In a light, anecdotal, but highly informative style, seasoned cooking writers reveal the unexpected and always practical science of the kitchen. Covered are such subjects as the amazing alchemy of granules and powders, the astonishing egg, the effects on food of different cooking methods, the biology and psychology of flavor, the remarkable chemistry of doughs, spices, and much, much more. Amusing anecdotes, sidebars and illustrations en-liven the text. Throughout, there are "cook's queries," quick tips, and even recipes that will delight anyone interested in becoming a more knowledgable cook.
Alex Talbot and Aki Kamozawa, husband-and-wife chefs and the forces behind the popular blog Ideas in Food, have made a living out of being inquisitive in the kitchen. Their book shares the knowledge they have gleaned from numerous cooking adventures, from why tapioca flour makes a silkier chocolate pudding than the traditional cornstarch or flour to how to cold smoke just about any ingredient you can think of to impart a new savory dimension to everyday dishes. Perfect for anyone who loves food, Ideas in Food is the ideal handbook for unleashing creativity, intensifying flavors, and pushing one’s cooking to new heights. This guide, which includes 100 recipes, explores questions both simple and complex to find the best way to make food as delicious as possible. For home cooks, Aki and Alex look at everyday ingredients and techniques in new ways—from toasting dried pasta to lend a deeper, richer taste to a simple weeknight dinner to making quick “micro stocks” or even using water to intensify the flavor of soups instead of turning to long-simmered stocks. In the book’s second part, Aki and Alex explore topics, such as working with liquid nitrogen and carbon dioxide—techniques that are geared towards professional cooks but interesting and instructive for passionate foodies as well. With primers and detailed usage guides for the pantry staples of molecular gastronomy, such as transglutaminase and hydrocolloids (from xanthan gum to gellan), Ideas in Food informs readers how these ingredients can transform food in miraculous ways when used properly. Throughout, Aki and Alex show how to apply their findings in unique and appealing recipes such as Potato Chip Pasta, Root Beer-Braised Short Ribs, and Gingerbread Soufflé. With Ideas in Food, anyone curious about food will find revelatory information, surprising techniques, and helpful tools for cooking more cleverly and creatively at home.
Presents information on the role of the principles of science in culinary preparation. Offers access to articles, an online bookstore, a question-and-answer section, and a discussion area. Provides information on free software available. Includes information about the weekly column, "The Inquisitive Cook," written by Anne Gardiner and Sue Wilson.
Packed with expert information on every aspect of buying, preparing and cooking meat. Tim Wilson and Fran Warde have teamed up to create this comprehensive reference work and inspirational collection of recipes. For each type of meat, the book recommends the best breeds, advises which cuts suit which style of cooking and tells you what to ask your butcher in order to buy the best quality. There are more than 100 recipes arranged according to season, from Sticky citrus-marinated pork chops in April through Moroccan chicken with preserved lemons in July to Slow-baked herb-crusted leg of mutton in December. Through monthly farm diaries, the book also reveals what life is really like on a thriving British farm. Packed with specially commissioned photographs taken on the farm as well as in the kitchen by renowned photographer Kristin Perers, this is a uniquely beautiful and useful book.
Presents recipes ranging in difficulty with the science and technology-minded cook in mind, providing the science behind cooking, the physiology of taste, and the techniques of molecular gastronomy.
Food has always played a key role to Malaysian-born Billy as well as in his home country where it's not uncommon to greet each other by asking, 'Have you eaten yet?' instead of 'how are you?'. When Billy migrated to Australia in 1996 he also took his inquisitive palate to a whole new culinary world. That's when he started cooking not just cuisines from his home soil but also started experimenting with the new flavours of his adopted homeland and the world. The juxtaposition of two different cultures has allowed Billy to submerge himself in an endless combination of Eastern and Western cuisines. This cookbook showcases Billy's passion in cooking through his favourite collected recipes from both worlds from traditional Malaysian-Chinese Nyonya recipes such as Chinese roast pork belly to contemporary Western-style dishes such as Braised beef cheeks in Pedro Ximinez.
Sunday Times Bestseller It’s a national icon, a British institution, the finest grocer of them all. Fortnum & Mason is a store that has fuelled the tide of British history, fed the appetites of kings and queens, maharajahs and czars, emperors, dukes and divas alike.
When Sol and Connie Blink move to Grand Creek, one of the first people to welcome them is an odd older woman, Fay Holaderry, and her friendly dog, Swift, who carries a very strange bone in his mouth. Sol knows a lot more than the average eleven-year-old, so when he identifies the bone as human, he and Connie begin to wonder if their new neighbor is up to no good. In a spine-tingling adventure that makes them think twice about who they can trust, Sol and Connie discover that solving mysteries can be a dangerous game—even for skilled junior sleuths.
Rumors of a ghost lure beginning reporter Brandy O'Bannon to a mansion on an isolated Florida lake and into an investigation that leads to a forty-five year old skeleton, a concealed murder, and an unexpected romance. As Brandy searches for answers, she questions eccentric suspects and tries to help an intriguing young architect save the century-old home from developers. Hidden emotions boil to the surface when she unravels events at the house during a fatal, long-ago celebration. As she closes in on the truth, she becomes a target for the killer. After escaping threats and attacks with the help of the conflicted architect, who opposes her investigation, and her golden retriever, she devises a daring plan to trap the murderer. It almost costs Brandy her life, but her scheme solves the mysteries of both murder and ghost by exposing the secret of the house.
Peterson explores a change in French cooking in the mid-seventeenth century - from the heavily sugared, saffroned, and spiced cuisine of the medieval period to a new style based on salt and acid tastes. In the process, she reveals more fully than any previous writer the links between medieval cooking, alchemy, and astrology. Peterson's vivid account traces this newly acquired taste in food to its roots in the wider transformation of seventeenth-century culture which included the Scientific Revolution. She makes the startling - and persuasive - argument that the shift in cooking styles was actually part of a conscious effort by humanist scholars to revive Greek and Roman learning and to chase the occult from European life.
