Modernist cuisine
by Nathan Myhrvold · first published 2011
40% recommend56% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
Science-driven, deeply detailed multi-volume reference on cooking methods, with niche topics like hydrocolloids and food safety plus striking cutaway photography; suits engineers and serious cooks who want the why.
Common criticism: Very expensive, priced around $600
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
An overview of the techniques of modern gastronomy. 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. The authors and their 20 person team at The Cooking Lab have achieved new flavors and textures by using tools such as water baths, homogenizers, centrifuges, and ingredients such as hydrocolloids, emulsifiers, and enzymes.
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…gear he recommends but it made cooking fun for me and helped my wife go from an amateur enthusiast to someone who can hold their own with professional chefs. I'm very lucky:) [1] http://www.amazon.com/Modernist-Cuisine-Home-Nathan-Myhrvold...
on “Recipe for a Better Oven” ↗Relatedly, Myhrvold did actually make a really genuinely huge contribution to cuisine with his gigantic ubercookbook Modernist Cuisine, and so it makes me sad that he turns out to be a bloodsucking asshole by trade.
on “Intellectual Ventures on This American Life” ↗…Food and Cooking by Harold McGee, is perhaps one of the more interesting books on food science that is not a cook book. It's not something that you would read straight through, but great none the less. Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold is perhaps the most beautiful group of cook books, although quite pricey. Professional Goldsmithing by Alan Revere is hands down one of the best books on jewelry fabrication in precious…
on “Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?” ↗Add to his accomplishments a serious cookbook. http://www.amazon.com/Modernist-Cuisine-Art-Science-Cooking/...
on “Myhrvold: $700M in licensing revenue in 2010, $2B to date” ↗Parts of his present are still impressive, perhaps even admirable: http://www.amazon.com/Modernist-Cuisine-Art-Science-Cooking/... Now if he'd just dissolve IV and concentrate on the cooking...
on “World's leading patent troll sues Motorola over Android phones” ↗I'm so conflicted with Myhrvold: I hate Intellectual Ventures and what they do with the passion of a thousand suns, but Modernist Cuisine is an incredible and seminal work of art and science. The modernist methods for BBQ do consistently produce a great que, but throwing a butt on an egg slow and low tastes just about as good and takes…
on “Harvard engineering students devise BBQ smoker” ↗Modernist Cuisine a good option for “cooking for engineers”. It was actually made by a former CTO of microsoft, Nathan Myhrvold.
on “Woodworking for Engineers” ↗Modernist Cuisine and Modernist Bread by Nathan Myhrvold. And pretty much any formal chef education.
on “Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)” ↗A decent start: https://www.amazon.ca/Science-Good-Cooking-Cooks-Illustrated... The next step: https://www.amazon.ca/Modernist-Cuisine-Art-Science-Cooking/...
on “Ask HN: How Do You Learn How to Cook Well(Michelin Star Level)?” ↗Cooks Illustrated rocks. If you want to go deep on modernist stuff, of course this is a classic: https://www.amazon.com/Modernist-Cuisine-Art-Science-Cooking...
on “MasterClass is seizing its moment” ↗I’m thinking maybe the five volumes of Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold et al would fit this bill. Haven’t read it myself but it seems very interesting. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernist_Cuisine
on “Ask HN: Cooking book/resource, expressed in terms of (Bio)Chemistry?” ↗…skillet in an over on 200F until it is done to your liking. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/dining/seared-frozen-rib-s... They are fairly expensive as far as cookbooks go, but the book collection Modernist Cuisine is the state of the art. The recipe above is an adaptation of their technique. You will be hard pressed to create a better steak without years of practice in various techniques. There is another technique…
on “Ask HN: How best to cook a steak?” ↗…probably be good for much of HN's audience. It is much more of a cooking "textbook" than most cookbooks. It explains what you are doing and why you do it instead of just a big list of recipes. There is also Modernist Cuisine but those are really pricey. These books tackle the “science” side of cooking rather than your recommendation’s history side. Both are, of course, excellent approaches and are much better than your standard…
on “The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’” ↗…slab of steak/lamb/bird/fish but often the chef decides on something familiar tried and true. There's plenty of room to explore with side dishes, soups, salads, curries. I highly recommend the book "Modernist Cuisine". It does an amazing job of breaking down cooking methods though photography, history, and scientific explanations of the physics of heat distribution from various sources and equipment. [1] [1] http://modernistcuisine.com/
on “Why are all the 'good' restaurants starting to look the same?” ↗Some other books that might be more practical than The Modernist Cuisine: The Food Lab by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nostrat Ratio by Michael Ruhlman
on “The Why of Cooking (2017)” ↗