How to Read a French Fry: And Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science

by Russ Parsons

Book Overview

Why can you stick your hand into a 450-degree oven but not into 212-degree boiling water without burning it? Why does fish taste different from meat? Why do you cook pork differently from beef? Why... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039596783X
• ISBN13: 9780395967836
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Entertaining and Informative

This book is an introduction to practical kitchen science. Parsons has organized it topically, with chapters on oils and frying, storage and processing of plant foods, the chemistry and cooking of eggs, starches and sauces, meat and heat, and baking. At the end of each chapter is a short collection of recipes chosen to illustrate the salient points of the chapter. The book includes an index, but no references. The book isn't as comprehensive as some kitchen science books, but it is very engaging and easy to read. Because it was interesting as well as informative, I found that the information presented in this book was much easier to remember than information from other similar kitchen science books such as Hillman's "The New Kitchen Science." Parsons presents a very sound argument for buying local fruit--fruits that are grown and picked for shipment are generally picked green, before they develop the sweetness or other strong aromatic flavors that could be characteristic of the fruit. Commercial varieties of long-haul fruits are bred for their ability to withstand the hazards of shipment, not for flavor. In general, his explanations of complicated kitchen chemistry, such as protein changes with emulsifiers or baking, are quite easy to follow as well as fascinating.

One of the Best Popular Books on Food Science

Russ Parsons is a `Los Angeles Times' culinary columnist originally hired by Ruth Reichl who, with Shirley Corriher (`Cookwise'), Alton Brown (TV's `Good Eats'), and Robert Volker (`What Einstein Told His Cook') work at explaining cooking to us all. I have not read Corriher's very highly regarded book, but I would give Parsons the highest regard when compared to Brown and Volker when looking at what they do in common. To anticipate any thoughts that I am overlooking Harold McGee, I believe McGee's book `On Food and Cooking' is literally in a class of its own, from which all of these other authors have probably borrowed.While Brown and Volker give scientific explanations of culinary phenomena, with Brown's chapters in `I'm Only Here for the Food' being somewhat deeper than Volker's question and answer format, Parsons is looking at culinary facts from a much broader point of view. It is as if all three understand food and all three have good scientific explanations for food facts, but only Parsons understands SCIENCE. Alton Brown gives an excellent metaphor for science in describing what he does as drawing a roadmap of a neighborhood (of custards, for example) rather than simply giving step by step instructions as one would when writing out the method for a recipe. Brown, however, seems constantly constrained by the limits of a 30-minute `Good Eats' episode or of a book chapter on braising.Parsons addresses the whole field of food science from the other direction. He doesn't talk about what causes meat to brown (and why this tastes so good) or how simmering in water creates gelatin in stocks, or how the barbecue method is so good at producing tender meat from tough primals. Instead, he talks about MEAT, its composition, and how it reacts, in general, to heat, and what the variations are from chicken to pork to veal to beef to lamb. From these, we can see the similarities between, for example, barbecue and braising. This is what science is all about. Explaining individual facts without an underlying theory becomes nothing more than description. Alton Brown uses the theory to explain the facts. Russ Parsons talks about the theory, with facts as examples of how the theory works.What so frustrates me about the clarity with which Parsons writes is that in spite of this, TV food show hosts continue to perpetuate myths about cooking like the one about searing meat is done to `seal in the juices'. Both Parsons and McGee have refuted this statement, yet some Food Network hosts make that statement over and over. I think all people who make their living by writing or speaking about food should be required to take a good chemistry course, followed by a food science course before they are let loose with word processor or microphone. But I digress.Parsons' book is composed of six essays, each on some basic aspect of food composition or behavior. These chapters are:How to read a French fry: Frying and the chemical and physical properties of frying oils.The second

Best food science book available

As a chef and avid cookbook collector, this book is on my top 5 of all times. Forget what other 'critics' have said. I've read all the Corriher, Wolke, McGee, Fennema, Belitz... books from first to last page and I can state to you in all honesty: this book is the most practical an useful book of all the 'food science books' currently available. It is a must for amateur cooks and chefs alike. I've learned things here that I never heard in professional cooking school or restaurant kitchens, I've read practical cooking hints that I never saw in any other 'cookbook'. Parsons has the 'audacity' to unveil 'chefs cooking secrets' that a lot of chefs desperately want to keep to themselves so as to distinguish themselves from the 'amateur cooks'.If you are a cook who wants to know 'WHY?' and so mold your own style, recipes and techniques, instead of just wanting to know 'WHAT?' and blindly following a very often not working recipe 'developped' by a top chef or his aide or his copywriter, because you are working in your 'amateur' kitchen and the chef or his ghost writer has developped the recipes in a professional kitchen, then this is your book. The difference between an average cook and a good one is that the average one just blindly follows recipes, doesn't ask questions and hasn't got a clue why some things work and others not. Result: he keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. Parsons doesn't loose himself in totally useless ego stroking circus experiments like Harold 'Saint' McGee' does. Parsons also goes beyond the Ann Landers-format of FAQ's and answers of Robert Wolke and he is much more up to date and practical than Shirley O'Corriher. AND... he writes better than all three combined! This book is not only a treasure trove of kitchen knowledge, 'chefs secrets' and 'dry food science', it is also fun to read. And very well organised. Parsons divides his book in the most commonly used kitchen techniques and subjects like 'frying', 'vegetables', 'meat'... No truffles and foie gras here, thank God! Parsons first explains all the scientific ins and outs of the subject in a very readable manner. All the while sprinkling it generously with sometimes amazing practical hints. And he tops every chapter off with a summary of the most important 'rules' concerning the chapter-subject. 'Rules' which a lot of chefs honestly but sadly don't have a clue about. As dessert to each chapter he serves some (very tasty) recipes to bring the science into practice. As for the famous 'fixing hollandaise' subject, Parsons nowhere in the book says to throw away curdled hollandaise. However, he says that when the hollandaise is too far gone and you have literally scrambled eggs, there is no fixing that should be served to a paying restaurant guest. And he's right! I know, some chefs throw the scrambled eggs-hollandaise into the food processor, add some butter and other camouflage stuff, and serve this as authentic 'hollandaise' to their clients. I wouldn't go near

Demystifies cooking

Clear and conversational, LA Times food editor Russ Parsons' first book demystifies the chemistry and physics of cooking. Knowing why makes knowing how easier, from picking the best vegetables to creating a stable hollandaise sauce to cooking a tender roast.From the first page, on which Parsons explains why onions make you cry - a compound called sulfonic acid, lacking in Vidalias, which accounts for their raw sweetness - his book is full of fascinating, illuminating facts. He begins with deep-frying, and explains how to cook efficiently and healthfully, with fat. It's all a matter of getting oil temperature right so that the steam in the food repels the oil. And then there's the little details - why fresh oil fails to brown food, why batters should be firm.The vegetable chapter - how to pick the freshest and tastiest - and how to keep them that way - is especially useful, explaining why mature vegetables are tougher, how the absence of green in a nectarine is more important than a rosy blush, which fruits can safely be purchased under ripe, why potatoes change color when exposed to air, why to cook green vegetables uncovered, why lemon preserves color.Parsons explains emulsifying and the miracle properties of the invaluable egg; he explains how beans and grains go from toothbreaking hard in their raw state to tender soft in cooking and how this property can be used in a variety of ways from making perfect gravy to reheating rice; he deconstructs the mysteries of heat on meat and explains why treating piecrust tenderly produces tender piecrust.Each chapter includes a summary list of tips and a selection of recipes demonstrating the properties and techniques discussed. An understanding of the science of cookery, Parsons says, enables the cook, freeing her or him from recipes. "The only limit will be your creative ability." Armed with the science, the reader feels more in control, more expert, more willing to branch out. A useful resource for any cook.

Kitchen Secrets -- for people who like cooking

This is a book for anyone who cooks. As the title hints, there is a lot to know about french fries... and other foods... and why they taste the way they taste. Have you ever wondered why two recipes, using the same ingredients, end up tasting different? Why does heat ruin Vidalia onions? What ingredients substitute well for others, and why? What's the frothy stuff around the pasta pot after it boils, and why should I care? It's not about getting a hard-boiled egg into a bottle using a match -- although that's a pretty good trick. This is a book about cooking, that explains the Whys of cooking methods. Enjoy.