Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking

Hervé This

nov 2007 · Columbia University Press

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“This’s molecular gastronomy is garnished with [his] own rich philosophy of food and flavor” in a book that reveals the science behind everyday cooking (Nature).

In Kitchen Mysteries, Hervé This—international celebrity and founder of molecular gastronomy—offers a second helping of his world-renowned insight into the science of cooking, answering such fundamental questions as what causes vegetables to change color when cooked and how to keep a soufflé from falling. He illuminates abstract concepts with practical advice and concrete examples—for instance, how sautéing in butter chemically alters the molecules of mushrooms—so that cooks of every stripe can thoroughly comprehend the scientific principles of food. 

By sharing the empirical principles chefs have valued for generations, Hervé This adds another dimension to the suggestions of cookbook authors. He shows how to adapt recipes to available ingredients and how to modify proposed methods to the utensils at hand. His revelations make difficult recipes easier to attempt and allow for even more creativity and experimentation. Promising to answer your most compelling kitchen questions, Hervé This continues to make the complex science of food digestible to the cook.

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

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

“[An] eye-opening book.”—Portsmouth Herald

“Kitchen Mysteries is another tour de force for the French scientific chef . . . Highly Recommended.”—Choice

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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 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.