Customer Reviews

The Inquisitive Cook

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When I first began reading "The Inquisitive Cook", I was disappointed at its very simple, almost simplistic, style. Having slogged through "On Food and Cooking" (ISBN 0684843285), and having read "The Science of Cooking" (ISBN 3540674667), and "The Curious Cook: More Kitchen Science and Lore" (ISBN 0020098014), I wondered how such an obviously lightweight and short book could teach me anything.

I need not have worried, though. Even though the chapters are short and the language usage is consistent with a 6th-to 8th-grade reading level, the book is highly informative. It doesn't go into deep discussions of principles, but instead gives a simple overview of a number of processes, together with lots of short, practical examples and experiments. I was very pleasantly surprised by how many of the things in the book covered new details on the topics I had already read about without excessively rehashing what I already knew.

If you really want to learn more of the science behind cooking, you might want to try one of the other books I mention above. If you're just looking to expand your knowledge of cooking in a painless and even fun way, this is the book for you.

You could easily read through the whole book in one session, but it really doesn't require that kind of investment of your attention. The chapters are short (as is the whole book), and there are lots of self-contained sidebars, so this book makes an excellent addition not only to your cooking library, but also to your bathroom magazine rack.

The Inquisitive Cook-Discover How a Pinch of Curiosity Can Improve Your Cooking, by Anne Gardiner and Sue Wilson and the Exploratorium, Henry Holt Books, is part of a series called The Accidental Scientist. Here's where you turn if you want to know whether brown eggs are more nutritious than white, why and when meat is seared, all about yeast, what salt does in boiling water for pasta cooking, and, this most teasing Ten O'Clock News-ish item, "Can curdled Hollandaise Sauce be saved?" The Inquisitive Cook is a zippy book packed with practical info and answers to common questions, as well as those we might never have considered even lying awake at 3 a.m. on a hot, still night, e.g. " If sugar affects cooking temperatures, does it also influence freezing?"

This book was disappointing in its lack of detail. It doesn't really get into much depth on any topic and I just didn't learn anything from it.

This book was disappointing in its lack of detail. It doesn't really get into much depth on any topic and I just didn't learn anything from it.