Customer Reviews

Betty Crocker Why It Works: Insider Secrets to Great Food (Betty Crocker Books)

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You expect any cookbook to have a whole bunch of good recipies. And this one does. But it goes far beyond the traditional cookbook in it's descriptions of why this particular ingredient or procedure works in this particular recipie.

For instance, in the discussion on banana bread there is a discussion on how the acid in the banana is supposed to react with the baking soda to create the bubbles that makes the bread rise. But as bananas ripen they lose some of their acidity. Hence the instructions to add some baking powder. Furthermore, as part of the same recipie he talks about how to tese your boxes of baking powder and baking soda to make sure they are still fresh enough to use.

Do far I've only tried a few of the recipies out of this book -- Banana-Chocolate bread, Caramelized Apple-Blue Cheese Spread, Pan-Seared Tilapia. I'm wanting to try his New Orleans Best Gumbo, but in the little town in which I live you can't get okra, even frozen.

At the church pot-luck this coming Sunday I'm going to do his Hearty Polenta with Swiss Cheese. But with this recipie I've got to make one argument. You don't want to use yellow cornmeal, even the stone-ground he recommends. You want to use grits. Yes, they should be yellow and stone ground, not the white paste kind they sell in supermarkets. I use grits from either Bob's Red Mill or the Old Mill of Guilford. One more point, he says cook the cornmeal 10 minutes. That depends on the coarseness of the grinding. Bob's take about 15 minutes. Guilford's take about twenty. And as for the cheese, he says use either Swiss or Gruyere. Use any kind of cheese you like, blue cheese is great, and in the South Velveeta is often used.

I own a lot of cookbooks, but this book combines food and fun in a whole new way. I've only tried a few recipes but they are great and the "Why it Works" on each recipe are so interesting. Great book!

I've obtained quite a few of these types of books. This is not my favorite, but not because it's bad. It just isn't as good as a lot of the other books that are out there; Harold McGee, Alton Brown, Michael Ruhlman; they have done a much better job of presenting the science of cooking in book form. I was hoping that something put out by Better Homes and Gardens would be great, but, at best, it's just a book for people that cook at home that don't really know anything about cooking. Even the America's Test Kitchen (my favorite PBS show) manages to show us things that every cook needs to know, albeit with a price (if you miss the programs on Saturday afternoons).

If you're an amateur chef wanting to know things like why eggs curdle when they heat up, then this may be the book for you. If you already know what a mis en plas is or how to julienne a carrot, go for one of the other books. McGee may be too technical, but he knows it all.

In addition to the wide variety of delicious and easy-to-follow recipes, this book provides readers with a 'Why it Works' for each recipe - including facts and tips to maximize your success and amaze your guests! The author, who holds a PhD in Food Science, explains the 'why' behind each recipe and what exactly causes it to succeed or fail.

This book is not your average Betty Crocker Cookbook - I highly recommend it.

This is definitely one of the better cookbooks I have purchased. The author's knowledge of food science really shows through in helping us to understand the reason behind why we do what we do when we are cooking. Though the recipes are more complex than a typical Betty Crocker cookbook, the techniques discussed are very applicable to cooking anything, from a simple pudding to a 4 course gourmet dinner. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in more than just finding new recipes - this is one of the few cookbooks you could really sit down and read like a novel.

Okay, maybe that title is a little overstated, but this book has so much useful information in it. For years I've made my Mom's banana bread and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Now I know why! Thank you, thank you! Wonderful book!

The book appeared to have moisture damage. The pages were wavy.