A Practical Primer
Customer Rating: 
On the objectionable side, the use of scientific terms at various places in this book tends to suffocate the reader. The chapter about meat, for example, includes names of various muscle groups (e.g. semimembranosus, rectus femoris, etc.) which I believe does nothing to enhance the reader's understanding of the material. These may, in fact, discourage many people from reading the book at all.
On the positive side, this book provides a solid foundation for learning what is happening during the cooking process and why certain foods react as they do to the stresses of cooking. It includes not only suggestions on what to do, but also identifies processes and practices to avoid during the cooking routine. I'd suggest reading this book once to become familiar with what it offers. Then, read it a second time and stop at the end of each chapter to prepare a few of the recipes you will find there. This helps reinforce the learning experience, one chapter at a time. By the end of the second reading and practical experience of preparing the recipes, the reader will be well on his/her way to being a much better cook.
Delicious even without the ketchup ...
Customer Rating: This book has a split personality:
1. It is one part recipe book (we tried some of the recipes; they turned out perfectly each time). For instance, salmon served with cucumber salad was *unbelievable*. Even after eating salmon at various multi-star restaurants, I have to say this was by far the tastiest (and simplest) preparation.
2. It is one part "manual"; full of tips and "how tos". For instance, it tells you that using all fresh oil for frying will not give your fried food the desired crisp, golden finish. You need to mix in some used oil.
3. It is one part "science". This part seemed occasionally suspect. But, what the heck; I didn't buy the book for the science.
Overall, a very readable and informative book. And if you actually like trying out new recipes, then this is a sure-fire winner.
Entertaining and Informative
Customer Rating: This book is an introduction to practical kitchen science. Parsons has organized it topically, with chapters on oils and frying, storage and processing of plant foods, the chemistry and cooking of eggs, starches and sauces, meat and heat, and baking. At the end of each chapter is a short collection of recipes chosen to illustrate the salient points of the chapter. The book includes an index, but no references.
The book isn't as comprehensive as some kitchen science books, but it is
very engaging and easy to read. Because it was interesting as well as informative, I found that the information presented in this book was much easier to remember than information from other similar kitchen science books such as Hillman's "The New Kitchen Science."
Parsons presents a very sound argument for buying local fruit--fruits that are grown and picked for shipment are generally picked green, before they develop the sweetness or other strong aromatic flavors that could be characteristic of the fruit. Commercial varieties of long-haul fruits are bred for their ability to withstand the hazards of shipment, not for flavor. In general, his explanations of complicated kitchen chemistry, such as protein changes with emulsifiers or baking, are quite easy to follow as well as fascinating.
I'll Read It, But I Won't Eat It
Customer Rating: It's telling that Russ Parsons titles his book with the one food that's on virtually no one's diet: The French Fry. Now that the forbidden fruit has got my attention, I am deep frying myself in this compendium. I read all the food science books and get something from each one, but I like Parsons' way of putting things. For example, he entitles a chapter "fat, flour, and fear," the fear relating to failure or perhaps a piecrust. This is smart, because this kind of thing happens. Food science helps, with a good dose of hands-on experience. As Parsons tells us: "The only way to learn how to make a good piecrust is to make enough bad ones..." Of course, we knew that already, but it helps seeing it repeated in a science context. Applying the science is the key.
Food writer Elliot Essman's other reviews and food articles are available at www.stylegourmet.com
One of the Best Popular Books on Food Science
Customer Rating: Russ Parsons is a `Los Angeles Times' culinary columnist originally hired by Ruth Reichl who, with Shirley Corriher (`Cookwise'), Alton Brown (TV's `Good Eats'), and Robert Volker (`What Einstein Told His Cook') work at explaining cooking to us all. I have not read Corriher's very highly regarded book, but I would give Parsons the highest regard when compared to Brown and Volker when looking at what they do in common. To anticipate any thoughts that I am overlooking Harold McGee, I believe McGee's book `On Food and Cooking' is literally in a class of its own, from which all of these other authors have probably borrowed.
While Brown and Volker give scientific explanations of culinary phenomena, with Brown's chapters in `I'm Only Here for the Food' being somewhat deeper than Volker's question and answer format, Parsons is looking at culinary facts from a much broader point of view. It is as if all three understand food and all three have good scientific explanations for food facts, but only Parsons understands SCIENCE. Alton Brown gives an excellent metaphor for science in describing what he does as drawing a roadmap of a neighborhood (of custards, for example) rather than simply giving step by step instructions as one would when writing out the method for a recipe. Brown, however, seems constantly constrained by the limits of a 30-minute `Good Eats' episode or of a book chapter on braising.
Parsons addresses the whole field of food science from the other direction. He doesn't talk about what causes meat to brown (and why this tastes so good) or how simmering in water creates gelatin in stocks, or how the barbecue method is so good at producing tender meat from tough primals. Instead, he talks about MEAT, its composition, and how it reacts, in general, to heat, and what the variations are from chicken to pork to veal to beef to lamb. From these, we can see the similarities between, for example, barbecue and braising. This is what science is all about. Explaining individual facts without an underlying theory becomes nothing more than description. Alton Brown uses the theory to explain the facts. Russ Parsons talks about the theory, with facts as examples of how the theory works.
What so frustrates me about the clarity with which Parsons writes is that in spite of this, TV food show hosts continue to perpetuate myths about cooking like the one about searing meat is done to `seal in the juices'. Both Parsons and McGee have refuted this statement, yet some Food Network hosts make that statement over and over. I think all people who make their living by writing or speaking about food should be required to take a good chemistry course, followed by a food science course before they are let loose with word processor or microphone. But I digress.
Parsons' book is composed of six essays, each on some basic aspect of food composition or behavior. These chapters are:
How to read a French fry: Frying and the chemical and physical properties of frying oils.
The second life of plants: Changes to fruits and vegetables after harvest and cooking.
Miracle in a shell: Eggs and their amazing emulsifying properties.
From a pebble to a pillow: Starches from rice, beans, flour, potatoes and their ability to thicken.
Meat and heat: The Maillard principle, collagen, fats, and what it is that gives meat its flavor.
Fat, flour, and fear: Pie crusts, butter or lard, and gluten formation.
Each essay is longer or much longer than a typical newspaper column. It is also a level of writing that rarely sees the food pages of my local newspaper. I suspect most of the articles were serialized over several issues. These essays alone make the book worthwhile. Parsons goes on to give practical cooking tips. All these tips should now be fully understandable and therefore eminently easy to remember once the cook has read the essay on which they are based. A favorite for me is the recommendation to thicken sauces with flour rather than with cornstarch or arrowroot. If one is exposed to a little Chinese cooking, cornstarch acquires a great attraction and is seemingly easier to use than flour. What experienced chefs know, but never say, is that flour is a much more stable thickener and will stand up to reheating much better than other starches. For those of us who dote on `Molto Mario' and `Good Eats', many of the hints, especially for pasta, will seem obvious, but then not everyone mainlines the Food Network six hours a day.
Parsons caps each essay with a collection of recipes appropriate to the lessons in the essay. Most of the recipes are old standards that the foodies among us have seen often before, such as snickerdoodles, macaroni and cheese, pot roast, and ratatouille. This means that anyone with a cookbook collection of any size may not find very much new in these pages, except as concrete examples of the science presented in the essays. I will say the recipes I examined are highly respectable and should produce excellent results. The author does provide a complete table of all recipes by principle ingredient (fish) or course (dessert). I think this should be a feature of every cookbook. It is doubly useful when ingredient or course does not organize the book.
My only regret about this book is that it is so short and that so few people will be attracted to reading it. We need food science to replace the extensive drilling in cooking techniques that we used to get at our mothers or grandmother's side. That has disappeared, and it wasn't all that great to begin with.
With sincere apologies to Alton Brown, who gives me more laughs in one `Good Eats' episode than Parsons has in this whole book, I highly recommend this to anyone and everyone who likes to read about food.
