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New book - recommendation

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    New book - recommendation

    Looking to possibly purchase another book, and I'm kind of between a test kitchen book or The Food Lab.which one do you prefer? I hear that Kenji name mentioned in here often, I am a paid member of the Test kitchen- cooks- etc website (magazine) already.

    #2
    One of my favorites:

    Click image for larger version

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    Comment


    • gcdmd
      gcdmd commented
      Editing a comment
      Please see my comment on the next post below.
      Last edited by gcdmd; August 30, 2019, 09:26 AM.

    • pkadare
      pkadare commented
      Editing a comment
      Given that the book is still in print and that the Kindle version is $19.00 I'd bet that the eBay version is pirated. PDFs can be used to spread all kinds of nasty malware. If none of that matters to you, you can get it for free. Just search for "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat PDF" on Google. Not going to post the link here.

    • Richard Chrz
      Richard Chrz commented
      Editing a comment
      I will look into this one too, it has been recommended many times here. I could not stand the Netflix show, but, that could have been her personality just did not work for me to watch.

    #3
    The Food Lab book for sure. Kenji is amazing and like Meathead, with him, it is all about the science and rigorous and repeated testing.

    Comment


    • gcdmd
      gcdmd commented
      Editing a comment
      In an abundance of caution I have decided to remove the questionable links. Thank you, Sir, for your heads up on the matter.
      Last edited by gcdmd; August 30, 2019, 09:25 AM.

    • pkadare
      pkadare commented
      Editing a comment
      Also likely pirated. I'd prefer that the author get something for their effort.

    • Histrix
      Histrix commented
      Editing a comment
      Zero doubt those ebay pdf's are just a pirated version. Let your conscience be your guide.

      Without seeing one I can't tell if they are just made from a converted Kindle version which had the DRM stripped away or if they are a scanned print version.
      Last edited by Histrix; August 29, 2019, 02:29 PM.

    #4
    I would lean slightly to klflowers recommendation. It gets into the why’s & how’s without getting into molecules & stuff.
    How’s that for a scientific answer.

    PS. I have both & both are good.
    Last edited by FireMan; August 29, 2019, 08:46 PM.

    Comment


      #5
      I have The Food Lab and like it a lot.

      Comment


      • RonB
        RonB commented
        Editing a comment
        + 1

      #6
      Originally posted by Richard Chrz View Post
      Looking to possibly purchase another book, and I'm kind of between a test kitchen book or The Food Lab.which one do you prefer? I hear that Kenji name mentioned in here often, I am a paid member of the Test kitchen- cooks- etc website (magazine) already.
      Of the choices you mention I would say neither.

      Since you are a paying member of the ATK empire you already have access to everything they offer. I've bought a few ATK books over the years but I always have a feeling that there is a lot of overlap in all the books they release. Good books nonetheless. The last one I bought was their Mediterranean cookbook a couple years ago.

      Food Lab is a good book and I bought a copy mainly to throw some money to Kenji as thanks for his efforts over the years but... pretty much everything in the book is on the Serious Eats website.

      Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is a good book but before you buy it you might want to watch the video series (Netflix or Amazon - don't recall which offhand). And she makes available a lot of the recipes on her website.

      Comment


      • Richard Chrz
        Richard Chrz commented
        Editing a comment
        Agree to the websites, and like you, i like to support the efforts as well when it comes to a book or free info on a site, much like a paid membership here. I found the free side after about 3 or 4 articles to be worth what I had already learnrd.

      #7
      I have the Food Lab and Test Kitchen Cookbooks. Use info on this site 95% of the time.

      Comment


        #8
        I'm down with Kenji but haven't read that book. I also like ATK but again don't have any of their books.
        Last edited by Attjack; August 29, 2019, 10:30 PM.

        Comment


          #9
          Naively, I thought that the copyright extended to the PDFs and that the authors still got a cut.

          I'm going to flag this post to see if the moderator would review the issue and remove my comments if necessary.

          Thanks to all for your input.

          Comment


          • MBMorgan
            MBMorgan commented
            Editing a comment
            You should be able to edit your posts/comments and just delete the links.

          • gcdmd
            gcdmd commented
            Editing a comment
            @MBMorgan
            Thank you. I just wanted to see where the moderators stood on the issue.

            Huskee
            Last edited by gcdmd; August 30, 2019, 04:31 AM.

          • Huskee
            Huskee commented
            Editing a comment
            Doesn't bother me, you posted a legitimate link to an eBay product that may or may not be legitimate. I don't know, do you? I would just echo all of the above caution to choose wisely if you decide to purchase and download something like that.

          #10
          Of the two books mentioned, I'd recommend The Food Lab without question. ATK is good but Kenji (much like Meathead ) does a much better job of communicating the "why's" along with the "what's" and "how's".

          Comment


            #11
            The food lab for sure. Most learning density of any cookbook I have (Meathead a close second).

            SFAH is good, but still perpetuates some myths and is long winded in sections. I learned less from that.

            Comment


              #12
              I have both, and personally I like ATK better. NOT because it's *better*, but I just like it better. I think it does a good job of explaining why. Kenji's Food Lab to me is a college course whereas ATK is more like AR, a high school course, palatable for the masses. It just skips the bio-chemistry and explains in layman's details. My perception, not that I'm right...

              Comment


                #13
                If you want a left field recommendation...

                The Laws of Cooking: And How To Break Them.



                Its a different look at flavors and how things work on the palate. Like Pizza and PBJ and basically the same thing. A fat, a fruit, and something to spread it all on.

                Between the two you’ve noted, Food Lab. If I can go a bit afield in the ATK family (post divorce), the original Milk Street book was great and I would not hesitate to get the new one.

                Comment


                • Murdy
                  Murdy commented
                  Editing a comment
                  "Milk Street: The New Home Cooking"

                  Was this the original you're referring to? Is it more a cooking guide (techniques and such) than a collection of recipes?

                • Potkettleblack
                  Potkettleblack commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Yes. Milk Street New Home Cooking. It’s a bit of a philosophy with a lot of recipes.

                #14
                I would included On Food & Cooking in the discussion, though I don't have Food Lab, so really can't compare them.

                Comment


                  #15
                  All this talk about cookbooks... Well, I like the science-based ones over the self-serving ones that should be titled, "this is how great I am." I flip through the recipes to get ideas, but many are too sophisticated for my budget.

                  Bbq books specifically are redundantly simple, or overly complicated. There needs to be more books on the why rather than the how; more books on the method rather than a list of instructions.

                  I don’t think it matters how you season any meat. Sure, someone is going to challenge me on that statement, but think of your humble beginnings. If you messed up a piece of meat it was undercooked or overcooked. It probably wasn’t too much cayenne pepper or too much salt. Mix any 6 spices from the average household’s cabinet, cook it right, and end up with a decent product. I repeat, the key is the cooking it right. What’s right? Whatever works for you is right, right? Now I’m the redundant one, I want more why, less how.

                  Debunking myths is especially pleasing to me. I think I’ll read meathead’s book again this weekend.

                  Comment


                  • Woodson
                    Woodson commented
                    Editing a comment
                    "probably wasn’t"

                    .

                  • Potkettleblack
                    Potkettleblack commented
                    Editing a comment
                    There are lots of ways to cook good food. There are lots of ways to mess up a good cook.
                    Since some folks taste things more intensely, you can definitely mess it up for them with the wrong spice in the wrong quantity. Mustard triggers my gag reflex.

                  • Woodson
                    Woodson commented
                    Editing a comment
                    You’re really dragging this out, aren’t ya. I never said any of that was wrong, this is a non-argument. Congratulations 🍾🎉🎊 the troll of the year prize goes to you. Have a bowl of alphabet soup and choke on the D. The stuff is bland and a little ketchupy, you should be able to tolerate it.

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