Modernist cuisine
An overview of the techniques of modern gastronomy. Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young, and Maxime Bilet -- scientists, inventors, and accomplished cooks in their own right -- have created a six-volume 2,400 page set that reveals science-inspired techniques for preparing food. The authors and their 20 person team at The Cooking Lab have achieved new flavors and textures by using tools such as water baths, homogenizers, centrifuges, and ingredients such as hydrocolloids, emulsifiers, and enzymes.
Stats for nerds
18recommend
50mentions
45people
2010–2026years
36% recommend60% neutral4% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- The good thing about Modernist Cuisine is that it goes deep into some niche topics (gelling and hydrocolloids, food safety, etc etc), so if you like that kind of thing (and crazy photography of sliced in half stuff), it's great.
In terms of recipes, some have mentioned it but it's barely practical, even if you like spending hours reproducing recipes from Michelin stars restaurant books. There are a few gems, like the truffle Arzak eggs done sous vide, but most of the time you don't find much. You'll have more fun with an El Bulli book if that's what you're looking for.
The at home version is a lot more practical but is also a bit dated at this point imo. The mac and cheese with sodium citrate is a good example of what to expect.
If we put aside Myhrvold (...), there's a lot of extremely talented chefs that worked on it (Chris Young worked at The Fat Duck during it's peak popularity). Some of them started a site called chefsteps a while back which tried to get a bit more practical yet still have some nice stuff. They do have a pretty useful chart (https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/a-map-of-sous-vide-cook...) that serves as a good reminder if you do sous vide regularly but never quite remember the temps. Their macaron course is also particularly on point.
The site has been bought by Breville (I think ?) and it's not super clear at this point how much they will still push content but it's still a cool ressource if you like that kind of cooking.
- I’m thinking maybe the five volumes of Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold et al would fit this bill. Haven’t read it myself but it seems very interesting.
- Modernist Cuisine is one I highly recommend.
- On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee, is perhaps one of the more interesting books on food science that is not a cook book. It's not something that you would read straight through, but great none the less.
Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold is perhaps the most beautiful group of cook books, although quite pricey.
Professional Goldsmithing by Alan Revere is hands down one of the best books on jewelry fabrication in precious metals.
- Modernist Cuisine and Modernist Bread by Nathan Myhrvold.
And pretty much any formal chef education.
- He may be a scumbag patent troll, but Modernist Cuisine was a hugely important work in the food world. The techniques and recipes in it are most certainly used all the time in professional kitchens. It's a 600 dollar book for restaurants that are charging 250 pre fixes. Alot of the equiptment used in it are super common these days, immersion circulators, combi ovens, vacuum sealers etc.
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