Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History)

You know those "precious metals cleaning plates" sold at ridiculous prices in airline catalogs? Well, Hervé This tells you how to cobble together your own from foil and salt (p. 192). I tried it with a couple of sterling silver pieces--and it worked wonderfully!In the first couple of chapters of this new translation from the 1993 original in French (Secrets de la Casserole), This introduces some basics of cooking and discusses the sensations of eating, debunking the 90-year-old four-tastes theory. Afterward, this book can be dipped into at any point. It has chapters on basic ingredients (milk, eggs, etc.), on cooking methods (steaming, braising, etc.), on souffles, pastries, and breads--everywhere (not surprisingly) emphasizing French cooking. The second-to-last chapter on kitchen utensils is also essential reading, and the last chapter highlights kitchen mysteries yet unsolved.For someone with some scientific background, this book occasionally comes across as patronizing. I liked, though, his explanation of evaporational cooling: to summarize, the water molecules that escape (i.e., evaporate) from the surface of the liquid must have a lot of energy--more energy than the typical molecules left behind--leaving behind liquid that has a lower temperature.There are a couple of minor scientific mistakes: limonene, and not the mirror image, is in fact the relevant molecule in lemons (p. 28); and the record-holding temperature that the physicist Nicholas Kurti achieved was a millionth of a degree above, not below, absolute zero (p. 95). The translation from French may also be faulty on page 30, where he says that "we see a smoke, not vapor" above a soup--"fog" or "mist" probably being intended rather than "smoke."Overall, this book is fun to read and full of interesting information. It is a good introduction for anyone interested in cooking or how things work. But for those with a deeper interest, Harold McGee's  On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen  (which This frequently echoes) is a better choice and a more thorough reference.

This is an excellent book. It raises questions and tries to find the answers.And sure, it's not complete, as we are still searching to find out what the building blocks of the universe are..also, like the eskimos have a hundred words to describe snow, it's maybe not so evident to translate this french book into english .. but overall, it contains some essentials for every cook and i have to admit i'm reading a little every evening.. over and over again.It's inspiring, if you're a cook. It helps in developing your techniques, it's practical in many ways.If you want to improve your cooking skills, this is a great help, a good start... to evolve.(if you are an absolute beginner, it might be somewhat difficult sometimes, because in France some culinary skills are more widely spread and part of everyday education, which might not be the case elswhere)Hervé is working continuously to find more questions and answers every day ... so, let's join him

This is not about making cookies or cooking a thanksgiving turkey in time. This book is about the chemical subtleties that make a good dish a great dish. The chemistry is fairly easy while the cooking is a lot harder here.It isn't about healthy foods (even if there are some good healthy cooking hints) and it isn't about quick cooking (even if there are some interesting suggestions about how, for example, render the microwaved food better tasting).The two biggest shortcomings in my opinion are a truly lame index and too much quoting from the old masters. Even if I prefer Italian cooking, I can forgive his French cooking slant.I consider the shortcomings negligible, and thus I stick to 5 stars.

In culinary science, dominated by Harold McGee's lucid and entertaining "On Food and Cooking," a new book has to deliver a lot. "Kitchen Mysteries" does not quite measure up. Much of the problem is the translation from French: I can HEAR the author talking in French, since the translator has kept the idiomatic elegant French constructions that sound so awkward and rambling in English. The content is interesting and has novelty, such as making duck a l'orange by injecting Cointreau into the thighs before you microwave them. Quel horreur!

Despite the fact that my knowledge of chemistry is basic, I found the book clear and informing. It was fun to read about the science behind some procedures that we're all familiar with, it made some things a lot more logical, and it taught me a few tricks to try in my next culinary endeavours.

reading This book should be the first thing to do as you decided to cook as serious as it deserve .. great !!

Easy to read and understand Very interesting information

What a fun book. Its a bit shorter than I expected, but the science behind food is fascinating. I have really been enjoying reading this one and am sure the lessons learned will improve my skill in the kitchen.

This is a book filled with dozens of interesting facts about the chemistry of food and is very readable. I would wholeheartedly recommend this work, were it not for the indifferent translation by Jody Gladding, who, according to the jacket is a poet. Above I said the book is about the chemistry of food and should have had a chemist to translate it. To give one glaring example she gives the formula on page 127 of capsaicin, the hot element of chillies as “8-methyl-N-vanniyl-6-neneamide” when it should be 8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide. There are also other errors of a chemical nature in the text. These mistakes detract from the enjoyment of the book as one is always looking for the next one.This may be of interest solely to a chemist, and a general reader would not pick up on these, but what else has been lost in translation?

Herve This was a distant inspiration to me in my journey with food, until now. This is an amazing little book. And yes, some may question some of the technical terminology used but this is our personal journey and this book encourages self directed learning by researching terms that we may not understand. And yes, there’s may be minor imperfections in translation but these are far outweighed by the insights this book provides. I have always enjoyed Herve’s video clips and this book has brought my understanding to a new level and, his insights and brilliance to life. There is a fabulous glossary included which was unexpected and extremely useful. I enjoyed the style and tone of the writing, very relaxed and informal. This book will be well thumbed and make a significant contribution in my library and to my continuing journey with food.

As the title of my review says, this is a reasonable book about the science of FRENCH cooking. At first I was a little disappointed with it, it wasn't quite what I wanted somehow. This's technical explanations are a little too technical sometimes, but he usually recovers this at the end of each section with a one-line summary of the basic principle. Gradually it grew on me as I went through and similar ideas were repeated, thereby reinforcing the basic messages of the book.It does seem to over-focus on French cooking, it's like nobody cooks anything else. But, nevertheless it does cover the basics of kitchen science and should help the average home cook improve their cooking technique for whatever they are cooking. There's nothing over-fancy like making ice-cream with dry ice in here, so it's all perfectly relevant for the average person cooking at home.

Reminded me of some things I'd forgotten, busted a few myths and taught me things I never knew.It's easy to dip in and out of and I've marked quite a few passages for future reference.

For a serious student of the new science of cooking there is no substitute for McGee on Food and Cooking. Hervey This is without doubt a master in the laboratory, an erratic cook by all accounts, but confuses the didactic lecture with writing an intelligible readable book. Moreover his pervasive pompous manner suggests that he gives no credit to his readers' intelligence and is not adverse to showing off.Some of the information is useful but there is nothing remarkable in either his insights or conclusions.