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What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained

Amazon ASIN: 0393011836 LowestNewPrice CurrencyCode USD LowestNewPrice FormattedPrice $14.79 LowestUsedPrice CurrencyCode USD LowestUsedPrice FormattedPrice $6.84 LowestCollectiblePrice CurrencyCode USD LowestCollectiblePrice FormattedPrice $25.95 TotalNew 43 TotalUsed 36 TotalCollectible 2 TotalRefurbished 0

Product Details

Author Robert L. Wolke Binding Hardcover DeweyDecimalNumber 641.5 EAN 9780393011838 Edition 1 ISBN 0393011836 Label W. W. Norton & Company Type Original Language Type Unknown Type Published CurrencyCode USD FormattedPrice $25.95 Manufacturer W. W. Norton & Company NumberOfItems 1 NumberOfPages 350 ProductGroup Book PublicationDate 2002-05 Publisher W. W. Norton & Company Studio W. W. Norton & Company Title What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Does the alcohol really boil off when we cook with wine? Are smoked foods raw or cooked? Are green potatoes poisonous? This work provides plain explanations of kitchen mysteries, with a liberal seasoning of wit. Organized into basic categories for easy reference, this book contains more than 130 lucid explanations of kitchen phenomena involving starches and sugars, salts, fats, meats and fish, heat and cold, cooking equipment and more. Along the way Robert L. Wolke debunks some widely held myths about foods and cooking.

Amazon.com Review
Why do recipes call for unsalted butter--and salt? What is a microwave, actually? Are smoked foods raw or cooked? Robert L. Wolke's enlightening and entertaining What Einstein Told His Cook offers answers to these and 127 other questions about everyday kitchen phenomena. Using humor (dubious puns included), Wolke, a bona fide chemistry professor and syndicated Washington Post columnist, has found a way to make his explanations clear and accessible to all: in short, fun. For example, to a query about why cookbooks advise against inserting meat thermometers so that they touch a bone, Wolke says, "I hate warnings without explanations, don't you? Whenever I see an 'open other end' warning on a box, I open the wrong end just to see what will happen. I'm still alive." But he always finally gets down to brass tacks: as most heat transfer in meat is due to its water content, areas around bone remain relatively cool and thus unreliable for gauging overall meat temperature.

Organized into basic categories like "Sweet Talk" (questions involving sugar), "Fire and Ice" (we learn why water boils and freezers burn, among other things), and "Tools and Technology" (the best kind of frying pan, for example), the book also provides illustrative recipes like Black Raspberry Coffee Cake (to demonstrate how metrics work in recipes) and Bob's Mahogany Game Hens (showing what brining can do). With technical illustrations, tips, and more, the book offers abundant evidence that learning the whys and hows of cooking can help us enjoy the culinary process almost as much as its results. --Arthur Boehm

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