The Curious Cook: Taking the Lid Off Kitchen Facts and Fallacies

The Science and Lore of the Kitchen #2

by Harold McGee

The Curious Cook, the follow-up to the award-winning On Food and Cooking, which was called a "minor masterpiece" by time magazine, continues to translate into plain English for home cooks what scientists have discovered about food. Harold McGee puts to rest countless time-honored culinary myths and answers questions about the hazards of salmonella in mayonnaise and hollandaise sauce, how you can retain the green in salads, guacamole, and pesto, and how to keep tender meats from becoming tough when braising, as well as the relation of certain foods to heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. Filled with literary and historical anecdotes and packed with fascinating scientific lore, The Curious Cook is a must for every kitchen library.

Genres: Food, Cooking, Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Science, Food Science, Reference

356 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Harold James McGee is an American author who writes about the chemistry and history of food science and cooking. He is best known for his seminal book On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen initially published in 1984 and revised in 2004.

McGee is a visiting scholar at Harvard University. His book On Food and Cooking has won numerous awards and is used widely in food science courses at many universities. McGee's scientific approach to cooking has been embraced and popularized by chefs and authors such as Heston Blumenthal, David Chang, Alton Brown, Shirley Corriher, Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Russ Parsons.

Reviews

[Joe Reddington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that I adore Harold McGee - his magnum opus 'On food and cooking' has pride of place in my kitchen and is consulted at least twice a week.

The curious cook on the other hand is a collection of blog posts that are somewhere between 'reasonably related' and 'totally unrelated' to each other.

It starts with several fairly interesting chapters that cover scientific experiments that McGee does in his kitchen to examine the properties of food. Those chapters combine a simple message about science with some interesting historical asides. A book full of that sort of thing would be been fine, if not mind blowing. However that doesn't last massively long and McGee takes a hard right turn in to pop-science writing about cancer and heart disese, for which he absolutely has the science but not necessarily the warmth. During these chapters the science itself lurches wildly from schoolboy-level to paragraphs I, with my science phd, just had to skip. More jarringly, McGee commits the cardinal sin of science writing - trying to make it interesting by not revealing the answer until the end.

As we get to the last part of the book we switch again to a discussion of history of a book called 'the Physiology of Taste', which is all very interesting but I was already so lost that I was just drifting to the end.

Excellent writer, not writing the writing that he is good at writing.

[Blake Roche · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve ever read. Published in the early 1990s and just as relevant as fascinating 35 years (!) later as the day it was written. Relevant, poignant, useful, intriguing, appreciative, investigative, experimental, curious, straightforward, and accessible writing. Fascinating thoughts and ruminations about foods and cooking and the materials surrounding the kitchen and us. One section shifted into medical-ese more approachable and understandable than most of pharmacy school textbooks. Marrying science and food = perfection. Bring me more.

[Katy Dickinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories and discussion of the science of cooking - why things work as they do in the kitchen. Cooking is a mystery to me so knowing more about how and why - the chemistry and physics of it - is interesting. I am not a better cook after reading this but am a more informed one!

[Susie · Rating 2 out of 5]

pedantic. . .

[Andre · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book The Curious Cook, by Harold McGee has some very interesting aspects on the science behind cooking and includes facts in the kitchen as well as debunking myths that are prevalent in cooking today. This interests me as both a home cook, a chemical engineer and pursier of the sciences. The understanding, and technical work that he has put into this is clear and simple enough to follow, and his descriptions of his experiments are useful in following along. The only problem that I have with this would lie in his procedure and development with said experiments. The first thing to note in these experiments is his uneven detail in procedure. Taken from a scientist’s point of view, it is usually helpful to point out as many of the details as possible when describing one’s procedure, so that results can be as reproducible as possible. However, in this aspect McGee seems to be lacking. An example of this can be seen while observing the experiment he did with the meat and finding how long it would take to bring it to a desired temperature while cooking, this can be found in the beginning of chapter three. This experiment, while simple in nature, makes me ask a few questions as to how exactly this can be accomplished. The first, and biggest one for me, was where exactly was the probe inserted on the meat and how far down into the meat did he go? While an average person would probably infer ‘in the top and down to the center’ this is not made as clear as one might seem. The probe itself is what calls this aspect into question as there are many different types out there and each one has its own way of gathering data in more favorable conditions. As in it might have produced better data if coming in from the side.
Technicalities and procedures aside, I greatly enjoyed this book. This provides an informative and easy to understand explanation and results of his research in the culinary works. The things that particularly strike me as interesting is his explanations and results. The way that he describes his theories or thought process, makes the book easier to follow and keeps one thinking and noticing things that we have overlooked while cooking. There were many times while reading the book in which I went, “Oh yeah, that really does happen”. Being able to bring things that would otherwise be unnoticeable, or otherwise accepted as fact, McGee calls into question and brings to the table several theories that help explain what is happening and ways to combat what is going on. The results that he gives at the end of the chapters are especially useful and are a great way of understanding what one can do to get the results that they are looking for. In addition to that he also encourages one to do some at home experimentation to produce ones own results that would work best for them, which to me implies that he encourages others to continue to try what is best for them to achieve their goal and not to imply that his methods are absolute.

[Alexander Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A co-worker lent me this book after hearing that I was a fan of Harold McGee's other books (namely, the amazing On Food and Cooking). It took me a while to read through, as I'd generally read a chapter at a time and come back for the next dose a good time later. That said, the chapters, are generally fine to consume a-la-carte, delving into the specifics of a dish, fruit, or phenomena, without too much concern for what came before or what comes next. There are a few solid through-lines and re-visited themes across the chapters though, and those alone made the book worth finishing. I wasn't really expecting the chapters on food and health. It's worth noting that some of the facts provided in those specific chapters are no longer in line with scientific consensus (it was published in 1984, if anything it'd be more shocking if nothing had changed). All that said, the untempered enthusiasm for food and science made for an exhilarating read. I'd recommend this book to anyone who dabbles in one or the other, and has ever wondered why things work well (or don't) in the kitchen.

[Markus Pe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harold McGee is kinda my idol, the way he does science experiments in the kitchen fascinates me and I hope to one day repeat them with the same rigor. The book was structured into lose facts bundeled with experiments, they are as unconnected as my daily thoughts when cooking - which I really enjoyed.

[Radu P · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not resonate with this one from Harold Mcgee."On food and cooking" remains his representative creation.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is 0 part cookbook, all food science and a little body science. There was a bit less about food than I preferred and a bit more than I would have wanted to read about saturated fats and heart health...but an interesting chapter on aluminum cookware and alzhiemers that I've been meaning to read.

It's a great book, just not 100% my personal preference. Ideally I'd be able to choose the food science topics ala carte and have them put together in one tome for my own reading, leaving the ones that don't interest me. Perhaps an idea for digital publishers...

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG I think I'm in love. Seriously, though, it has to say something about the quality of the writing and exploration that I (a vegan) have even read all the chapters on meat and eggs. The exposition is clear, the process is fascinating. If you have any interest in the overlap between chemistry and food, Harold McGee is for you.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're really into knowing about food and cooking on the technical side,this is for you. You'll have to be dedicated although you can only read the chapters that interest you.
On the other hand try those that don't appear to appeal to you, some of his experiments very illuminating, if not amusing.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really excellent book on thinking about food and cooking using science and chemistry. McGee experiments with recipes as a iconic mad scientist would in his lab, and shares the results, frustrations, and confusions of the process. I really enjoyed it.

[Lu]

More of a text book. Interesting but needs time to refer to

[Cait · Rating 4 out of 5]

I refer to it every spring and summer. It has an extensive chart of proportion for making fruit ices.

[Elizabeth Olson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Companion volume to "On Food and Cooking", nearly as entertaining and enlightening as that first book.

[John Millard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harold knows his stuff and he is very giving with his enthusiasm.

[Arrel]

Interesting follow-up to Mr McGee's classic "On Food and Cooking."