Ingredient: Seeing Beneath the Surface of Food to Take Control in the Kitchen

by Ali Bouzari

An IACP Award-Winning Cookbook "Engaging and eminently useful. You can’t turn more than two pages without discovering something new or being reminded of a concept that is the key to solving a kitchen problem you’ve been having.” -- J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, managing culinary director of Serious Eats and author of The Food Lab In this entertaining, informative guide, one of the leading experts in culinary science—a chef, consultant, and scientist who has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, from Thomas Keller to Daniel Humm—paints a portrait of each of the fundamental building blocks of food, giving all cooks a way to visualize and respond to what’s really happening in the pan. There are ingredients, and then there are Ingredients. An ingredient is a tomato, a tortilla, or some tarragon. An Ingredient (with a capital "I") is a fundamental building block or recurring theme that works behind the scenes in everything we cook. There are millions of ingredients, but only eight Water, Sugars, Carbs, Lipids, Proteins, Minerals, Gases, and Heat. Each Ingredient has its own personality, a set of things it does or doesn’t do. Ever been blown away by a wonderfully fragrant dish? From soup and mashed potatoes to French toast and barbecue, lipids act like glue to stick aromas to your food. Is a batter too thin or sauce not clinging correctly? The best bets for thickening any liquid are carbs and proteins, which we can find anywhere from a bag of flour to a roasted garlic clove or a piece of braised meat. This book teaches you the personalities of the Ingredients, where to find them, and how to put them to work. Ingredient isn’t a book of recipes, nor is it a definitive treatise on the science of the kitchen. It’s an illustrated guide to visualizing and controlling food’s invisible moving parts, regardless of your skill level or how you like to cook. Through this lively, engaging, and accessible guide, renowned culinary scientist Ali Bouzari shifts our focus from secret ingredients to the secrets of Ingredients.

Genres: Food, Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Cooking, Science, Culinary, Gastronomy

272 pages, ebook

Published September 27, 2016

Reviews

[Maurício Linhares · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure what exactly was the goal for this book (found it after listening to a podcast with the author, which was great) but the book itself is very vague. It does explain what happens to the food and these basic ingredients but has no examples or clever solutions by mixing them. At the end it's just a fluffy collection of phrases about stuff you would know already as a cook. If you don't cook, might be worth a try, could get you excited about it, if you do cook, The Food Lab is a better investment.

[Linita · Rating 2 out of 5]

useful food science written like a buzzfeed article

[Taylor Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

An underrated book that taught me so much about food science, cooking, and ingredients. The illustrations are amazing, too! I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about the science of food and cooking, or anyone dealing with food restrictions or looking to become more comfortable cooking intuitively without using recipes.

[Dmitri S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Автор дает свой взгляд на приготовление еды как на взаимодействие сил, каждая из которых стремится к своей сокровенной цели: гидрофобные белки бегут от воды, вода тянется к соли, а загнанный в угол газ старается занять все доступное ему пространство — вот круассан и готов.

Вся книга состоит из описания восьми главных «сил», которые выделил Али Бузари: вода, сахар, углеводы, жиры, белки, минералы, газы, температура — и каждой из них посвящена своя глава с поверхностным описанием физических и химических свойств и характеристик, парой случаев применения и пачкой иллюстраций. (Кстати, в этой книге отличное визуальное решение — вся графика выполнена ассоциирующимися с темой материалами; например, глава про воду оформлена акварелью, про жиры — маслом, и т.д.)

Видно, что автор старался оформить весь материал в один удобоваримый блок информации: главы ссылаются друг на друга, повторяют материал и особенно не вдаются в детали. С одной стороны, такой подход дает достаточно цельную картину процессов кулинарии, а с другой — любой кто не прогуливал в школе химию и мало-мальски умеет готовить вряд ли найдет здесь для себя хоть что-нибудь новое.

Не смотря на громкое название, эта книга скорее вступительная лекция (или, как отмечено в одном из обзоров — статья для «Баззфида»), чем дополнительное чтение — совсем не хочется ее «критиковать» за то, что она слишком «обзорная», но при этом мне сложно и представить зачем ее купит кто-то, кому она действительно могла бы что-то рассказать.

[Phoenix Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked the simple prose and writing, and the good analogies. The art style, photography, and illustrations make the book unique. But the major flaw of this book is that it isn't immediately obvious how to apply the new knowledge, at least to people less experienced in cooking. It would've helped if there were some example situations hashed out.

[Nathan Boler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing read. I loved all of the illustrations and photography. Writing style was fun and memorable. This is a must read for serious cooks. I would've loved to have some recipes included that accented the ideas presented. Maybe an idea for the sequel?

[Obeida Takriti · Rating 5 out of 5]

يلخص الكتاب العناصر الأساسية في الطعام كالكاربوهيدرات، الماء، والغاز، وغيرها..
تبدأ بفهم ما يحدث حولك في عالم الغذاء..
لماذا ينتفخ الخبز ولماذا يتشكل طبقة من الفوم على القهوة..
ممتعة النصوص القصيرة مع الكثير من الصور والرسوم التوضيحية..

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

bro can you believe it? I finished it.

took me many mornings of coffee and page at a time because I was actually trying to understand the concept. that said, this book could have used another round of edits, typos and all.

[yamiyoghurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the approach was novel and brilliant. To give each ingredient a personality helped with the narrative and made the topic a little more lively and exciting.

[Sophie Abromowitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

that’s the ingredients!

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Fifi Desire]

it's good 👍

[Apollos Michio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ingredient is a very accessible and colourful book that introduces the ingredients in food as eight characters in a story with their own behaviours and attitudes.

Interspersed within the chapters and sub-chapters are also aesthetically-designed pages of food and molecular illustrations that complement the reader’s understanding of them. This is, I believe, the main highlight of the book, forming much of its pages and making it visually-appealing and easy-to-understand (with a lot of metaphors used to explain the characteristics of the different ingredients).

Perhaps because I’m studying food science, I found myself wanting to know more technical and scientific details regarding the ingredients. Yet, I do understand that this book is meant to be simple and non-technical. So I would still say that this is an excellent and palatable book that readers who are interested in food and cooking can read to gain a simple understanding of how ingredients work!

4/5

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crash course on how food works

[Jocelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Wrote this last fall; apparently didn't post it]
Last year I had to drop an actual food science textbook partway through when my health got too bad to keep at it. I've improved some, but I didn't think enough so brain- or body-wise to handle the previous book, so I picked this up. Unfortunately, I found it so simplified that it was difficult to absorb the information - I realized after a while that I had been generalizing what I was absorbing from the actual textbook, and this was kind of bouncing off because its corners are already so rounded. I tried a partial second go-round and felt like I was taking in a bit more, but I have so many other things on my to-read pile that I didn't feel like keeping at that. Despite my general frustration with that aspect, I did like that Bouzari finds ways to liken similar end effects from disparate inputs, and he chooses examples rather well, deploying illustratively a lot of kitchen phenomena with which a longtime cook is likely to be familiar.

[Penmouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ingredient: Seeing Beneath the Surface of Food to Take Control in the Kitchen by Ali Bouzari is exactly as described in the title. The author explains the science of cooking by giving detailed explanations of how they work in cooking. The book is a book that I can see any cooking nerd truly loving. I refer to the term nerd in a good way as I am a bit of a cooking nerd myself.

Recommend.

Review written after downloading a free galley from Edelweiss.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a very interesting that I enjoyed. This would be like "food porn" for those that love cooking and are really into food, so it's a must have for any cook or foodie. I won this great book on GoodReads and like I do with most my wins I will be paying it forward by giving my win either to a friend or library to enjoy.

[RickyTicky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Автор - просто умничка! Книга на 200 страницах рассказывает больше и лучше, чем весь школьный курс химии-физики-биологии. Наконец-то я поняла, что к чему :) Ура!

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Понимание работы ингредиентов и воздействий на них на самом низшем уровне открывает возможности для более уверенного кулинарного творчества. Полезная книга.