| Title | : | Note-by-Note Cooking: The Future of Food |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0231164866 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780231164863 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 272 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2012 |
Note-by-note cooking promises to add unadulterated nutritional value to dishes of all kinds, actually improving upon the health benefits of so-called natural foods. Cooking with molecular compounds will be far more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable than traditional techniques of cooking. This new way of thinking about food heralds a phase of culinary evolution on which the long-term survival of a growing human population depends. Herv? This clearly explains the properties of naturally occurring and synthesized compounds, dispels a host of misconceptions about the place of chemistry in cooking, and shows why note-by-note cooking is an obvious--and inevitable--extension of his earlier pioneering work in molecular gastronomy. An appendix contains a representative selection of recipes, vividly illustrated in color.
Note-by-Note Cooking: The Future of Food Reviews
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I have heard of molecular gastronomy before. In the circles I travel it’s like the boogieman, that thing with chemicals that is unnatural. That monster that threatens the traditional culinary world we know. But let’s face it; it’s a brave new culinary world out there. Note-by- Note Cooking by Hervé This is out the finish with these rumors, and it attempts to do it with humor, lightness and most of all science.
The thing that I am most thankful for is that this book has taught me how to see food in an entirely different level, to understand shape, taste, smell and other components of a dish from the inside out. Once you understand how a product works, then you can do with it whatever you want in the kitchen. Suddenly cooking and alchemy don’t seem like they are foreign disciplines.
Note-by-note cooking allows you to unlearn many things that you think you knew and learn them through a new pair of eyes. These new ways will help the chef achieve unimaginable things in the kitchen.
Nonetheless, even though the book tried to make this whole process light and simple I did find that the English translation of This’ book is not light reading at all. It is incredibly interesting, but not something that I would pick up for the fun of it. Part of me is thrilled that I can approach a simple fruit and think about it in a different way, the other part of me (the one that hated science in high school) was left with the slight sensation that is left when you go to a lecture thinking its one thing and then find yourself facing another, which just tried to educate you in something that you didn’t want in the first place. Yes, there is a lot about cooking and rethinking each component of a dish, but what I wasn’t thrilled by was that the recipes to help you materialize all the knowledge you’ve just acquired are left in the appendix, like an after thought. Left there just in case someone wants to take a hands-on approach to the situation. -
**I received this book for review from Netgally**
This book, in one easy description, is dense. I feel as though Note by Note Cooking has transported my back to school and I am reading one of my chemistry textbooks, but with more food and culinary artistry and a nice seasoning of Philosophy. There is an entire chapter on the shapes (Platonic Solids...ok, that is more geometry) of foods and how we appreciate them, for example cutting a potato in the shape of a barrel is comforting to us. If you have ever craved a cookbook that talks about Newtonian and Non-Newtonian liquids, you are in luck, personally I have never thought of Mayonnaise in that way, but from now I will be adding white Non-Newtonian sandwich spread to my shopping lists. I would have to say one of my favorite parts of the consistency chapter is the description of various carrageenans, not only does it list what each carrageenan is derived from, but also its chemical composition and a handy table showing application, effect of heating, and, texture. Very helpful for people who are a fan of making candies and custards.
My all around favorite part of this book was the chapters about taste and odor. As a reviewer of tea I spend a lot of time thinking about taste and odor, as a lover of science I spend a lot of time thinking about why a thing tastes and smells the way it does. I have a sneaking suspicion that when this book comes into print and I order my copy (because this book needs to be in my collection) I will sit, armed with a highlighter and pencil, and take copious notes and highlight many points of interesting data.
I do hesitate to call this a true cookbook, it is more a cooking reference book that will take your appreciation for the culinary art to a whole new level. There are some recipes, but they are very few, so if you were hoping to buy a new recipe collection I cannot recommend this book. However if you are wanting to mix your science and food (and who doesn't?) then I can recommend this book with great fervor. -
Step foreward, future of food.
This books shows how passion and brainstorming can lead to wonderful inventions. This book is just a beginning of the "note by note cooking" phenomenon and its about time that we take this up in consideration. -
If you love or even like science, this book is for you. A lot more text than illustrations, but it's still awesome.
