Has anyone ever heard of….

…. The 1980s book by Harold McGee called “On Food and Cooking”? I just came across a reference to it and people are talking about it as an essential cookbook for the ages. I have never heard of it. Seems to be lots of the science behind food and why things behave the way they do… why do egg whites puff up in an oven, why does sweating spices change their flavor etc

Just curious as I’m kind of a cookbook junkie but did not know this one

Yes, the guy is the Alton Brown of the printed word. Worth acquiring if you are interested in the chemistry and physics of cooking.

I have that book. It's an interesting read, although some of it requires at last a master's in chemistry or biochemistry to understand. Overall I think it's more of academic interest than practical, although I have found some tips to be helpful (like changing pH for certain effects, effects of different starches on thickening with advice how to incorporate them, etc.). I'm not sure I would call it a "cookbook" per se, but it does certainly contain information pertaining to cooking. It's a classic for a reason, so if you're the self described junkie you say you are, this one is famous enough to perhaps warrant a slot on your shelf.

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I have it and refer to it often especially when I am using an unfamiliar ingredient or method or when I am struck by a similarity of aroma or taste when unexpected. It helps to understand shared flavor compounds. I first understood the necessity of salt-starch interaction in boiling pasta reading McGee and this saved countless arguments with my husband!!! Not the only tidbit of information that I used to convince my husband of the wisdom of some culinary activity.

[Jenise]

I own it, read it cover to cover 30 years ago but haven't opened it much since. As others have said, it's not a recipe book. It's an important series of essays about how things work, though. I really should re-read it.

On this afternoon's episode of Milk Street Radio someone called the program asking for a pointer to a book on the chemistry of cooking, and this was the first one they recommended. They cautioned that it's a tough read and is intended mainly as a reference work.

-Paul W.

I own both McGee and Shirley Corrihers. Both good in their own ways.

I think I got more out of Madeleine Kamman's (original) "The Making of a Cook", personally. She also included much food science in that tome, but with actual illustrative recipes and less dry narratives attached.

(Interestingly, McGee writes in the introduction to his 2004 edition of "On Food & Cooking", reflecting on the 1984 1st edition, "I noted a couple of errors in modern cookbooks by Madeleine Kamman and Julia Child, who were ahead of their time in taking chemistry seriously." However he does not say what those errors were, and I don't have an original 1984 edition of my own to reference.)