The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

Along with Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat (HIGHLY recommended), this book TEACHES you how to cook. This is so important if you want to learn how to cook and not rely on following recipes word for word. Kenji has the knowledge and science to back his opinions and the work he has done to make this book is insane. Just the right amount of "chefiness" and real world kitchens and home cooks. Honestly with this and Salt Fat Acid Heat, you can become a very good cook.

Bought as a requested gift so I can't stop and read the entire book, but wow this one is something else entirely. There is so much detailed information on even the smallest aspect of cooking, and so much that is useful to learn. I love the section on how simply to boil a perfect egg, and not have the white stick to the shell when trying to peel it! The answer to my prayers lol. There are some comments about units used in the book, and having to use Google to convert them for instance, but to be fair there are conversion tables on the inside cover so it's all there. The unit subject always comes up in American cookbooks, and you'd think that wanting to sell them worldwide would make them wake up and realise they should always use both sets of measurements throughout a book, but until they do remember that most of the world use metric, we're going to have to ignore their little eccentricities. The book in this case at least makes it worth that effort!

I was so surprised when this book arrived -- considerably larger than I expected, packed full of amazing information, beautiful photography and written in a cheerful, self-deprecating style that makes it fun as well as informative to read. The sections on eggs, steaks and roasts are particularly interesting to me and have definitely changed how I make even the most basic of things (salting eggs before omelettes etc.!). The recipes are basic but aimed at highlighting the techniques and differences rather than highlighting anything particularly culinary and as such are a perfect complement to the techniques discussed. My only gripe is that this book -- a book that talks about precise measurements and obviously aimed at an international audience -- uses archiac, out-dated and imprecise measuring units that are only used in Liberia, Myanmar and the US. What's quart?! Why are "cups" used for items that should be measured by mass? He even states himself (p.501) that you should use the metric system for a variety of reasons -- would have loved to have seen him follow his own advice, as this would save the rest of the world doing manual conversions on each recipe! Thankfully, I keep my Alexa in the kitchen... Even with this frustration, it isn't enough to detract from the huge effort that has gone into this book. 5 stars!

This book is big and bulky. However, it's quality and quantity in one with really nice recipes, as well as the science behind the processes. Nice hard cover with glossy pages that are sown in for durability. I don't think that they'll be detaching over time and use. It's full of interesting information, thorough explanations and super photos. You can curl up with it on the couch and read for hours. Recipes, so far, have not disappointed. The spatchcock chicken was the best oven roasted bird that I've ever made. The gooey mac n' cheese is do die for! It's organized by universal cooking techniques for mainly savory foods. There isn't a dessert section, which I don't mind at all. Love the author's sense of humor. Over the years, I've had questions about cooking and foods that have gone unanswered, even after searching on the web. However, here and there, I find an answer to something that I've wondered about in the past. This book ties up lots of loose ends! Well worth the money.

This book is fantastic. I have bought copies for myself, my sister, my girlfriend and my mum. I love it. They love it. Its amazing and its the first book that I recommend to anyone who wants to fall in love with cooking. This is the perfect book for you if: 1) You want to understand the reasons behind the cooking processes that you use, rather than just following along and doing what you're told. 2) You are a little bit "sciencey" and enjoy the idea of applying that in the kitchen. 3) You want a cook book that is a combination of science, readable anecdotes, and delicious recipes. 4) You demand that recipes work, use ingredients that you can find, are accompanied by pictures that draw you in, and require step-by-step instructions in the kitchen. This is not to say that this is all you will ever need to cook out of, but it is a brilliant base to understand your food, cook delicious dishes from, and spark a love of cooking. Things to be aware of: 1) This book leans towards american cooking 2) This book doesn't contain any baking/dessert recipes 3) This book is big. And i mean BIG. This isn't a draw back for me but my girlfriend struggles with the weight of it a bit. I really can't recommend this book highly enough and hope that you buy it and enjoy it as much as I do!!

Got it as a gift for my sister came in really good condition but I never would’ve predicted how heavy and thick it ended up being. Great gift as it covers so many parts of cooking

After hearing an interview with J Kenji López-Alt on Freakonomics podcast I was fascinated by the backstory - combining science and food is always going to win me over - so this was an easy purchase to justify. It both is and isn't a cookbook. There are some great recipes in here, but it's not really a book to flick through to find something to eat. Rather, I find the recipes put into practice the theory explained in the pages around them. For example, there are 30 pages of text and diagrams on steaks: salting, searing, ageing, resting, cooking methods etc. Then, a couple of steak recipes, then another couple pages on more cooking techniques, another recipe featuring those techniques and so on. Why this works for me is I love to know what's going on in the food, why it's happening, and how that changes the final product. For instance, the recipe tells me to roast the beef at a low temperature before finally searing at a high temperature - and you can just follow the recipe and get the result - but by reading the preceding pages you can learn about how the ordering of the cooking temperatures affects the result, and why. Understanding those principles and processes helps me think about other recipes in a new way. (If you're going to buy this book, you're going to want an instant read, digital probe thermometer, and probably measuring cups, and kitchen scales with imperial measurements. As mentioned in other reviews, recipes are US, but that works for me, having lived there.) It is big, and it is heavy - 2.75kg / 6lbs. It's too heavy to comfortably hold to read through on a lap, and it's also too big to fit my cookbook stand. It's for this reason that I give it 4 stars rather than 5. It's an effort to use this book, but it's so, so worth that effort.

This is probably the best cookery book I've ever bought. The writing is clear, witty, and to the point. The amount of effort underlying the book - research, trial and error, experimentation - is huge (the picture showing boiled eggs between 0 and 12 minutes, for instance, shows how obsessive the author is). I've tried many of the recipes, and they all work brilliantly - some of the best meals I've managed to date. The book includes sections on technique, on new ways to achieve common goals, and the photography is really useful.

A fabulous book for those wanting a deeper understanding of the science of all things cooking related. Written in an easy to digest manner, this is a reference book t which you will constantly use. Not a can’t put it down read that you use once and put away.

VERY USEFUL

Recipes are delicious. I love that he explains why certain actions get certain outcomes so you can apply different techniques to other dishes, not just the recipes in the book. Great cookbook!

I think this works best for a cook who doesn't really like following recipes, but would be more comfortable experimenting based on a good bit of science backed knowledge. In just a few reads I've mastered omelets, made perfect steaks, and figured out so many tips and tricks that are now second nature to my cooking across so many dishes. I would HIGHLY recommend!

This book is absolutely brilliant, and Kenji is just amazing. I'm a recent fan of Serious Eats, finding it pop up more often in recent recipe searches. Following the link, it was always a well-written article by Kenji, entertaining and ALWAYS scientific and logical, culminating in the recipe and comments by many of his undoubted loyal followers. (Kenji, if you're reading this, your Gyros loaf recipe is the holy grail of gyros loaf recipes and you instantly became my new culinary hero. I sub salt pork for the bacon though and it's flawless!) I saw an ad for this book in the margins on Serious Eats and IMMEDIATELY bought it. It is a monster tomb of information that is as well-written and entertaining as it is chock full of recipes, techniques, and helpful information. I bought a recipe book and got SO much more. Kenji is a gifted writer as well as a culinary explorer, obviously an intellectual, yet down to earth author who's created a cullinary reference book that is as easy to read as it is to just reference for a specific. I am among many things a chef, and have been cooking for decades. I was really drawn to Alton Brown's scientific approach to cooking and enjoyed his reign, learned and refined a lot of things due to his contributions . . . BUT MOVE OVER ALTON, there's a new culinary hero in town and his name is Kenji!! Regardless of what your cullinary acumen is (or you THINK it is), this book has an immense wealth of technique, direction, and most importantly, knowledge . . . new ideas and methods on many, many classics and essentials, tested in scientific method yet explained in an entertaining and "everyman" style. When you stop learning, when you think you know everything, you become obsolete eventually. This fantastic book is a tribute to that, perhaps owing it's very existence to an author who subscribes to this very concept, and we are blessed to have him. I was up until 6am laying in bed reading the book from the first page. Yes, it's that good. I HIGHLY recommend this book for both seasoned chefs and those new to the culinary calling. A beginning cook can easily access information that will almost instantly make you a better cook. Kenji explains his approach to cooking and in doing so, how to free yourself from many of the conventional ties and notions which keep cooks from learning "how to cook", and instead just follow a recipe. The book itself is very well organized and a great deal of thought went into how it was done. The indexing is thorough, and the recipes are fantastic as they begin with many basics; how to cook eggs, how to cook a steak, etc, and move into more advanced recipes using those techniques. It is a very educational book with a great deal of new techniques and approaches to creating both simple and complex foods and dishes with professional results, all written in very accessible fashion. I still can't believe what a value this book is. The physical quality of the book is absolutely top notch, it's darn near as thick and heavy as my Larousse Gastronomique!!! Just TRY to read the first 100 pages of THAT tome and stay awake!! If you are on the fence, come on down and BUY THIS BOOK!! Truly my new favorite cookbook, and I can't wait to go spend some time on Serious Eats too!! Thanks Kenji!!! This book is truly a treasure, and so are you!