Review The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

The Late Night Gourmet

The Late Night Gourmet

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The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

As I've probably mentioned on far too many occasions, I'm fascinated by the science of cooking. As I do research into a new recipe or technique, I frequently find myself reading what J. Kenji Lopez-Alt has to say on his site, the James Beard Award-nominated column Serious Eats: The Food Lab. The man is brilliant, but what really drew me to that site is that he does what can only be described as The Scientific Method, but in the kitchen. Rather than just jumping to the answer he already knows, he'll try various different ways of doing something, and then record the results. I now understand a lot more about making a ceviche than I did before, even though my approach hasn't necessarily changed.

With that in mind, I was a bit embarrassed to finally read the footer on every page of that site, and realize that he's published a book. And wow, what a book it is. You think you have a big cooking reference book? This one is 960 pages. :eek: I will probably never get through the whole thing. But, I have to say that I'm going to enjoy trying. His writing style is engaging, and he really makes you feel like you've learned something. He clearly operates under the old adage give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. He doesn't want to just give you the answers: He wants to teach you to how to get the answer yourself.
 
I had a quick read of the bit they show you on Amazon but was not particularly impressed by that excerpt. The book itself is horribly long and horribly expensive, and probably is much more interesting further on, but I would not buy it even as a treat - I probably would not be able to read it. On the other hand, his website looks far more interesting - at least I can zoom in on it :laugh: I did look at one of the articles - Chacarero Chileno, a Steak Sandwich. Why on earth does he call this weird? To me it is a normal steak sandwich, although I would not use the mayo or the salt because of my food intolerances. Or am I weird (and the person who commented it was a normal steak sandwich too) because often when I make a sandwich it is more a meal between two or more pieces of bread as opposed to your normal cheese sarnie? Definitely a sight worthy of more investigation, but I'll pass on the book - it's too expensive, and even if I could get a copy from our library they probably wouldn't appreciate the time it would take me to read a book that long :giggle:
 
@Elawin: I can't blame you...for the longest time, I avoided getting cookbooks precisely because so much good information is already available for free. In this case, there's a phenomenal website associated with the book, and probably much easier to navigate. Finally, I can't recall the last time I actually made a recipe from The Food Lab; Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat; What Einstein Told His Cook, or The Flavo(u)r Thesaurus, much less the rather pedestrian cookbooks I've gotten over the years.

But, I've started to realize that I missed having a book in my hands sometimes...one with paper pages, not ones I tap a touchscreen to change. It's an extravagance, to be sure. But, in this case, the book was being sold for about $28...still not cheap, but much better than the $50 list price. And, it was a Fathers Day gift...to myself, but let's not split hairs here. :)
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
@Elawin: I can't blame you...for the longest time, I avoided getting cookbooks precisely because so much good information is already available for free. In this case, there's a phenomenal website associated with the book, and probably much easier to navigate. Finally, I can't recall the last time I actually made a recipe from The Food Lab; Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat; What Einstein Told His Cook, or The Flavo(u)r Thesaurus, much less the rather pedestrian cookbooks I've gotten over the years.

But, I've started to realize that I missed having a book in my hands sometimes...one with paper pages, not ones I tap a touchscreen to change. It's an extravagance, to be sure. But, in this case, the book was being sold for about $28...still not cheap, but much better than the $50 list price. And, it was a Fathers Day gift...to myself, but let's not split hairs here. :)
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I prefer paper books too, but unfortunately find them difficult to read these days even if they come in "large print". I noted that this book also comes in a Kindle edition, but the magnification I'd use would probably mean it was 9,600 pages as opposed to 960 :roflmao:. To me, the website is a godsend :)
 
I am reviving this thread.

@The Late Night Gourmet on a recent trip to Costco I found The Food Lab - $30. I have flipped through it and find it fascinating. I will not be able to really dive in until after the first of the year. I am looking forward to finding out what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong. :thankyou:for the recommendation.
 
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