Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking

Herve This

November, 2007
Cloth, 232 pages, 98 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-14170-3
$22.95 / £13.50

"Taking kitchen science to a whole new (molecular) level, Hervé This is changing the way France—and the world—cooks." — Patric Kuh, Gourmet

"For anyone who relishes the debunking of culinary myths." — Todd Coleman, Saveur

"This book is laden with science while rendering a clear approach to flavor." — Publishers Weekly

"This has made invisible processes visible, revealed the mysteries, and the bread has risen, baked, and been enjoyed." — Claudia Kousoulas, Appetite for Books

"Cooks who want to learn more about the chemistry and physics that make their efforts possible will discover useful things here." — Booklist

"This molecular gastronomy is garnished with the authors own rich philosophy of food and flavor." — Peter Barham, Nature

"An exuberant paean for the role of science in cooking... This's book performs a great service." — Len Fisher, Times Higher Education Supplement

"This book should be in every kitchen." — Christine Sismondo, Toronto Star

"[An] eye-opening book." — Kate Colquhoun, Portmouth Herald

"Witty and humorous . . . [readers] whose eyes glaze over at the very mention of electrons may find themselves becoming entranced by This’ graceful descriptions of essential chemical reactions." — Lynn Harnett, Seacoast Sunday

"Well crafted, sprinkled with insight, and containing a menagerie of information, Kitchen Mysteriesis a wonderful trip down a stellar buffet line." — J. Edward Sumerau, The Metro Spirit

"It's wonderful to find out how things work in the kitchen, what the palate feels and why, and to see Hervé This experiment and think about what has not yet been done in any restaurant. With respect and love for what we eat, Hervé This reveals to us in this wonderfully readable book the real secrets, the molecular ones, of great food. One truly delectable meal for the mind!" — Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Laureate and author of Same and Not the Same

"This is the brilliant book that started it all, finally translated from the French. Hervé This's prose is always simple and elegant-though he barely hides the excitement he must feel as a pioneer. There is something to be learned, and chew over, on every page." — Jeffrey Steingarten, food critic for Vogue and author of The Man Who Ate Everything

Related Subjects

• Food History & Culinary Studies
• General Science

Series

• Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History

About the Author

Hervé This is a physical chemist on the staff of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique in Paris. He is the author of Columbia's Molecular Gastronomy and of several other books on food and cooking. He is a monthly contributor to Pour la Science, the French-language edition of Scientific American. Jody Gladding is a poet and has translated almost twenty works from French, most recently, Madeleine Ferrière's Sacred Cow Mad Cow, which also appears in the Arts and Traditions of the Table series.

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