What Einstein Told His Cook

[thoreau]

Dave gave me a copy of "What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained" by Robert Wolke. I've been enjoying it.

Wolke is a professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh and a food columnist for The Washington Post. So the book is a "best of" his columns about the science and chemistry of food. For those of you that are fans of Alton Brown - its like "Good Eats" without a goofy sense of humor. I have to say I prefer the goofy sense of humor vs. a lecture on the different kinds of salt and how they affect cooking. Wolke had a good editor though - because he follows most sections up with good recipes with some solid advice on how to avoid catastrophic fuckups in the kitchen when experimenting.

I'd recommend the book for cooks and chefs - but not necessarily for a foodie. Meaning - a cook or chef would enjoy the research and attention to detail (the book is broken down into subcategories like "salt, fat, sugar, hot & cold, liquids. so it reads like a science reference vs. a book about food. so for a foodie that doesn't cook I suspect this book would be droll and sleep-inducing. but for me - it's a lot of fun - and I've learned a lot.

This book is as close as you could get to a book that brings David's mind and my mind together. David the relentless scientist/mathematician and me - the "I wonder what happens if I do this?" experimenter in the kitchen.

Anyways - I'm am about 3/4 of the way through and give it a solid recommend... :)