Books : Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History)
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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5
EAN num: 9780231141703
ISBN number: 023114170X
Label: Columbia University Press
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 232
Printing Date: October 23, 2007
Publishing house: Columbia University Press
Sale Popularity Level: 25167
Studio: Columbia University Press
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Rated by buyers -
This book contains what the title says it does, however it is not compehensive like On food and Cooking, it is much smaller. This books strengths are its small size, and the information is easy to apply.
The book has been translated from French poorly. It is very awkward English, where I constantly found myself re-reading things.
Rated by buyers 
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The very first things French chemist and gastronomist This clarifies are the terms gourmand and gourmet. A gourmand is not a glutton. A gourmand is a gourmet. A gourmet is actually a connoisseur of wine. Got that? Good. Cause it doesn't get any easier.
This' eye-opening book is all about molecules and atoms in motion and what things like heat, moisture, acid and fat do to transform them into succulent meals - or into fallen soufflés, tasteless pot roasts, and rubbery eggs.
After a brief overview concerning the physiology of taste and the basics of saucepan chemistry, This concentrates on various common ingredients and techniques - milk, eggs, sugar, wine, steaming, braising, frying, sauces, salads, pastry - to name a few. We know that oil and water do not mix, and that microwaved beef is gray and unappetizing. This explains why.
He then goes on to show us how to whip up the perfect hollandaise or mayonnaise, and how to keep the succulence in beef. While the microwave plays no part in this last, This is enthusiastic about this appliance and shows us how to use it properly for making caramel, reheating vegetables and - producing a Cointreau-infused duck a l'orange!
This is witty and humorous and sprinkles his clear and effervescent prose with bons mots from such brilliants as Escoffier, Harold McGee and the great Brillat-Savarin. Readers (like me) whose eyes glaze over at the very mention of electrons may find themselves becoming entranced by This' graceful descriptions of essential chemical reactions.
He explains when and why to salt and answers numerous questions, i.e., why soup cools when you blow on it, why babies shouldn't eat sausage, why use so much oil for deep-frying.
Crisply organized, This' compact volume ends with a glossary of cooking and chemistry terms. The very first entry is:
"AAAH: The cry of delight guests utter when the very first dish arrives. The sleight of hand responsible for the most beautiful `aaahs' cannot be explained in terms of physical chemistry."
Enjoy.
Rated by buyers 
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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!
Rated by buyers -
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.
Rated by buyers -
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 very 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.
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