Master 50 Simple Concepts to Enjoy a Lifetime of Success in the Kitchen (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks)

The best cookbook ever. Perfect for a kindle since you'll want to use the search button on kindle a lot to navagate this book. If you want better then Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookie the recipe is in here. If you want a roast that cooks exactly the same all the way through from the first cut to the last the science know how is in here. Between this book and The America's Test Kitchen "Big Red Book" you really don't need many other cook books.

I borrowed this book from the library. Borrowing wasn't enough. I bought my own copy for lifelong reference. I simply LOVE its combination of scientific explanations and practical cooking tips. This is the best of the many cookbooks I have read. It now lives next to "Joy of Cooking" in my kitchen. I highly recommend "The Science of Good Cooking" to both novice and experienced cooks.

Great book for people who want to *learn* to cook, not just follow a recipe. This book isn't just recipes, it's demo's, descriptions, and tools! Imagine this to be the science experiment book for cooking. They try marinading in three different solutions and then instead of only telling you which marinade is best, the book tells you *why* a certain one works the best. I love Cook's Illustrated and this really is great for anyone that needs a visual to *learn* to cook or cook better!

The authors state that in "the olden days" (my words not theirs) a person cooked so often that they became intuitively good at understanding how the chemistry of food worked. Since we don't cook as much these days, that level of proficiency is hard to attain. This book is the solution. Master 50 "secrets" and you are a gourmet! Okay, that seems a little daunting but you master one at a time.

If you are serious abour upping your game, this is THE book you want. Every recipe yielded outstanding results--even for ones that I thought I knew. You have to trust the recipes, even if the techniques are different from what you know. I refer to this book as my Bible because it is the ultimate reference. Recommended.

My husband is the cook in the family. Always with a handful of this, a dash of that, with great results. He is very interested in the chemistry of cooking . . . the hows and why some things work or don't. This book is right up his alley. He loves it. It explain so many things in details not usually found in recipes. When his is inventing a recipe or trying to solve a problem it is at the top of his go-to list. Highly recommend!!

Very interesting and unique cookbook explaining the "why" in addition to the "how". Good reference book for beginning and experienced cooks. I tried the New York Cheescake recipe and mine still cracked despite the explanation of why it should not. User error? We ate it and enjoyed each bite.

I learned to cook at my mother's (and grandmother and aunts) knee. Well, at least I learned to enjoy great food through their loving preparations. When I moved into my first apartment, I resolved to develop my own strengths in the kitchen. And for many years I did okay. What a difference this book would have made! To actually understand what I was doing, and attempting to do, would have let me bypass the failed experiments and maudlin results that so often came about. I would have eaten less overcooked, dried out meat; fewer mushy vegetables; and more robustly-flavored, savory soups and stews. I still experiment, but this book is letting me learn from others while adding a touch of finesse to my own preparations. As a bonus, though I seldom refer to recipes, this book has a ton of them, complete with explanations of why what they do works. How neat is that?

Good reference book and good reading also. it's from Cook's and anyone who has used a Cook's receipt knows the details are thorough and easy to follow. Good to have this one on my "used often" shelf in my kitchen.

I love this book. I bust it out for everything. The actual scientific explanations of why cooking choices are made vs. just following a recipe add an entire new dimension to meals and allow for more controlled experimentation.

My Dad wanted this for Christmas because he loves Cook's magazine (as do I). I was thumbed through it at his house a few months ago and snuck it into my suitcase to "borrow"--so many great recipes. But more than that, it has tips and tricks of the fundmentals that let you take a solid recipe and make it your own. Highly recommend.

This is more than a cookbook. It discusses what happens when we cook various foods in different ways.
I bought it to learn how things work so that I can understand and use the knowledge to be less dependent on recipes. It exceeded my expectations.

Fascinating book that tells you how little things like hard water can give you problems with pre soaking dried beans. ! Who knew one of the best ways was brining your dried beans depending on the texture you want. It tells you the best temperature for eggs and butter and what type of chocolate gives the best flavor. It even gives you recommendations on the best kitchen equipment.

This is a book explaining classic American food in a somewhat scientific manner. There are no fancy foreign dishes in the book. Even the French quiche lorraine gets the American treatment, more crust and more filling, naturally. :) We get lots of discussion of everyday American food like ground beef and potatoes. This is a book that would not dream of using rosemary, without always stating optional. If you know recipes, you know what I mean.

There is a lot of good material in the book, but I would not recommend it for somebody that just wants to learn more cooking science. I would probably stick to McGee's On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen instead. (His later book Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes can be avoided.)

The main problem with the book is the so called scientific approach. The editors typically cook three versions of a dish and let some people taste the result. Presumably this is a blind tasting. The most liked alternative becomes the base recipe in the book. So far so good. Then the editors venture to describe in more scientific terms why the chosen recipe "works". These descriptions are sometimes good and sometimes just guesses. All of them seem to be more like retroactive sense-making. Just so stories told after the fact. We are told that the omelette should be done quickly with half-and-half and using two heating elements. We are advised against using milk and low heat, the classic approach. On what evidence are we expected to change? Some anonymous tasting, the result of which is not reported. Actually, I found the approach quite anal on many occasions. The book is more quasi-science than science.

Taken together I would still recommend this book if you have a library of cookbooks (i.e. 30+ books). Otherwise there are a better choices out there. And don't buy the book as a gift. It is too much of a niche book and I am sure most food lovers would not really appreciate this book very much.

OK - learning to cook just got easier with this great book. If you want to know "why" something works or "when" it's best to do a certain method and the best way to do it, then you need this book. I'm a need to know, cook. Love it!

If you are serious about cooking, this is a serious book for you. Want to know why some things work and others don't in the kitchen? Here is your answer--often on a molecular level. Yes, there are many good recipes in the Science of Good Cooking, but this is much more than a cook book. It is a text and in that it sometimes requires hard work on the part of the reader. Be willing to engage the book and take the time to understand the concepts and you will come away a much better cook and one that doesn't rely solely on recipes to achieve consistently great culinary results.

Very useful cookbook - explains how to cook a wide variety of foods using a variety of methods and then explains why each cooking method works. I have a much deeper understanding of the science of cooking after making several passes through the book and cooking several of their sample recipes. Every recipe was a winner.

If you love those segments on America's Test Kitchen where they explain how something works, and more importantly, why it works that way, this is a must own book. I love having it available to make sense of why one method works and another doesn't. There is no other book on cooking that I know of that answers these questions.

Purchased this for my father who is a food scientist and great chef/cook as well. He liked the read a lot and learned a few things along the way too. Would highly recommend if you want to learn what types of things can make a dish go from good to great.

I love this book! I really wanted to understand the how's and why's with cooking and this book explains what's going on in scientific terms that are easy to understand, why a recipe works, and also gives you recipes to try out! Great hardcover book too. This book was exactly what I was looking for!

I got this for Christmas and originally thought it would be a nice reference. Once I started though, I read the entire book. I love the way they break down how to do basic techniques and, more importantly, why each step makes the recipe better. I wished it had more pictures though but this is still a great book. I highly recommend it if you like to cook at home.

This book not only has a plethora of great recipes, but it lets you know what the science is regarding tastes, textures, etc. This is a very important element in cooking. Just about anyone can follow a recipe, but when you know HOW to cook it, handle it, saute it, braise it, boil it, or whatever, you will be astounded. Even the chemistry of certain spices and when to add them is important. Love it!!

If you have ever wanted to improve your recipes, or make the "best" of something then this book is for you. It goes beyond telling you a tested recipe, but gets into the science and reasoning for the techniques and ingredients. A must buy for the home cook.

This is a great book that explains the basic science behind cooking. My favorite parts teach about meat cooking. It's great to improve your cooking skills and it's also great to review basic chemistry. There are some very easy recipes as well. Non-geeks will probably find the cook boring and full of unnecessary details. That's because it's a book written by geeks for geeks.

I have so enjoyed discovering the science behind what my mother taught me. I thought a lot of the stuff I was learning from her was just methods passed down through the ages, but now I know that the methods actually have a founding in science. For example, browning mince before adding any liquid actually changes and increases the flavour of the meat. For so long I had thought it just made the mince look more attractive, but the cooks in the test kitchen have proven that the flavour is enhanced by browning.
I am nowhere near reading all the gems of wisdom in the book, but I know I will have years of interesting reading aheaf of me. I love this book!

An outstanding book. I have always wondered about techniques and reasons that chefs do certain things in their recipes. This book has so far explained everything that I always wondered about, and more.

This book satisfies my scientific curiosity about how food cooks. I'm a home cook, who is always watching cooking shows to learn better technique. This book gives clear explanations for why things work in the kitchen. Love the recipes (but don't look for low fat recipes here!) I only wish the font were bigger.

This book serves two purposes very, very well. First, it is a reference book for when you're cooking and have a question about why something is done in a given recipe. The second purpose is it's a great book to read cover to cover for a very comprehensive course in culinary art. This book will teach you the key elements you need to know to transform your cooking from basic chemistry where you slavishly follow recipes to cooking as an art in which you understand different techniques and how things interact with one another. It will free you up to create instead of the cooking equivalent of paint by numbers.

I initially decided to purchase this book for my nephew who enjoys cooking and is also into science. I then found the book so interesting, though not a science major, that I purchased one for myself. I then showed it to some elderly (mid-80s to mid-90s! friends and relatives who also found it fascinating to browse through. My point here is that you don't have to be a scientist to understand and enjoy the concepts and recipes in this book. This is a winner!

Fascinating and very useful. I am learning a lot about the science of cooking, which frees me up to be more creative in my cooking. Love really understanding what is going on at a chemical level in my cooking.

The ebook version, at least as viewed on my Nexus 7, has lots of issues. Header text is invisible, making many of the tables and illustrations completely unusable. The text I was able to read seemed quite useful. I may spring for the hard copy.

One of the best resources for learning why certain recipe steps are important, and what goes wrong if they are not followed. Great insights into the science of cooking without being overly theoretical.

I've really enjoyed learning about the science of cooking; feel like I'm starting from scratch, eliminating many myths that I've inherited in cooking. And it WORKS! Every recipe or suggestion I've used or incorporated into recipes has improved the result! Highly recommend to cooks new and old.

Love the information from the physics to the pictures and illustrations. Lots, lots, lots of information. I especially love the part on meats and how to cook them for juiciness and tenderization. I haven't even read it all, there is so much information.

Well-written, good recipes, and it explains scientifically why the recipes work. It is interesting and easy to follow. I like it so much that I ordered another one for my 14 y.o. nephew, who wants to be a chef. His parents had to tell him to put it away and do his school work.