Product Description

Herve This (pronounced "Teess") is an internationally renowned chemist, a popular French television personality, a bestselling cookbook author, a longtime collaborator with the famed French chef Pierre Gagnaire, and the only person to hold a doctorate in molecular gastronomy, a cutting-edge field he pioneered. Bringing the instruments and experimental techniques of the laboratory into the kitchen, this uses recent research in the chemistry, physics, and biology of food to challenge traditional ideas about cooking and eating. What he discovers will entertain, instruct, and intrigue cooks, gourmets, and scientists alike. "Molecular Gastronomy" - this's first work to appear in English, is filled with practical tips, provocative suggestions, and penetrating insights. This begins by reexamining and debunking a variety of time-honored rules and dictums about cooking and presents new and improved ways of preparing a variety of dishes from quiches and quenelles to steak and hard-boiled eggs.He goes on to discuss the physiology of flavor and explores how the brain perceives tastes, how chewing affects food, and how the tongue reacts to various stimuli. Examining the molecular properties of bread, ham, foie gras, and champagne, the book analyzes what happens as they are baked, cured, cooked, and chilled. Looking to the future, This imagines new cooking methods and proposes novel dishes. A chocolate mousse without eggs? A flourless chocolate cake baked in the microwave? "Molecular Gastronomy" explains how to make them. This also shows us how to cook perfect French fries, why a souffle rises and falls, how long to cool champagne, when to season a steak, the right way to cook pasta, how the shape of a wine glass affects the taste of wine, why chocolate turns white, and how salt modifies tastes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12113 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 392 pages

Review
"Taking kitchen science to a whole new (molecular) level, Herve This is changing the way France -- and the world -- cooks." -- Gourmet "This has written an interesting and timely combination of our everyday experience with sophisticated science." -- Claudia Kousoulas, Appetite for Books "Mr. This's book will broaden the way you think about food." -- New York Sun "It is a wonderful book... it will appeal to anyone with an interest in the science of cooking." -- O Chef "This's book is for anyone who likes to eat or cook... Highly Recommended." -- Choice "This offers some though-provoking opportunities for play in the kitchen." -- Pagosa Springs Sun "This book, praiseworthy for its scientific rigor, will hold a special appeal for anyone who relishes the debunking of culinary myths." -- Todd Coleman, Saveur "A fresh approach... That will entertain and enlighten anyone interested in the process of cooking and the enjoyment of food." -- Raymond J. Shively, Jr., The Bloomsbury Review "Anyone with an inordinate passion for cooking would love this book." -- Mia Stainsby, Vancouver Sun "A timely addition... Suitable for both scientists and the lay public." -- Thorvald Pedersen, EMBO Reports "This book is laden with science while rendering a clear approach to flavor." -- Academia "[A] captivating little book." --Economist

About the Author
Herve This is a physical chemist on the staff of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique in Paris. He is the author of several books about food and cooking, and a monthly contributor to Pour la Science, the French-language edition of Scientific American. Malcolm DeBevoise is the translator of some twenty works from French, most recently The World Republic of Letters.

Customer Reviews

Many anecdotes, little culinary knowledge
I bought this book hoping to learn some hard science behind cooking and I'm very disappointed. The book consists mostly of anecdotes of what scientists from Dijon found in one kind of wine/cheese/meat or another but hardly any of this can be extrapolated to everyday cooking and it doesn't give any sort of a big picture view on food - just a lot of details.

The book also contains a few interesting ideas, especially on non-traditional emulsions/foams/suspensions/gels - in particular chapter 97 "Everything Chocolate" is very interesting.

Overall I'd suggest buying another book. It's pleasant to read but amount of useful or enlightening content is quite low.

Fascinating and inspiring
This is very interesting book covering a wide range of topics on the subject of flavour, taste and smell perception as well as the application of basic science to food and drink technology. I was particularly interested in the recent research into the physiology of taste perception, which until recently was the poor cousin of that of the sense of smell. There is a fair bit of chemistry, biochemistry and physics to take in to get full value from the book so I think this book would appeal most to those not only interested in food and cooking but also with some scientific knowledge. The last section of the book focuses on how the physico-chemical properties of ingredients like eggs or fats can be manipulated into creating novel recipes for foods. One can see where the likes of the innovative chef Heston Blumenthal got his inspiration.

A real page turner
Strangely enough for a professional scientist, This' book contains an extraordinary number of basic temperature conversion mistakes (and I'm not talking a few degrees here and there, more like 100C in some cases).

That aside, the only real problem I've found is that I can't put the book down for long enough to actually try to cook something.