The Inquisitive Cook

In a light, anecdotal, but highly informative style, seasoned cooking writers reveal the unexpected and always practical science of the kitchen. Covered are such subjects as the amazing alchemy of granules and powders, the astonishing egg, the effects on food of different cooking methods, the biology and psychology of flavor, the remarkable chemistry of doughs, spices, and much, much more. Amusing anecdotes, sidebars and illustrations en-liven the text. Throughout, there are "cook's queries," quick tips, and even recipes that will delight anyone interested in becoming a more knowledgable cook.

Presents information on the role of the principles of science in culinary preparation. Offers access to articles, an online bookstore, a question-and-answer section, and a discussion area. Provides information on free software available. Includes information about the weekly column, "The Inquisitive Cook," written by Anne Gardiner and Sue Wilson.

Presents recipes ranging in difficulty with the science and technology-minded cook in mind, providing the science behind cooking, the physiology of taste, and the techniques of molecular gastronomy.

Alex Talbot and Aki Kamozawa, husband-and-wife chefs and the forces behind the popular blog Ideas in Food, have made a living out of being inquisitive in the kitchen. Their book shares the knowledge they have gleaned from numerous cooking adventures, from why tapioca flour makes a silkier chocolate pudding than the traditional cornstarch or flour to how to cold smoke just about any ingredient you can think of to impart a new savory dimension to everyday dishes. Perfect for anyone who loves food, Ideas in Food is the ideal handbook for unleashing creativity, intensifying flavors, and pushing one’s cooking to new heights. This guide, which includes 100 recipes, explores questions both simple and complex to find the best way to make food as delicious as possible. For home cooks, Aki and Alex look at everyday ingredients and techniques in new ways—from toasting dried pasta to lend a deeper, richer taste to a simple weeknight dinner to making quick “micro stocks” or even using water to intensify the flavor of soups instead of turning to long-simmered stocks. In the book’s second part, Aki and Alex explore topics, such as working with liquid nitrogen and carbon dioxide—techniques that are geared towards professional cooks but interesting and instructive for passionate foodies as well. With primers and detailed usage guides for the pantry staples of molecular gastronomy, such as transglutaminase and hydrocolloids (from xanthan gum to gellan), Ideas in Food informs readers how these ingredients can transform food in miraculous ways when used properly. Throughout, Aki and Alex show how to apply their findings in unique and appealing recipes such as Potato Chip Pasta, Root Beer-Braised Short Ribs, and Gingerbread Soufflé. With Ideas in Food, anyone curious about food will find revelatory information, surprising techniques, and helpful tools for cooking more cleverly and creatively at home.

Rumors of a ghost lure beginning reporter Brandy O'Bannon to a mansion on an isolated Florida lake and into an investigation that leads to a forty-five year old skeleton, a concealed murder, and an unexpected romance. As Brandy searches for answers, she questions eccentric suspects and tries to help an intriguing young architect save the century-old home from developers. Hidden emotions boil to the surface when she unravels events at the house during a fatal, long-ago celebration. As she closes in on the truth, she becomes a target for the killer. After escaping threats and attacks with the help of the conflicted architect, who opposes her investigation, and her golden retriever, she devises a daring plan to trap the murderer. It almost costs Brandy her life, but her scheme solves the mysteries of both murder and ghost by exposing the secret of the house.

Sunday Times Bestseller It’s a national icon, a British institution, the finest grocer of them all. Fortnum & Mason is a store that has fuelled the tide of British history, fed the appetites of kings and queens, maharajahs and czars, emperors, dukes and divas alike.

No Experience Necessary is Chef Norman Van Aken’s joyride of a memoir. In it he spans twenty-plus years and nearly as many jobs—including the fateful job advertisement in the local paper for a short-order cook with “no experience necessary.” Long considered a culinary renegade and a pioneering chef, Van Aken is an American original who chopped and charred, sweated and seared his way to cooking stardom with no formal training, but with extra helpings of energy, creativity, and faith. After landing on the deceptively breezy shores of Key West, Van Aken faced hurricanes, economic downturns, and mercurial moneymen during the decades when a restaurant could open and close faster than you can type haute cuisine. From a graveyard shift grunt at an all-night barbeque joint to a James Beard–award finalist for best restaurant in America, Van Aken put his trusting heart, poetic soul, natural talent, and ever-expanding experience into every venture—and helped transform the American culinary landscape along the way. In the irreverent tradition of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential,and populated by a rogues’ gallery of colorful characters—including movie stars, legendary musicians, and culinary giants Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, and Charlie Trotter—No Experience Necessary offers a uniquely personal, highly-entertaining under-the-tablecloth view of the high-stakes world of American cuisine told with wit, insight, and great affection by a natural storyteller.

*SHORTLISTED for the 2021 Gourmand World Cookbook Award* *SHORTLISTED for the 2022 Taste Canada Award for Single-Subject Cookbooks* A sustainable lifestyle starts in the kitchen with these use-what-you-have, spend-less-money recipes and tips, from the friendly voice behind @ZeroWasteChef. In her decade of living with as little plastic, food waste, and stuff as possible, Anne-Marie Bonneau, who blogs under the moniker Zero-Waste Chef, has preached that "zero-waste" is above all an intention, not a hard-and-fast rule. Because, sure, one person eliminating all their waste is great, but thousands of people doing 20 percent better will have a much bigger impact. And you likely already have all the tools you need to begin. In her debut book, Bonneau gives readers the facts to motivate them to do better, the simple (and usually free) fixes to ease them into wasting less, and finally, the recipes and strategies to turn them into self-reliant, money-saving cooks and makers. Rescue a hunk of bread from being sent to the landfill by making Mexican Hot Chocolate Bread Pudding, or revive some sad greens to make a pesto. Save 10 dollars (and the plastic tub) at the supermarket with Yes Whey, You Can Make Ricotta Cheese, then use the cheese in a galette and the leftover whey to make sourdough tortillas. With 75 vegan and vegetarian recipes for cooking with scraps, creating fermented staples, and using up all your groceries before they go bad--including end-of-recipe notes on what to do with your ingredients next--Bonneau lays out an attainable vision for a zero-waste kitchen.

The creator and host of Food Network’s Good Eats updates his award-winning primer on essential cooking techniques—now with fifteen new recipes! First published in 2002, Alton Brown’s I'm Just Here For the Food received the James Beard Foundation/KitchenAid Book Award for best reference book. This revised and updated edition features fifteen brand-new recipes, along with everything that made the original a classic kitchen instruction manual. Each of the book’s fifteen sections is a mini-master class on a given cooking method—from pan searing to pressure cooking, stewing, steaming, and more. And each includes a "master" recipe that epitomizes the technique along with a selection of recipes that demonstrate its range. Plus Brown shares a plethora of fascinating food facts, history, lore, and science.