The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

Overview

A New York Times Bestseller
Winner of the James Beard Award for General Cooking and the IACP Cookbook of the Year Award

"The one book you must have, no matter what you’re planning to cook or where your skill level falls."—New York Times Book Review

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 cut into it? How to make homemade mac 'n' cheese that is as satisfyingly gooey and velvety-smooth as the blue box stuff, but far tastier? How to roast a succulent, moist turkey (forget about brining!)—and use a foolproof method that works every time?

As Serious Eats's culinary nerd-in-residence, J. Kenji López-Alt has pondered all these questions and more. In The Food Lab, Kenji focuses on the science behind beloved American dishes, delving into the interactions between heat, energy, and molecules that create great food. Kenji shows that often, conventional methods don’t work that well, and home cooks can achieve far better results using new—but simple—techniques. In hundreds of easy-to-make recipes with over 1,000 full-color images, you will find out how to make foolproof Hollandaise sauce in just two minutes, how to transform one simple tomato sauce into a half dozen dishes, how to make the crispiest, creamiest potato casserole ever conceived, and much more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393081084
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	09/21/2015
Pages:	938
Sales rank:	5,588
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 10.60(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

J. Kenji López-Alt is a chef, parent, and New York Times best-selling author of The Food Lab and Every Night Is Pizza Night. He is a wildly popular New York Times food columnist; the chief culinary advisor for Serious Eats; and the host of Kenji’s Cooking Show, which has more than a million subscribers on YouTube. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Editorial Reviews

…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 New York Times Book Review - Cree LeFavour

★ 07/20/2015
The 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.)

Publishers Weekly

"An authoritative, instant-classic reference book that’s also an engaging read."

Seattle Times

"A beautiful behemoth. . . . The Food Lab’s vision of “better home cooking through science”—and, I would add, through the internet—is a convincing one."

New Republic

"The Food Lab is The Joy of Cooking for the modern cook, and it has something to teach even the most experienced chefs."

USA Today

"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."

San Francisco Chronicle

"The ultimate book for science nerds who cook."

Wired

"[The Food Lab] promises tried-and-tested accuracy, groundbreaking technique and inarguable results. All that, plus humor."

Washington Post

"You need The Food Lab, as J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s magnum opus is 2015’s most indispensable cookbook."

The Chicago Tribune

"The Food Lab is a keeper."

Chris Kimball - Wall Street Journal

"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."

Russ Parsons - Los Angeles Times

The Food Lab is The Joy of Cooking for the modern cook, and it has something to teach even the most experienced chefs.

USA Today

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.

San Francisco Chronicle

The ultimate book for science nerds who cook.

Wired

[The Food Lab] promises tried-and-tested accuracy, groundbreaking technique and inarguable results. All that, plus humor.

Washington Post

[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.

The Globe and Mail

I love The Food Lab.”

Yotam Ottolenghi - BBC Good Food Magazine

[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.

Eric Vellend - The Globe and Mail

An authoritative, instant-classic reference book that’s also an engaging read.

Rebekah Denn - Seattle Times

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.”

Tara Duggan - San Francisco Chronicle

The ultimate book for science nerds who cook.

Joanna Pearlstein - Wired

You need The Food Lab, as J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s magnum opus is 2015’s most indispensable cookbook.”

Kevin Pang - The Chicago Tribune

The one book you must have, no matter what you’re planning to cook or where your skill level falls.

Cree Lefavour - New York Times Book Review

Kenji is the most important recipe developer to come along in a generation.

Ed Levine

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.

Lauren Salkeld - Tasting Table

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.

Emily Weinstein - New York Times

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.”

Michael Ruhlman

The Food Lab is a monumental achievement. This is sure to become a must-read for anyone who cares about cooking better food.”

Dave Arnold

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.

Nathan Myhrvold

Kenji has created an incredible resource to support you as you explore the possibilities of amazing food in your kitchen.

Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot of Ideas in Food

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.”

David Lebovitz

Kenji has created an incredible resource to support you as you explore the possibilities of amazing food in your kitchen.

Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot of Ideas in F

★ 06/15/2015
Working 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.

Library Journal

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