Cooking For Engineers

[efsitz]

I started reading through this site and realized there was no way I could cover enough of it to know whether someone already brought this up. Therefore, I'll just post it here. There's a book I bought a few years ago that is a lot like this website. It's called "Cookwise" by Shirley O. Corriher. I have not made too many of the recipies in it, because it's really not exactly for that. It's written by a biochemist, and the recipies are there mostly to serve as demonstrations of particular cooking concepts. For example, there is a recipe for lowfat ice cream that is there to demonstrate how certain molecules other than fats can contribute a "creamy mouthfeel" to a food. The ice cream itself? Reasonably tasty, though nothing earth shattering. The feel, though? Really fascinating.

Anyway. I don't know if anyone mentioned the book here, but if you like to know why bread rises, yada yada, it's a cool book to have. She talks about the whole saturated/unsaturated fat thing, too, though not in as much depth as this site does.

I'd love to find other books like this. Knowing what's really going on when I cook something helps me a lot in knowing which steps are worth my full attention. Otherwise, I take random shortcuts and wind up with random results!

[nick]

It's not a cookbook, but Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking" is the bible for people like us--it explains the science behind damn near everything related to food. The author, along with Herve This, is one of the heads of the "molecular gastronomy" movement/group, which is a bunch of chefs, chemists, and biologists who get together and do lab experiements with cooking.

Rose Levy Beranbaum's "The Cake Bible" is the best cookbook I've ever seen (I've seen a lot as a professional pastry chef) in that it actually tells you why you're doing things, probable causes of problems, etc.

[enginerd]

I would also remind you to watch Alton Brown's Good Eats on the food network. He also has a cookbook out I'm Just Here For The Food.

[mhchu]

Alton also has a great book on kitchen equipment and tools called Gear for Your Kitchen.

[WoodlandSprite]

Another fun read is "What Einstein told his Cook" by Robert Wolke.

[celia_cook]

Thanks guys for all the suggested books now I know what to get myself for my birthday! :roll: I am the type who has cookbooks for bedtime reading and have shelves full of them but I don't I have one where it explains the underlying science, chemical reactions, or just explanations of why certain food combinations effect a result. cheers!

[Zaydia]

I second the suggestion for Alton Brown's "I'm just here for the Food". It's an amazing book, and his show is hillarious, entertaining, and educational.

He also has 2 other books - I'm Just Here For More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking and Alton Brown's Gear for your Kitchen.


Good luck! Hope this helped!

[5minutes]

One more voice in the Alton Brown fan crowd.

Along with being the host of Good Eats on the Food Network, Alton also has his own website with even more stuff.


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-5minutes

"The fact that “Dr.” Phil has the number 1 cookbook on Amazon.com makes me want to end it all." - Alton Brown

[JediLow]

Heh... I'm seeing a "Cooking For Engineers" book in the horizon

[Karen]

If you want to know "Why?" you've got to read "How to Read a French Fry" by Russ Parsons.

The subtitle is "And Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science." No less than Julia Child praised the book in O magazine. It is great fun to read and has over 100 recipes.
I highly recommend it!

I'm also going to take note of the books you guys have mentioned. They sound like great recommendations, too!
Karen


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The "Let's Play Restaurant!" Blog

[FrustratedChef]

When I was in Napa with my wife a few years ago, I couldn't wait to get out of those darn vineyards so I could visit the Culinary Institute of America.

There, I bought "The Professional Chef's Techniques for Healthy Cooking." Most of the recipes are geared towards feeding a restaurant, i.e.: portions are typically for 10 - 15 people. But, the book has probably the best summaries I've ever read of all major cooking techniques, what they do to various kinds of food and why. There are also excellent descriptions of the major categories of food, how to balance them, and how to prepare and store them.

I can tell it's one of those books that will be a reference for me for the rest of days... sort of like A Technical Introduction to Digital Video... but very very different.

[chennes]

I've recently begun acquiring culinary school textbooks. The recipes can be tricky to use (they typically feed large crowds), but the ones I have picked up so far have been long on "why" as well as "how". In addition, they typically have extensive bibliographies that lead to even more cookbooks. In particular, Bo Friberg's "Professional Pastry Chef" and "Advanced Professional Pastry Chef" are excellent resources.

[GUEST Z]

some of these books are now installed on my little invisible wishlist ,,, what I want to know is , is there something like a vitamin bible out there? (something like grays anatomy <rough metaphor sorry> except about vitamins)?

[marix]

there all so is an old book about the science and cooking by brilliant savarin...i dont know the exact english title, coz im danish, but if i translate it into english it would something like "a taste-fysiological experience"
its an really old book, but he explains fx. how we taste different tastes on different part of our thong, and also if i remember right he was the one exploring the 5.th spice...

im a cater trainee my self, and i never was into science and chemistry in school. but now ive learned to see the use of it in cooking and thats what i find exiting...

im glad i found this webpage, and im gonna recoment it to my cooking-friends.

[chennes]