Customer Reviews

The Science of Cooking

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I recently purchased "On Food and Cooking", hoping to find a good, comprehensive book on food science. While there was a lot of good detail in that book, much of the detail was buried among less interesting historical digressions, and the space taken up by those digressions seemed to be depriving me of some details I really did care about.

In contrast, "The Science of Cooking" makes no pretense of being encyclopedic in its coverage of food science. Instead, the focus is directly on the chemical and physical processes at work in the kitchen. As such, it succeeds admirably, and much of the information that seemed "missing" from "On Food and Cooking" here seems simply absent because it is outside the scope of the work.

While the introductory material gets a little condescending at times (I mean, who actually needs to be told what an atom is?), and some of the sidebars get overly technical for most people (do you really care about differential equations?), such sections are easily ignored. The few really queasy technical discussions are even set in a different background color to let you know they may not be for the faint-of-heart (and the rest of those colored sidebars are quite readable and interesting on their own).

Be aware that the author is a scientist, not a chef. This book is tightly focused on chemical and physical effects of ingredients. Things like flavor and food safety are not part of the discussion, beyond a few passing mentions. Most notably, the author repeatedly demonstrates a lack of understanding of the effects of salt on flavor, and talks of things like clarifying cold stocks with raw egg whites without a discussion of slmonella (which is admittedly perceived as less of a problem in the author's native Britain).

The book is organized like a textbook, with sidebars, tables, and even little experiments at the end of each chapter. There are useful conversion tables, and charts on various topics. It is easy to skip over what you find uninteresting and to skip directly to the information you need when using the book for reference.

The information here is valuable, concise, and well-presented. You'll find yourself understanding things like the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats (and why you should care as a cook), how foams form (and why they collapse), why and how cooking affects flavor and texture, etc.

I was able to read through this book very quickly and easily, while learning (and even retaining) more information than I normally would from a non-fiction book of this sort. This book is definitely an excellent overview of the processes involved in cooking, and indeed, probably contains as much information as most of us are ever likely to use on the subject.

Why 4 stars and not 5, you ask? There are some important omissions that bothered me. The most glaring examples are that there's no discussion of osmotic pressure, or the role of pH in various processes, topics that "On Food and Cooking" covered admirably. The section on cooking utensils and appliances is largely a waste of space, in part because the author is British and doesn't have access to many of the alternatives that have become common in serious American kitchens. Be warned, the book is very British in its use of language. You will need to know that "hob" is a British English for "stove", for example. Also, all of the recipes use metric weights and volumes, so should you actually wish to follow them (not something I'd particularly recommend), you'll need an accurate metric food scale and measuring cups.

The author does a good job describing the scientific (especially biochemical) basis behind cooking. However, he makes a fundamental mistake regarding thermodynamics when he states that metals tend to have higher heat capacities than water, and therefore take longer to heat up in an oven at a fixed temperature. This is wrong for two major reasons: a) metals tend to have lower heat capacities than water, not higher, and b) metals have extraordinarily high thermal conductivities, speeding their heating rates up dramatically. Anybody can verify that a piece of metal will heat up much more quickly than an equal mass of water in an oven at a fixed temperature. Perhaps it shouldn't, but mistakes like this one make me suspicious of the validity of the rest of the work.

This book is really great, particularly if you have a science bent. The few recipes are the bare basics, but produce wonderful results, and illustrate exactly how each ingredient and process interacts to give the desired results. I find that with this knowledge I have much more confidence in figuring out what is going on in other recipes, and how to create my own derivations. The use of metric throughout (with appropriate conversion tables at the end) is a refreshing change. We are planning on picking up multiple copies as gifts.

Fascinating exploration into the physics of cooking, written in an engaging and detailed style. Probably better for the scientist who cooks than for the cook who's into science, since the language is sometimes a little dense for the layperson. Worth working through, though.

One caveat: the author is British, and recipes, measurements, and terms are geared for the British/European cook. This means you'll find a complete explanation of sausage rolls and nothing about popcorn. Just FYI.

Don't buy this book if you're looking for a cookbook. The recipes listed in this book are bare bones basic, with no flare. I felt like I was back in chemistry 101 while reading this book, and could only read a little at a time in order to digest all that was presented. Barham gives an excellent description and portrayal of fats, sugars, starches, gluten, proteins, etc., but doesn't flesh out his recipes at all. Each item in his recipes is there for a purpose, and he explains each of their purposes. But I felt that after the basics were presented, he could have added some extra ingredients to jazz up the dishes a little. This could have shown what the 'unnecessary' ingredients do to enhance a dish and how they alter the chemical composition.
After reading his book though, I feel as though I truly understand the processes going on in my kitchen, and somehow, it has taken away the 'art' of cooking. I can't just go play in my kitchen now - I feel like I'm doing a chemistry experiment:)
The book is presented in the metric system, along with British terms that make it hard to follow every now and then.
I would really recommend this book to upper high school students as well as college freshman for the practical chemistry application.

I know we in the US are behind in catching up to the metric system, but certainly our sheer population and market size dictate that an edition edited for our us should be released. Other than this, the book is excellent as an introduction to the subject of food science. I will argue though, that science is never a substitute for the masters. Cooking can be viewed as a science (like here), or an art (as in the great chefs collections).