Good Eats
by Alton Brown · first published 2009
82% recommend18% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Explains the science and reasoning behind cooking techniques rather than just demonstrating recipes; well suited to anyone who wants to understand why methods work, from beginners to people who cook regularly.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Award-winning Food Network TV series, Good Eats, goes from screen to page with this classic cookbook from Alton Brown, packed with all the tidbits, tricks, and science found in the show’s first six seasons.
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Alton Brown is the reason I started caring about food preparation. Good Eats is unlike most food shows in that its primary motivation is teaching the audience about food and the hows and whys of its preparation. I find that most food shows are about demonstrating individual, usually…
on “Cooking For Engineers: Step by Step Recipes and Food for the Analytically Minded” ↗…metaphor: if you have ever cooked food before, turning the stove up to its max will not make the food cook faster. (If you don't cook, I highly recommend picking up some basic skills, like from Alton Brown's Good Eats series; there are a lot of interesting life lessons coming out of the application of heat to food). So I have this knob in my life. I turn it one way and I can intensify the heat and pressure. I can…
on “The Powerlessness of Positive Thinking” ↗Alton Brown's 'Good Eats' television programs (now streamable) did a nice job explaining whys. His books are good too. 'Cooking For Geeks', mentioned in the thread is interesting here as well. Also consider Harold McGee's…
on “Cooking Patterns” ↗oh god, I don't think the only thing close is Alton Brown's good eats. It is the closest thing to food science classes you'll get that are general and simple to understand
on “The physics of baking good pizza” ↗…recipes. But often it's worth it for vastly superior results. That's why I liked Serious Eat's Food Lab where Kenji also breaks stuff down but in an accessible set of recipes. Similar to Alton Brown's Good Eats, also a great resource if you like understanding the chemistry going on in your cooking!
on “Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?” ↗…nice if he'd release a new edition of On Food and Cooking though. But as I understand it, it still holds up really well after all this time. Alton Brown is certainly another name I'd add to the mix. Good Eats was brilliant, and his I'm Only Here For The Food / More Food books are really good.
on “Kenji López-Alt Spent 5 Months Studying Chicago Thin-Crust Pizza” ↗Also: all the Alton Brown Good Eats books, and On Food and Cooking (McGee). Much of cooking is physics and chemistry. "The science of YUM"
on “Pasta Cooking Time” ↗I'll add the OG Good Eats by Alton Brown to your list
on “Ask HN: Cooking book/resource, expressed in terms of (Bio)Chemistry?” ↗…weekend reading "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan. The take away from that is the healthy eating is a systematic thing, not a matter of individual ingredients. Second, watch a lot of episodes of "Good Eats" on the Food Network.
on “Pizza And Ramen Are Hurting Your Startup” ↗…hard-boil a lot of eggs. The biggest effect on peel-ability: Start with boiling water, do not start the eggs in cold water. For years I started with cold water because that's what Alton Brown said to do in Good Eats. And for years the eggs were a pain to peel. When I read Kenji's article, I switched, and immediately eggs became much easier to peel. Night and day. No other factor comes close in terms of effect. Not…
on “Why are some egg yolks so orange?” ↗As a former professional cook, my advice has remained consistently "Watch every damn episode of Good Eats you can get your hands on." Alton Brown's recipes aren't always my preferred method, but he's an excellent teacher, and great at explaining the science and the "why" behind how cooking works instead…
on “What should I learn next as a programmer?” ↗There'a really funny chapter in "Good Eats" by Alton Brown where he has you make your own microwave popcorn (basically put unpopped kernels in a paper bag). It contains a long section on whether it's safe to use a staple to keep the popcorn bag…
on “I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)” ↗