Rate this book

Keys To Good Cooking: A Guide To Making The Best Of Foods And Recipes (2010)

by Harold McGee(Favorite Author)

3.89 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1594202680 (ISBN13: 9781594202681)

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

Penguin Press HC, The

review 1: The jury remains out on this book. If one had not read other examples of this author's work there might not be such a dilemma.In many ways this is a really good book that has pulled a lot of useful information, hints, tips, suggestions, wrinkles and the like into one place. It is after all billed as a concise and authoritative guide designed to help home cooks navigate the ever-expanding universe of ingredients, recipes, food safety and appliances, arriving at the promised land of a satisfying dish. Yet if it was not written by Harold McGee then things would have been so much simpler. Why...?McGee is a known, respected expert on the science of cooking and is held in the highest esteem by top-rate chefs and (without being disparaging) culinary madcaps such as Heston Blument... morehal who try to push the envelope and migrate good food, innovative dishes and the science that sits behind them. So if you have thought that this is a distillation of much of McGee's knowledge you are in part wrong as you are getting his extensive take on "common sense" matters but not the more esoteric things that can make you go wow and huh? at the same time. Confused yet?This book is, to be fair, written more for the average home cook, enthusiastic hobby chef and maybe newbie in the business. A comprehensive memory bank of things that you can possibly find elsewhere curated by a master. You are not getting the master's innermost secrets but neither are you getting the scrapings from his writing dustbin.Within the book which is set out in a workman-like, clean style is a plethora of information set into several chapters - getting to know foods; basic kitchen resources, water, the pantry and the refrigerator; kitchen tools; heat and heating appliances; cooking methods; cooking safely; fruits; vegetables and fresh herbs; milk and dairy products; eggs; meats; fish and shellfish; sauces, stocks and soups; dry grains, pastas, noodles and puddings; seed legumes, beans, peas, lentils and soy products; nuts and oil seeds; breads; pastries and pies; cakes, muffins and cookies; griddle cakes, crepes, popovers and frying batters; ice creams, ice, mousses and jellies; chocolate and cocoa; sugars, syrups and candies; coffee and tea... pause for breath ... where to find more keys to good cooking and then the customary acknowledgements and a comprehensive index.All of this is packaged into a fairly small (!) 553 pages. Make no mistake this is not a "how to" cook and neither is it a recipe book. It could be described as an "Encyclopaedia Britannica" style book in the pre-Internet age. You want to know about a certain term or topic and why does it possibly do so-and-so. Consult McGee could be the reply!McGee has written already some seminal works - On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen and The Curious Cook: More Kitchen Science and Lore but it is not doing these an injustice by saying that they may be out of reach of the typical yet inquisitive reader. Here in many ways this book sets to redress the balance whilst still providing a "quick, did I really forget X" look-up for those who really should know better but are, like us all, prone to forget certain things. Even top chefs like Heston Blumenthal or Gordon Ramsay might have learned in the dim and distant past things that they have "temporally misfiled" in their brain such as covering raw foods with oil can allow the growth of botulism bacteria, but a quick check on the section "flavoured oils" might drag up that forgotten factoid. Yet for the ordinary cook this could be an entirely new discovery... and there are many who do add various flavoured oils to their raw meats as a means of marinading. One is never too old to learn and adapt accordingly.So, the prospective reader really should look at a copy of this book and understand what it is, and then think why they don't need it (not the other way around). McGee has covered virtually all bar the proverbial kitchen sink in this book and you need time to understand the different ways in which you will attack the book to get the knowledge out.Some readers have been disappointed in this book as they have not considered what it really is. It is not a follow on to the more technical previous works by the author yet in some ways it does build on it. It is a different beast, for a predominantly different market. That is not a bad thing but some reviews have been slightly scathing through this misunderstanding.This reviewer sees dozens of food and cookery books daily yet most of them, even those yielding high acclaim, never get to transfer to the "YUM reference shelf" for err, future consultation and use by fellow YUMmers. This one will sit there, but it might need a long chain attached to it so it doesn't develop a pair of legs and wander off.So in short: A great book that hits many marks. Just make sure it is what you think it is before buying it. It is worth spending time on this book prior to a purchase decision if you are unsure about it as, if you do buy it, you know that you will be spending a lot of time with it afterwards. Even the most expert of experts need to refresh their memories from time to time, even if they don't always like admitting it.Keys To Good Cooking: A Guide To Making The Best Of Foods & Recipes, written by Harold McGee and published by Penguin Press/Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 9781594202681/9780340963203, 553 pages. Typical price: GBP17. YYYYY.// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //
review 2: I have found this book useful on occasions where something comes up in a recipe and I just want a quick discussion of the technique. An example, I was making a recipe from the French Laundry and had gelatin powder not gelatin sheets, and the quick discussion in this book was helpful. Perhaps it could be found just as easily on the lap top, but I like the ability to grab it off the shelf in my kitchen and read. I like it. less

Download links for: Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes

Advertising