Cuisine Cookbook

Modernist Cuisine: Taking the Culinary World by Storm

How It Came About

Nathan Myhrvold is the brain behind Modernist Cuisine.  He was at his 40’s when he decided to retire from working as a chief technology officer at Microsoft.  .  Thereafter, he directed his attention to culinary arts and he began contributing to culinary discussions in egullet.org.  He was notably interested with “sous vide”, a culinary technique which means “under vacuum”.  It is actually not a new culinary process.  It has actually been around for quite some time.  It was first introduced in the 70s, but it has become quite popular in high-tech kitchens in recent years.  Curiously, Myhrvold is quite fascinated with this cooking technique.  In truth, this is not surprising because he is an amateur cook, a quite serious one.

He actually studied at La Varenne Cooking School.  He even competed in the 1991 World Barbecue Championship and he, along with the rest of his team from the same school, won several awards from this competition.  Along with being the founder and chief operating officer of Company Intellectual Ventures, he is also Zagat Survey’s chief gastronomic officer.  Zagat Survey is a company that regularly publishes restaurant guides.  With his culinary background in culinary arts and in technology, it is not surprising that he would be the man behind cuisine moderne.

When sous vide caught his interest, there was still no book in English on this topic or any similar topic in science cooking.  Having piqued his interest, he resolved to publish a book on the subject.  He thought of researching on the science of cooking with focus on techniques in relation to food safety.

Safety is a major consideration when it comes using sous vide technique because food is cooked significantly slower than usual.  Bacteria love foods that are held in non-freeze cold or non-oven hot temperature.  This is the reason why there are many people who are wary of this technique.  Myhrvold was aware of this.  He was approached by Sean Brock, a South Carolina chef to help the latter convinced local food inspectors that the technique is safe.  Thereafter, he was contacted by safety officers and they were impressed by the information he provided them and even asked for more information that he can gather.

This was when the idea of the Modernist Cuisine cookbook was born.

He thought that aside from food safety, he would include other information about heating processes in relation to physics.  This is how the application of physics and chemistry in traditional cooking came into the picture.  He also thought of including newer cooking techniques that are currently used in modern kitchens.  This is what he calls the “modernist” form of cooking.

Subsequently, he hired two chefs, Chris Young and Maxime Bilet, who used to work at Fat Duck who worked with him, doing various high-tech culinary experiments to create the Modernist Cuisine.  They did all the work and experiments in a restaurant in Bray, England.  They worked on the project for three years until they finally got it right.  The work they put into creating the book can be likened to the work an author of a textbook would have to put in.

The Modernist Cuisine Review

“Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking” is a six volume masterwork which consists of five thick volumes and a ring-bound Recipe Book.  Packed, the whole thing can weigh as much as 46 pounds!  There are 2438 pages all in all.

The book offers overview of nutrition, food history and microbiology in Volume 1.  It also covers traditional and modern cooking methods and techniques in Volume 2.  The science of cooking meat and plants is basically covered in Volume 3.  Thickeners, gels and foams are thoroughly discussed in Volume 4.  Recipes are covered in Volume 5.

This project is both scientific and gastronomic.  It is an encyclopedia for everyone involved in the culinary arts.  It is a visual treat and it offers More Than 1,000 of new recipes.  It is an affirmation of the revolution that was started by cuisine moderne.  There are many cuisines, but this one utilizes science to discover new innovative cooking techniques.

This high-tech cooking was pioneered by Grant Achatz in the United States.  It was introduced by Ferran Adria in Spain and by Heston Blumenthal in England.  These people introduced the revolution in cooking techniques.  One could say that the term “modernist cuisine” perfectly describes that these people are trying – or have been trying to do.

Myhrvold is the only one who can pull of this kind of project.  Some would say that he is the only one with enough money to undertake such huge project.  It’s so big it took him three years to complete the whole thing.  Not surprisingly, his project received an equally healthy dose of admiration and criticisms.  In truth, before Myhrvold, no one seems strong enough to undertake science cooking.

This is not an easy book to read.  Despite pages and pages of mind-blowing picture, the volumes inspire frustration, fascination, infuriation and amazement – all at the same time!  You cannot possibly read or absorb them all in one seating.  It is not easy to give a review of this book.  Obviously, however, the goal of the authors is to present clear and thorough information.  One could say that the information is, in fact, too thorough.  Still, chefs can still find useful and valuable original insights.  Just take for example their discussion of temperature and their temperature tables for killing salmonella.  The authors can be arrogant sometimes, for instance, dismissing the government’s suggestion for temperature in relation to food safety.   There are a lot of concepts that are familiar to most chefs but these concepts are reintroduced in a new way.

I’d agree that this is the most thorough culinary “encyclopedia”.  It is packed with information that you will not likely find in other culinary books or cookbooks.  For instance, do you know how to balance the centrifuge?  Get this book and you will find all the information you will need on that topic.  You will find detailed reports on what exactly happens when you roast something in the oven.  You will understand why some food tastes better or worse than others.  You will learn how to cook your dried beans properly.

Photo cuisine at its best – that’s what this book offers.  The food photography is riveting.  You will find yourself staring and perusing every photograph, marvelling at their perfection.  They are just amazing.  Of course, one can say the same thing about the recipes.

These are all express in metric weights and they are quite exact down to the last 100th gram.  The book has its own unique recipe format.  Many of the recipes covered actually use techniques design by various chefs like Alice Waters and Tetsuya Wakuda.

There are a lot of recipes you can easily prepare inside Your Kitchen.  There are also a lot of recipes that home cooks will find quite difficult.  Not only because of the technique but also because the ingredients and equipment required may not be things that home cooks have in their kitchen.  Still, the barbecue sauces are simply divine and the pressure cooker recipes are easy and flavourful.

“Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking” is not for home cooks.  I’d say these are not for home cooks.  This is a valuable reference, however, for most professional chefs regardless of what forms of cuisine arts they adhere to.  David Chang describes it as the “cookbook to end all cookbooks”.  Perhaps, that’s true, but then again, you may think otherwise.

Image Credit: lostateminor.com:

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About the Author

Chef Matthew, the owner of ProChef360 Blog, is an expert in culinary arts. 
He is after all an outstanding chef, having had worked in some of the finest resorts, hotels and restaurants in the world.

His interest, however, in social media was awakened when he started his own websites. 
Over the years, he took it upon himself to learn everything he can about social media.

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