Cooking is one of the few activities in this world that is both an art and a science. I lean towards the artsy side most of the time by paying little attention to the exactness of measurements, temperatures and processes. These habits make me a lousy baker! This book caught my eye as something that would be an interesting twist to the normal cookbook. I got much more than I bargained for!

I learned that an evening in the kitchen can provide you with a syllabus chock full of art projects and science experiments. The history of the noodle, neurology of taste, geology behind salt, expressions of herbs, creativity of a recipe, chemistry of a cocktail, biology lessons in vegetables, physics of heat, engineering behind a pastry, and design of a holiday meal. Many have told me that design is a good idea! Presentation of the finished artwork is something I need to work on.

Art & science aside … cooking is really an excerise in humanities.

The author of this book, Robert Wolke, is a chemistry professor and it shows. Mr. Wizard’s World meets Julia Child. Kinda like Alton Brown, but not so annoying.

I learned a lot from this book and I’m not even close to finishing it. It provides lots of lessons about cooking along with plenty of practical recipes. It also delves into how to shop for food. What to look for while buying meat, breads and vegetables. Most importantly, it tries to answer the question we all need answers to, “Why?” Does it really answer it? You be the judge! Yankees suck!