Cooking Modernist Cuisine

I have always been obsessed with the art and science of cooking and the modernist approach that chefs such as heston blumenthal, ferran adria, grant achatz and wylie dufresne have been taking for a while now. For years the only way to gain the knowledge of these chefs was through working with them at their restaurants as stagiers. But now, thanks to an amazing team of people who have published a monumentlal cookbook that covers all these modernist techniques you dont have to. This cookbook to end all cookbooks is called ‘Modernist Cuisine’.

About Modernist Cuisine:

A rev­o­lu­tion is under­way in the art of cook­ing. Just as French Impressionists upended cen­turies of tra­di­tion, Modernist cui­sine has in recent years blown through the bound­aries of the culi­nary arts. Borrowing tech­niques from the lab­o­ra­tory, pio­neer­ing chefs at world-renowned restau­rants such as elBulli, The Fat Duck, Alinea, and wd~50 have incor­po­rated a deeper under­stand­ing of sci­ence and advances in cook­ing tech­nol­ogy into their culi­nary art.
In Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young, and Maxime Bilet—scientists, inven­tors, and accom­plished cooks in their own right—have cre­ated a six-volume 2,400-page set that reveals science-inspired tech­niques for prepar­ing food that ranges from the oth­er­worldly to the sub­lime. The authors—and their 20-person team at The Cooking Lab—have achieved astound­ing new fla­vors and tex­tures by using tools such as water baths, homog­e­niz­ers, cen­trifuges, and ingre­di­ents such as hydro­col­loids, emul­si­fiers, and enzymes. It is a work des­tined to rein­vent cooking.
How do you make an omelet light and ten­der on the out­side, but rich and creamy inside? Or French fries with a light and fluffy inte­rior and a del­i­cate, crisp crust that doesn’t go soggy? Imagine being able to encase a mus­sel in a gelled sphere of its own sweet and briny juice. Or to cre­ate a silky-smooth pis­ta­chio cream made from noth­ing more than the nuts them­selves. Modernist Cuisine offers step-by-step, illus­trated instruc­tions, as well as clear expla­na­tions of how these tech­niques work. Through thou­sands of orig­i­nal pho­tographs and dia­grams, the lav­ishly illus­trated books make the sci­ence and tech­nol­ogy of the culi­nary arts clear and engag­ing. Stunning new pho­to­graphic tech­niques take the reader inside the food to see cook­ing in action all the way from micro­scopic meat fibers to an entire Weber grill in cross-section. You will view cooking—and eating—in a whole new light. A sam­pling of what you’ll discover:
Why plung­ing food in ice water doesn’t stop the cook­ing process;
When boil­ing cooks faster than steaming;
Why rais­ing the grill doesn’t lower the heat;
How low-cost pots and pans can per­form bet­ter than expen­sive ones;
Why bak­ing is mostly a dry­ing process;
Why deep-fried food tastes best and browns bet­ter when the oil is older;
How mod­ern cook­ing tech­niques can achieve ideal results with­out the per­fect tim­ing or good luck that tra­di­tional meth­ods demand.
Many invalu­able fea­tures include:
Insights into the sur­pris­ing sci­ence behind tra­di­tional food prepa­ra­tion meth­ods such as grilling, smok­ing, and stir-frying;
The most com­pre­hen­sive guide yet pub­lished on cook­ing sous vide, includ­ing the best options for water baths, pack­ag­ing mate­ri­als, and seal­ing equip­ment; cook­ing strate­gies; and trou­bleshoot­ing tips;
More than 250 pages on meat and seafood and 144 pages on fruits, veg­eta­bles, and grains, includ­ing dozens of para­met­ric recipes and step-by-step techniques;
Extensive chap­ters explain­ing how to achieve amaz­ing results by using mod­ern thick­en­ers, gels, emul­sions, and foams, includ­ing exam­ple recipes and many formulas;
Some 300 pages of new recipes for plated dishes suit­able for ser­vice at top-tier restau­rants, plus recipes adapted from mas­ter chefs includ­ing Grant Achatz, Ferran Adrià, Heston Blumenthal, David Chang, Wylie Dufresne, David Kinch, and many others.
From the pro­fes­sional chef to the home cook, Modernist Cuisine is an indis­pens­able guide for any­one who is pas­sion­ate about the art and sci­ence of cooking.
As I begin to read this epic cookbook I will be regularly updating this blog with things that I have learnt and will share recipes with you that I have had a go at from the book, although some of them will not be possible to take on without a number of specialist pieces of equipment which I am still in the process of purchasing, however I do have alot of it already such as sous vide water bath, vaccuum sealer, digital gram scales, mixers and high power blenders (all i need now is a centrifuge, a dehydrater, a homogenizer, a freeze drier, a spray drier, a gastrovac, an autoclave and a few other bits!!!!!)