One of the things a cookbook reviewer likes best in all the world is reliability: recipes that work exactly as they are written, with no tweaks, alterations, or fudges. That’s what I’ve always liked about Cook’s Illustrated magazine and the America’s Test Kitchen team. So I sprang at the chance to review the latest offering out of Brookline.
True to expectations, the recipes worked. And I loved the essays that start out each chapter and the explanations following each recipe. It’s like Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking, only a bit more accessible, and with lots of things you can actually make. Highly recommended.
Click here to read today’s review of The Science of Good Cooking in the Boston Globe.
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January 24, 2013 at 1:24 am
yt
I’m interested in the cookbook, but how are the Asian recipes? I’m interested in the “why” of Chinese cooking. Would this book be a good choice and cover all types of cuisines? Or are there more appropriate books you would recommend? Thanks!
January 24, 2013 at 8:31 am
tsusanchang
Hi there yt. The Asian recipes are rather few, actually, although there’s a few good notes on the “why” of stir-fry technique (I still disagree with them about using a nonstick pan). It’s definitely not what I would consider a good book for multiethnic cooking. And there isn’t a good equivalent to this book for Asian or Chinese cooking. In fact, I can’t think of a good technical book for any ethnic cuisine! though maybe some of my readers can chime in and make some suggestions. But you can get some in-depth information in Grace Young’s books. And you can’t beat Andrea Nguyen’s Asian Tofu for in-depth info if tofu is your thing.
It’s funny, mostly the ethnic cookbooks I think of as being more “scholarly” tend to be rich in cultural and historical context. Not so much food science.