that has been studying food and cooking for 25 years. If food is your hobby you will love this book.
In addition to this book I also own Shirley Corriher's "Cookwise" and Alton Brown's "I'm Only Here For The Food". If you are just interested in science this is the book to purchase. This book answers any question that you can image, and it does so in excruciating detail. If you can think of a food science question this book has answered it.
This book is definitely a technical reference and not a cookbook. Please do not purchase this book expecting recipes you will be disappointed. If you are looking for a combination of science and recipes than check out one of the two books referenced above by Shirley Corriher and Alton Brown.
This book is a highly recommend for anyone that wants to know why a particular method is recommended, or what chemical reaction is taking place. Just be warned this is a dry read. I use if only for reference, it is far too dry to read cover to cover. I am very happy to have this book in my cooking reference library.
There's a certain kind of cook who has to have this book August 22, 2006
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
You know who you are. It's not enough that you know 'how'. If you love something enough to understand the how, you have to know the 'why' and maybe even the 'who' and the 'where' and 'when'. This is the book for you. There are a few books in my life that I really treasure because they unlocked secrets. Of course, I'm not curious about everything, there are some secrets that are more special than others.
Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking is a book that looks behind the chemical scenes at one of my favorite activities. This is the book that showed me how the structure of a gluten molecule accounted for the strange elasticity of bread dough. It taught me what goes on when fruit ripens and meat browns: why there's no dark meat on fish and how a meringue forms.
I was delighted when I read this book and I keep a copy on my desk now, going back to it for answers to questions and just for fun. This is not a book of recipes, but it's the perfect first stop for someone who wants to make their own recipe. It is loaded with the history and culture of food.
The best thing about this book is that for lovers of food and cooking it offers something more than mere knowledge-it offers a sense of sharing in its secrets, a sense of intimacy with the subject, And for true lovers, isn't intimacy the best thing of all?
A Food Trivia Must-Read! April 13, 2005
10 out of 14 found this review helpful
As the culinary historian and author of www.CookingUpHistory.com I wouldn't be without this book. It is an industry bible for food lore and trivia, from the basic to the bizarre, every crumb of food knowledge you could ever hunger for is within the covers of this book. Buy it, keep it and don't loan it out, 'cause if you do, say "Bye Bye." IT IS THAT GOOD!
Que Librazo !!! What a book !!! September 26, 2005
10 out of 15 found this review helpful
Now I know the reason for studying english just superb , you can taste and smell the writer's passion , very complex issues are explained easily , just the definitive gourmet bible . 10 stars for it.
Must-have resource for inquisitive cooks. August 2, 2005
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
This book is phenomenal. In a structured, systematic way, McGee presents an encyclopedic reference for different foods and cooking methods. Some chapters explain the chemistry/physics behind cooking various foods, like bread or eggs; while others describe the history and biology of different ingredients like fruit or vegetables. While a single book can't, of course, be the authority on any one topic, McGee's text is on the whole an extremely useful, enlightening resource that will surely educate and fascinate.
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