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Kitchen Science: A Guide to Knowing the Hows and Whys for Fun and Success in the Kitchen

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This book takes the mystery out of creative cooking by requiring love, imagination, art -- and science from the cook. Hillman's years of experience render cooking conundrums comprehensible and transform the way we approach food.

322 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 1981

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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
153 reviews
October 9, 2025
I've been moving this book from house to house since before the Millennium. Finally read it. By this point in my life, 95% of the content was common sense. Still, highly recommended - especially for those only now learning how to cook.
49 reviews
October 20, 2011
I learned a lot from reading this, and it's safe to say that I was already a huge food-facts nerd! It really will help me bake and cook better because I understand more scientific principles. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys spending time in the kitchen. The format makes it extra easy to read - it's basically in FAQ form so it's easy to skip around to the topics you're interested in and skim where you feel like it. The author has a pretty interesting tone and matter-of-fact sense of humor that was refreshing.
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99 reviews8 followers
February 9, 2009
Thanks to my friend Aaron for loaning me this one. I'll have to get my own copy; there was simply too much useful information in here for me to remember. As a novice cook, there are a lot of kitchen basics of which I am simply ignorant; this book was the perfect manual for all the simple things I never knew.
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14 reviews
January 2, 2012
I'm not going to finish this, not because it isn't good, but because in 50+ pages, I haven't encountered anything new. Good book on the science of cooking, but Altan Brown already taught me this stuff.
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19 reviews1 follower
June 14, 2007
This book is great for understanding the biology and chemistry of why and how things happen in the kitchen.
3 reviews3 followers
December 9, 2011
...incredibly useful, helpful, and eye-opening!
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258 reviews
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June 24, 2013
Dated. Written in 1981. Revised 1989.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews

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