culinary arts

Did you ever wonder what the difference is between baking soda and baking powder, why there are so many different kinds of flour, and what is Dutch cocoa?  If so, you are just the type of advanced cook for whom this book is intended.  It is full of the culinary science involved in various cooking methods and ingredients, which the author explains plainly and understandably to anyone without any heavy science background.  What Einstein Told His Cook debunks the mysteries of water filters, the process of coffee decaffeination, and BTUs as the measurement of stove energy output, as well as

There is more to food tasting then just wine and cheese tasting parties. And this book tells us all about it.  It provides tips how to entertain a group of friends while indulging in the best the food world has to offer. Among the unusual culinary but tempting delicacies the Tasting Club suggests are honey, tea, chocolate, olive oil and cured meats. I enjoyed the most learning about the intriguing world of expensive and rare balsamic vinegars of Italy.  Each food item chapter starts with describing the history of that item, as some of them are foods enjoyed by humans for thousands of years. (T

As the title suggests, this book is about food, cooking and restaurants. Gopnik, an investigative journalist by trade, tells us everything one wants to know about the history of cooking and restaurants, including the new eating trends such as the molecular cuisine of Barcelona. Gopnik examines our choices of food.  In an apolitical way he gives an inside view into the meat vs. vegetarian debate.   My favorite quotation: “Cooking is the faith that raw ingredients can be conjured into a nightly miracle”.  The Table Comes First is a great book for all practitioners or theorists of the art of

This memoir provides a window into the most prestigious culinary institute in the world, the Paris Cordon Bleu.  It was written while the author herself was one of the students there. The book contains witty observations from the world of haute cuisine and covers basic recipes and cooking instruction, together with a few tricks and shortcuts she learned there. 

Faced with a crossroad in her life, the author impulsively decided to move to Paris and pursue the dream she once confided to Julia Child: to study at the Cordon Bleu. Kathleen describes in detail her new friends and competitive

The Kitchen Counter Cooking School chronicles a project inspired by a supermarket encounter, which turned into an epiphany: Cooking has become a spectator sport of Cooking Channel watching.

At the grocery store Flinn struck up a conversation with a woman loading up a basket full of processed food.  Flinn spent time cruising the aisles of the store with the woman and convinced her to put the packaged food back on the shelf and to try cooking with real food. The shopper later became a part of a group of nine women and a year-long project; teaching them cooking skills and how to make informed

Culinary Biographies is a biographical encyclopedia of gastronomy of about one hundred people, who had a major influence on the history of food. They are chefs and cookbook writers , nutritionists and doctors, farmers and restaurateurs. Many of the people listed in this book are known to us for their much greater achievements in other fields. Thus, Pythagoras' mathematical theories overshadow his vegetarian philosophy.  The book lists resources dating back to the 6th century and ending with contemporaries. It lists pioneer food scientists and food anthropologists of the Americas, Europe and