On Food and Cooking: the Science and Lore of the Kitchen

Collier Books/Macmillan, New York, 1988.. Very Good/Unknown. Octavo, softcover, light wear to cover else near fine in red and green wraps. This treasure house of a volume has established itself with all food lovers, chefs, and armchair scientist as the one work that combines culinary lore and lucid scientific explanations into a superbly readable, authoritative book with delightful prose that renders the everyday miracles of the kitchen wondrous and fascinating, shedding light on conundrums that have confounded cooks for generations. Generously spiced with historical and literary anecdotes, discusses all the major food categories, from meat and potatoes to sauce and bearnaise and champagne. Classic in gastronomic writing. True to the title, the volume is an excursion into both science and lore of the art of cooking and eating. Spiced with annecdotes, chemistry of everyday miracles of the kitchen, embellished with illustrations, including startling photographs of food taken through an electron microscope, 684 pp. including index.