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I'm Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking [Hardcover]

Alton Brown (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (119 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: May 1 2002
As host of Food Network's Good Eats, Alton Brown entertains and informs viewers with a lively mix of wit blended with wisdom, history with pop culture, and science with the kind of common cooking sense that our grandmothers took for granted. This lively half-hour program is now in its 5th season and one of the network's top-rated shows.

In this, his first cookbook, Brown presents readers with an instruction manual for the kitchen, combining 60 wide-ranging recipes with a wealth of culinary information that allows anyone - at any level of expertise - to understand the whys and wherefores of cooking.

The book is organized into modules featuring different cooking techniques: from pan searing to pressure cooking, stweing to steaming, each is explained in detail.

A "master" recipe is provided for each method, accompanied by additional recipes - both simple and sophisticated - that epitomize the technique described. The text is accented throughout with food facts, history and lore, science and mechanics - all of which heighten the reader's understanding of how cooking techniques have developed and why recipes work the way they do. Other sections detail the "before and after" of flavoring (from brining and marinating to sauces and gravies), food hygiene, the well-equipped kitchen, and what's in the author's basic pantry and why.

With Good Eats, Brown has created a cooking show for a new generation; in I'm Just Here For the Food, he again breaks the mold, creating a cookbook for people who want to really understand their food. Combining cutting-edge graphics with a fresh take on preparing food, this is a book that his legion of fans has been clamoring for.

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Product Details

Product Description

From Amazon

Alton Brown, host of Food Network's Good Eats, is not your typical TV cook. Equal parts Jacques Pépin and Mr. Science, with a dash of MacGyver, Brown goes to great lengths to get the most out of his ingredients and tools to discover the right cooking method for the dish at hand. With his debut cookbook, I'm Just Here for the Food, Brown explores the foundation of cooking: heat. From searing and roasting to braising, frying, and boiling, he covers the spectrum of cooking techniques, stopping along the way to explain the science behind it all, often adding a pun and recipe or two (usually combined, as with Miller Thyme Trout).

I'm Just Here for the Food is chock-full of information, but Brown teaches the science of cooking with a soft touch, adding humor even to the book's illustrations--his channeling of the conveyer belt episode of I Love Lucy to explain heat convection is a hoot. The techniques are thoroughly explained, and Brown also frequently adds how to augment the cooking to get optimal results, including a tip on modifying a grill with a hair dryer for more heat combustion. But what about the food? Brown sticks largely to the traditional, from roast turkey to braised chicken piccata, though he does throw a curveball or two, such as Bar-B-Fu (marinated, barbecued tofu). And you'll quickly be a convert of his French method of scrambling eggs via a specially rigged double boiler--the resulting dish is soft, succulent, and lovely. But more than just a recipe book, I'm Just Here for the Food is a fascinating, delightful tour de force about the love of food and the joy of discovery. --Agen Schmitz

From Publishers Weekly

Known as the successful host of Good Eats currently airing on the Food Network Channel, Alton Brown brings an MTV style to food and cooking. He applies his winning formula of pop culture combined with history, science and common sense to his first cookbook. He offers his formula of food preparation ("food + heat = cooking"), explaining each process and food element in quirky sound bites. Starting with searing and taking in grilling, water and eggs among other elements, he uses diagrams, captions, sidebars and footnotes. Each module has a master recipe that applies the tactic explained to a dish and is followed by several others to emphasize the lesson. He carefully integrates his recipe to produce a comprehensive repertoire, whether it's Skirt Steak: The Master Recipe, Chicken Piccata or Lamb "Pot Roast." Despite its unconventional style, this is a solid volume presented in a lively, fun manner guaranteed to put cooking in the reach of just about anyone: Alton Brown + Cook = Success.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Jun 10 2004
By Jennifer A. Wickes
Format:Hardcover
Alton Brown is the mastermind behind the Food Network's show, "Good Eats". As "Good Eats" success began to blossom, Alton decided to try his hand at a book. As fans began to wait in anticipation of "I'm Just Here For The Food: Food + Heat = Cooking," it was assumed that this book would be a take off from his show "Good Eats". However, it is not, but does show you what Alton enjoys most of cooking - the science, the understanding of what goes on in the kitchen.

The book's chapters are divided into cooking processes, such as grilling, braising, microwaving and more. In each chapter, he explains the type of heat, what method is best for applying this heat and some recipes as examples. By understanding the heating process, and thus, the science behind cooking, the more in control of each meal or recipe you will be.

He explains scientific terms in a manner in which a layman can understand. He also explains those unspoken rules to cooking that most cookbooks do not explain, either from the assumption that you went to culinary school too, or because the writer did not know these rules either.

His usual humor and wit is ever present in this book. In fact, you feel like Alton is actually reading the book to you! He uses his own terms for things, such as "software" (food), "hardware" (pots, pans, and utensils) and "application" (cooking process). He even has funny diagrams and photographs in case you wanted an extra chuckle.

Also included in this book is an explanation of ingredients, such as the varieties of butter: unsalted, clarified, whipped, buttermilk and margarine. So, if you were at all confused, you will no longer be.

At the end of the book, he includes recommended reading, so we can be just as smart as he is, plus places to purchase our food and supplies!

And not only was this a great book, it received a James Beard Award in 2003 for the Best Reference Book! So, you just have to buy it now, because! Seriously, if you want to understand more about what is going on in your kitchen, and how to enjoy your cooking, buy this book!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Entertaining July 6 2004
By Linda Huff
Format:Hardcover
I don't consider myself a chef, but I love to cook, and people love what I cook. This wasn't the first cookbook that I read from cover to cover either. However, I have never enjoyed a cookbook quite so much. It is very entertaining and informative. I've been cooking for years, and yet, I learned so much from this book. I learned some new cooking techniques, and although I was already familiar with quite a few of the techniques that Alton Brown uses, I learned why I do it that way. My picata recipe only varied slightly from Alton's but his was definitely an improvement! I really think men would read and use this cookbook more than any other. I will probably be getting a copy for my son. There are a few typographical errors that I've discovered as a transcribe some recipes into my recipe program, such as 1/4 tsp ground in the Marinated Flank Steak Recipe. I decided to ignore that ingredient, and my recipe still turned out fine. I don't think he meant dirt...did you, Alton? Anyway, I still give it 5 stars and recommend it highly!!
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5.0 out of 5 stars Hey, Alton, where's the sequel? Jun 26 2004
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Really great book, one that everyone should own. Fans of "Good Eats" will appreciate it even more. I have two complaints: The book is very big and heavy, so I had to make a special place for it on one of my cookbook shelves; a lighter book would be easier to handle. I also would love to see Mr. Brown write a similar book that focuses on the many sweets he has done on his program: ice cream, pie, fudge, etc.
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Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars This books makes curious people better cooks
If you better understand *how* when you know *why*, and you learn best when entertained, I'm Just Here for the Food is your cookbook. Read more
Published on May 14 2004 by Small Kingdom
5.0 out of 5 stars This books makes curious people better cooks
If you better understand *how* when you know *why*, and you learn best when entertained, I'm Just Here for the Food is your cookbook. Read more
Published on May 14 2004 by Small Kingdom
5.0 out of 5 stars The basic cookbook every kitchen needs!
Do you understand convection and conduction? How microwaves heat as opposed to ovens, grills, broilers, and stove tops? Read more
Published on May 4 2004 by H. Grove
5.0 out of 5 stars Like Bill Nye for Cooking
If you have ever watched "Bill Nye the Science Guy," this book has a kind of Bill Nye flavor to it. Read more
Published on April 14 2004 by Richard Peterson
5.0 out of 5 stars Alton at his best
Am I a fan of Alton Brown? I would have to say yes. Though not the junky that I once was, (no more sattelite means no more Good Eats,) this cookbook is enough to keep anyone a fan. Read more
Published on April 7 2004 by Lawrence G Coatney
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Helpful
I liked this book. Probably the most helpful section after the theoretical stuff up front is found in the source Appendices . Read more
Published on Mar 18 2004 by jack
4.0 out of 5 stars Fun read...odd recipes
The book itself is very good - covers the basics such as cooking methods (saute, braise, fry...etc) in Alton's usual style your used to on his show Good Eats. Read more
Published on Mar 5 2004
5.0 out of 5 stars Cooking 101
This is the best possible cookbook to begin with. It tells you the THEORY behind what you're doing. Read more
Published on Feb 16 2004 by JR Pinto
5.0 out of 5 stars If you want to cook with knowledge and perspective.
Among the television food gurus, Alton Brown is the thinker, the intellectual, the food physicist, chemist, biologist, and educator. Read more
Published on Feb 2 2004 by Elliot Essman
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect read for the "Aspiring Food Scientist"!
There are plenty of great reviews for this book, but I like it SOOOOO much I'm throwing my 2 cents' worth in so I can help get it up to a full 5 stars. Read more
Published on Jan 25 2004 by "amazoncomwoman"
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