98 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
An overpriced pocket dictionary for molecular gastronomy, January 24, 2010
This review is from: Modern Gastronomy: A to Z (Hardcover)
I ordered this book and eagerly awaited it's delayed shipment. There were many disappointing aspects of this book.
First, the author description on Amazon is wrong. Yes, wrong. Ferran Adria is NOT the author. Rather, the book was authored by 'Alicia Foundation elBullitaller', which was founded by Ferran Adria. It is unclear to what degree Adria was involved.
Second, contrary to the first review of this book (I've no idea what he was smoking), this is not a 'thick tome' unless you consider lecithin-based foams are the equivalent of beef wellington. the book measures 6x9" and is barely 1/2 inch thick if you count the hardcovers. There are 247 small glossy pages in between, including the indices. Each page has generous 5/8" margins all around to help set off the easy to read text that includes much white space between items. This makes the text roughly 4x7" including the white space, and there is a lot of white space.
Third, I suppose this book is supposed to be a definitive compendium of molecular gastronomy. Perhaps, but in that case there aren't many letters in the alphabet. I'm not really sure what one is to make of a molecular gastronomy book that includes definitions such as:
* 1.25" devoted to "Centrifugation. See Centrifuge"
* almost an entire page of cross references for calcium chloride, gluconate, gluconolactate, lactate, and oxide.
* and one of the highlights (I'm NOT making this up" is 3 inches of space devoted to defining "Bitter". It is first fancified as an 'organoleptic perception'. Then it is defined as: "One of the basic tastes." The additional information included is: "In the retail food industry quinine is considered to be the standard of bitterness. However, caffeine is increasingly being used as a reference. Other bitter products: gentian, caffeine. It is a taste that is readily rejected in childhood, as it is instinctively associated with venomous substances; later it becomes part of people's eating routines out of habit."
Oh yes. I habitually bite into a chunk of quinine every other day in adult life. When a fair amount of space wasted on unenlightened, uninformative entries, one wonders what the author and publisher must have been thinking. One of the few color photos is of a glob of 'lyophilized pistachio' having water poured on it to 'rehydrate it'. There are six pictures ranging from a smear of green gunk to a puddle of green goo, which is presumably the 'rehydrated pistachio.' I've no idea why these images are important much less why it takes an entire page to present them.
This book is vastly overpriced even with Amazon's discount. The amount of effort and work in it do not compare in the least to, say, Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc. The book provides no techniques, suggestions, hints, or examples. It includes much extraneous information, the apparent purpose of which is to fill space. It is laughable to compare Molecular Gastronomy A to Z to a tome such as Larousse Gastronomique. There is nothing insightful in this small book, and it does not inform one regarding any techniques of molecular gastronomy. It is about as useful as a frozen egg.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reference book for the experimentalist, but no cookbook, May 2, 2010
This review is from: Modern Gastronomy: A to Z (Hardcover)
This book is not a cookbook. I was somewhat disappointed by this as I would have loved to see several sample recipes illustrating the techniques. Instead, it's a reference book that collects several modern (Adria doesn't like the term molecular) gastronomy techniques in a convenient tome. This is still an emerging and exciting field where many of the leading modern gastronomy chefs are still experimenting with techniques and textures. This book is for those who wish to invent some of their own creations and need some guidance on what the various chemicals and procedures do to food. The book claims to provide proportions for chemicals to add for certain techniques, but does so sparingly. I suspect since this is the first edition, the authors are still discovering what's the right amount to provide for various combinations, and we'll probably see future editions with more gaps filled in. So, for a chef who wants to seriously attempt to create unique dishes, I give 4/5 stars. For the cook who wants a simple collection of recipes, this is not the book for you - you are better off getting some of the thick restaurant cook books like "Fat Duck" or "El Bulli"'s, but beware, that they often assume you have all the professional equipment the restaurant uses to make those dishes!
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not very useful for the average cook, October 5, 2010
This review is from: Modern Gastronomy: A to Z (Hardcover)
It's a shame that this book doesn't currently have a preview, so that we would have an idea of the format and tone before purchasing it. This is not a cookbook with recipes, or a friendly and fun chat about food, or even a cooking manual per se; it feels more like a dictionary, or a encyclopedia. It lists ingredients and techniques in a dry, direct, confusing, and hard to swallow manner. Perhaps food scientists would find it more useful... but I honestly wouldn't know.
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