On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

3160 Pages·2017·7.38 MB·English

by  Harold Mcgee

SCRIBNER
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New York, NY 10020
Copyright © 1984, 2004 by Harold McGee
Illustrations copyright © 2004 by Patricia
Dorfman
Illustrations copyright © 2004 by Justin
Greene
Line drawings by Ann B. McGee
All rights reserved, including the right of
reproduction in whole
or in part in any form.
and design are trademarks of
SCRIBNER
Macmillan Library Reference USA, Inc.,
used under license by Simon & Schuster, the
publisher of this work.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2004058999
ISBN: 1-4165-5637-0
constitutes a continuation of the copyright
page.
Visit us on the World Wide Web:
http://www.SimonSays.com
To Soyoung and to my family
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Cooking and Science, 1984
and 2004
Chapter 1 Milk and Dairy Products
Chapter 2 Eggs
Chapter 3 Meat
Chapter 4 Fish and Shellfish
Edible Plants: An Introduction to
Chapter
Fruits and Vegetables, Herbs and
5
Spices
Chapter 6 A Survey of Common Vegetables
Chapter 7 A Survey of Common Fruits
Chapter Flavorings from Plants: Herbs and
8 Spices, Tea and Coffee
Chapter 9 Seeds: Grains, Legumes, and Nuts
Chapter Cereal Doughs and Batters: Bread,
10 Cakes, Pastry, Pasta
Chapter 11 Sauces
Chapter Sugars, Chocolate, and
12 Confectionery
Chapter 13 Wine, Beer, and Distilled Spirits
Chapter Cooking Methods and Utensil
14 Materials
Chapter 15 The Four Basic Food Molecules
Appendix: A Chemistry Primer
Selected References
Permissions
Acknowledgments
Along with many food writers today, I feel a
great debt of gratitude to Alan Davidson for
the way he brought new substance, scope, and
playfulness to our subject. On top of that, it
was Alan who informed me that I would have
to revise On Food and Cooking — before I’d
even held the first copy in my hands! At our
first meeting in 1984, over lunch, he asked me
what the book had to say about fish. I told him
that I mentioned fish in passing as one form
of animal muscle and thus of meat. And so
this great fish enthusiast and renowned
authority on the creatures of several seas
gently suggested that, in view of the fact that
fish are diverse creatures and their flesh very
unlike meat, they really deserve special and
extended attention. Well, yes, they really do.