The food lab : better home cooking through science / J. Kenji López-Alt ; photographs by the author.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780393081084 :
- ISBN: 0393081087 :
- Physical Description: 958 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: New York ; W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., [2015]
Content descriptions
General Note: | Includes index. |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Cooking > Technique. Food > Analysis. Cooking > Research. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Terrace Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Terrace Public Library | 664.07 LOP (Text) | 35151001022987 | Adult Non-fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- BookPage Reviews : BookPage Reviews 2015 December
Cooking: Gourmet gifts galoreIf there's a super-serious cook on your holiday gift list, NOPI: The Cookbook, Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully's ode to their latest restaurant in London's West End, should be your pick. Though this is restaurant foodâcomplex dishes designed to be made by a team of prosâthe recipes here have been somewhat simplified so that the courageous home cook can take on the challenge and serve up a reasonable facsimile of a NOPI creation. Just make sure your lucky giftee invites you over for Scallops with Corn and Merguez Salsa and Sorrel Sauce or Baked Blue Cheese Cake with Pickled Beets and Honey.
Curious cooks will be thrilled with J. Kenji López-Alt's The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. An MIT-trained nerd with a passion for food (a ferd?), López-Alt believes that only by understanding the scientific principles that underlie what ingredients do when exposed to different techniques will you become a freer, more fluent cook. This may be serious food science, but with more than 300 recipes and 1,000 step-by-step photos seasoned with the author's charm, wit and clear, patient explanations, it's revelatory fun.
For lovers of la cucina Italiana, Lidia's Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine promises to serve up "everything you need to know to be a great Italian cook." And matriarch Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and her daughter, Tanya Bastianich Manuali, keep their word. With 400 recipes from appetizers to desserts, plus in-depth info on Italian ingredients and cooking techniques, this is her most comprehensive Italian cookbook yet and the book every Lidia fan should have.
Drawn to the more exotic? Yearning for crunchy, fragrant Fried Sesame Pork Tenderloin or lightly sauced Kung Pao Chicken as it's served in Sichuan? Then Kian Lam Kho's lusciously illustrated Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees is just right. He has organized the book by cooking methods, rather than by region or ingredient, giving you the gastronomic essentials you need to master these exquisitely varied Chinese dishesâfor everyday meals or for more elaborate feasts.
TOP PICK IN COOKBOOKS
Hartwood is a tripâa glorious culinary adventure to the edge of the Yucatán jungle and the delicious edge of contemporary cuisine. Eric Werner and Mya Henry left their restaurant jobs in Manhattan to follow a dream that turned into a restaurant open to the tropical night, serving their unique take on dazzling, wood-fueled, Mexican-infused dishes. Beautifully photographed and compellingly written, Hartwood is their celebration of the "love project" they've created. You can make and savor these 88 recipes (almost all the ingredients are obtainable in the U.S.) or you can luxuriate in armchair cooking and dream along with Werner and Henry.ÂÂ
This article was originally published in the December 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.
Copyright 2012 BookPage Reviews. - Choice Reviews : Choice Reviews 2016 May
To call this book simply a cookbook is to do it a disservice.  It is at once a culinary science primer, a well-tested recipe guide for key dishes from aioli to zucchini tempura, and a manifesto on the importance of applying the scientific method to the kitchen.  According to Lo´pez-Alt (managing culinary director, SeriousEats.com; food/cooking columnist), "only by understanding the underlying principles involved in cookery can you free yourself from both recipes and blindly accepted conventional wisdom."  After a hefty introduction covering the author's culinary philosophy, a survey of cooking science, and an equipment and pantry guide, the book is organized into nine remaining chapters by food type: breakfast, vegetables, roasts, salads, and so on as broad categories. Lo´pez-Alt makes clear that the book, though weighty, is not intended to be comprehensiveâsweets are in short supply.  Reference tables and step-by-step photos add significant value. The book is highly readable and can be enjoyed cover to cover, in sporadic dips, or as a reference source.  It is a welcome update to Shirley O'Corriher's Cookwise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking (1997), written in the same vein, and is much more practical than tomes such as Modernist Cuisine, by Nathan Myhrvold et al. (2011). Summing Up: Highly recommended. All culinary library collections.
Copyright 2016 American Library Association. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2015 June #2
Working in professional restaurant and test kitchens, MIT grad and chef López-Alt (managing culinary director, SeriousEats.com) learned to question "expert" cooking advice. In the vein of his James Beard Award-nominated column "The Food Lab" and previous writings for Cook's Illustrated magazine, his massive debut debunks false kitchen wisdom through rigorous scientific inquiry. Hugely informative yet not quite a textbook, this title uses humorous prose and more than 1,000 color images to relay the results of tireless experimenting with cooking temperatures, techniques, and tools. After trying López-Alt's perfected recipes for omelets (diner-style and Western), potatoes (fried, mashed, and hashed), meat loaves, and other popular foods, readers will undoubtedly emerge better cooks, with an arsenal of unconventional techniques that really work (e.g., salting eggs 15 minutes in advance of cooking for improved texture). VERDICT This indispensable kitchen manual, which suggests visualizing heat capacity as a coop full of Red Bull-energized chickens, makes food science accessible.
[Page 108]. (c) Copyright 2015 Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2015 July #3
The managing culinary director of the Serious Eats website, editor, and author of the James Beard Awardânominated column that informs this massive investigation into the best methods for preparing a litany of foods, Lopez-Alt takes a deep dive into classic recipes and their best preparation methods. Lopez-Alt's experience as test cook and editor at Cook's Illustrated magazine clearly comes in handy, as he recounts the many steps he took in order to determine the best way to pan-sear a steak, whip up a quick tomato soup, scramble an egg or make the best French fries. Though he's hardly the first to tackle the topic of a more scientific approach to cookingâthe ghosts of Cook's Illustrated, Harold McGee, and Alton Brown loom largeâ for the most part he deftly manages to hold the reader's interest and educate without devolving into arcane ingredients or overly complicated instructions. Yes, there are sous-vide cheeseburgers, and his four-step process for cooking steak fries will test many a relationship, but helpful tips on pan-searing a steak (frequent flipping is fine, and might even be the best way), taking the armwork out of risotto, and whipping up a flavor-rich homemade chicken stock in under an hour are genuinely informative and sure to help home cooks of all skill levels. Lopez-Alt's writing style is friendly and informative; he's genuinely interested in his material, and that enthusiasm shines through. Given the book's breadth and depth, this is a remarkable piece of work that stands up to its culinary comrades, and is a terrific starting point for home cooks interested in perfecting their techniques. (Sept.)
[Page ]. Copyright 2015 PWxyz LLC