Harold McGee's On Food & Cooking: The Science & Lore of the Kitchen has been kicking around a good few years now. It's lasted as long as it has and is as well respected as it is because it's a really good book. McGee makes accessible the history and science of so many things taken for granted: eggs, milk, meat, fish, pastry and others. He tears apart a lot of bullshit like the idea that browning chunks of meat in a pan before braising somehow seals in the juices. Indeed, his chapter on meat makes me more excited than I was before--which was very very very fucking excited--to mess around with cooking goat legs and whole chickens and such in the guerilla sous vide setup a friend is helping me set up. His simple breakdown of the perfect cooking temperatures for different cuts of meat was enlightening and exactly the sort of information I was looking for.
If you're after something that gets very technical about something very specific, perhaps this book isn't for you. If you're after a molecular gastronomy book, again, this probably isn't for you. McGee provides more than enough information on each of the topics for any serious home cook and probavbly 90% professionals, but yeah, if you're wanting to do some truly 'modernist' stuff you might want to find a specialised textbook like, say, the upcoming multi-volume epic Modernist Cuisine.
McGee's Food & Cooking is accessible and interesting. It will, hopefully, make you think and want to fuck around.
Interesting book. As you stated it may not be good for someone looking for molecular gastronomy book, but it would definitely be an interesting read. Thanks for sharing this,
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