Cooking for Geeks

Cooking for Geeks

Title: Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food
Author: Jeff Potter
Publisher: O'Reilly Media

ISBN-10: 9780596805883
ISBN-13: 978-0596805883

Like many of the non-fiction books that I read, this book was brought to my attention through the Skeptically Speaking podcast.  Basically, it is a book about food science.  While it does contain several recipes, it is not simply a recipe book.  It is more geared towards people who are interested in how the food we eat, becomes the food we eat.  So instead of simply saying something to the effect of "bake on the middle rack at 180 C for 30 minutes", it will tell you what is happening while it is baking for 30 minutes.  It discusses the chemical compounds and their interactions while baking, it will discuss what is happening in the leavening process, it will discuss why a steak tastes so good, when cooked medium rare.

While I did come away with quite a few tips for cooking, and I really liked learning about the chemistry behind the cooking, I don't think that there is much I would use this book for now that I have completed reading it.  The only thing that I might do, is refer back to it if I decide to wing it while baking.  (e.g. referring to the acidity/alkaline nature of fruits/veggies, and what will happen when I combine them).

I think that this book would be quite interesting for people who like figuring out how things work, rather than simply following instructions.  Actually, within the book itself, it pretty much says that it is geared towards hackers.

Long story short (too late), I liked the book, but it wouldn't be for everyone.