The New York Times Book Review - Cree LeFavour
…the one book you must have, no matter what you're planning to cook or where your skill level falls, is J. Kenji López-Alt's The Food Lab…Don't let the word "lab" in the title scare you. As López-Alt says, "What you won't find in this book are fancy-pants recipes calling for exotic ingredients or difficult techniques or chemicals or even much special equipment beyond, say, a food processor or a beer cooler"…If you want one book to explain temperature, food safety, labeling, chemical reactions and the science of browning, rising, marinating and emulsifying, this is your book.
The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science
by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
The New York Times bestselling winner of the 2016 James Beard Award for General Cooking and the IACP Cookbook of the Year Award.
A grand tour of the science of cooking explored through popular American dishes, illustrated in full color.Ever wondered how to pan-fry a steak with a charred crust and an interior that's perfectly medium-rare from edge to edge when you
A grand tour of the science of cooking explored through popular American dishes, illustrated in full color.Ever wondered how to pan-fry a steak with a charred crust and an interior that's perfectly medium-rare from edge to edge when you
Editorial Reviews
Publishers Weekly
★ 07/20/2015The managing culinary director of the Serious Eats website, editor, and author of the James Beard Award–nominated column that informs this massive investigation into the best methods for preparing a litany of foods, Lopez-Alt takes a deep dive into classic recipes and their best preparation methods. Lopez-Alt’s experience as test cook and editor at Cook’s Illustrated magazine clearly comes in handy, as he recounts the many steps he took in order to determine the best way to pan-sear a steak, whip up a quick tomato soup, scramble an egg or make the best French fries. Though he’s hardly the first to tackle the topic of a more scientific approach to cooking—the ghosts of Cook’s Illustrated, Harold McGee, and Alton Brown loom large— for the most part he deftly manages to hold the reader’s interest and educate without devolving into arcane ingredients or overly complicated instructions. Yes, there are sous-vide cheeseburgers, and his four-step process for cooking steak fries will test many a relationship, but helpful tips on pan-searing a steak (frequent flipping is fine, and might even be the best way), taking the armwork out of risotto, and whipping up a flavor-rich homemade chicken stock in under an hour are genuinely informative and sure to help home cooks of all skill levels. Lopez-Alt’s writing style is friendly and informative; he’s genuinely interested in his material, and that enthusiasm shines through. Given the book’s breadth and depth, this is a remarkable piece of work that stands up to its culinary comrades, and is a terrific starting point for home cooks interested in perfecting their techniques. (Sept.)
Rebekah Denn - Seattle Times
“An authoritative, instant-classic reference book that’s also an engaging read.”Joanna Pearlstein - Wired
“The ultimate book for science nerds who cook.”Tara Duggan - San Francisco Chronicle
“Five years in the making, [The Food Lab is] a culmination of the wunderkind’s unlikely ascent into a cultish figure—and the face of a new kind of home cooking.”Lauren Salkeld - Tasting Table
“A rigorous and scientific approach to home cooking…. López-Alt is so full of enthusiasm and curiosity for his subject that he's written a page-turner.”Emily Weinstein - New York Times
“There may be few voices more authoritative than that of J. Kenji López-Alt, the nerd king of Internet cooking…. [A] strong addition to shelves.”Russ Parsons - Los Angeles Times
“Loaded with fascinating information…. López-Alt gives you enough science for the explanations to make sense, but everything is still firmly rooted in practical home cooking.”Cree Lefavour - New York Times Book Review
“The one book you must have, no matter what you’re planning to cook or where your skill level falls.”Kevin Pang - The Chicago Tribune
“You need The Food Lab, as J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s magnum opus is 2015’s most indispensable cookbook.”Yotam Ottolenghi - BBC Good Food Magazine
“I love The Food Lab.”Chris Kimball - Wall Street Journal
“The Food Lab is a keeper.”Eric Vellend - The Globe and Mail
“[Kenji] approaches recipe development with monomaniacal zeal, then shares the delicious results with the infectious enthusiasm of the coolest teacher you had in high school.”Nathan Myhrvold
“Chemistry and physics underlie all cooking. In this book, home cooks will learn techniques to make new recipes, and, more importantly, they will understand why these techniques are successful.”Ed Levine
“Kenji is the most important recipe developer to come along in a generation.”Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot of Ideas in Food
“Kenji has created an incredible resource to support you as you explore the possibilities of amazing food in your kitchen.”David Lebovitz
“The Food Lab explains the mysteries of cooking in real-life terms. I devoured Kenji's book, fascinated and engrossed in every single page—and you will be too.”Michael Ruhlman
“Rare is the work that combines extraordinary passion with such obsessive scientific rigor. The Food Lab is an uncommon and invaluable contribution to our food literature.”Dave Arnold
“The Food Lab is a monumental achievement. This is sure to become a must-read for anyone who cares about cooking better food.”Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot of Ideas in F
“Kenji has created an incredible resource to support you as you explore the possibilities of amazing food in your kitchen.”Library Journal
★ 06/15/2015Working in professional restaurant and test kitchens, MIT grad and chef López-Alt (managing culinary director, SeriousEats.com) learned to question "expert" cooking advice. In the vein of his James Beard Award-nominated column "The Food Lab" and previous writings for Cook's Illustrated magazine, his massive debut debunks false kitchen wisdom through rigorous scientific inquiry. Hugely informative yet not quite a textbook, this title uses humorous prose and more than 1,000 color images to relay the results of tireless experimenting with cooking temperatures, techniques, and tools. After trying López-Alt's perfected recipes for omelets (diner-style and Western), potatoes (fried, mashed, and hashed), meat loaves, and other popular foods, readers will undoubtedly emerge better cooks, with an arsenal of unconventional techniques that really work (e.g., salting eggs 15 minutes in advance of cooking for improved texture). VERDICT This indispensable kitchen manual, which suggests visualizing heat capacity as a coop full of Red Bull-energized chickens, makes food science accessible.
Product Details
- ISBN-13:
- 9780393081084
- Publisher:
- Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
- Publication date:
- 09/21/2015
- Pages:
- 938
- Sales rank:
- 3,889
- Product dimensions:
- 8.80(w) x 10.60(h) x 1.90(d)
Meet the Author
J. Kenji López-Alt is the managing culinary director of SeriousEats.com, author of the James Beard Award–nominated column The Food Lab, and a columnist for Cooking Light. He lives in San Mateo with his wife Adriana.
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