Conference turris::cooks

    Darryl,
    
    I have the Kitchen Science book - It's put out by Houghton Miffin.
    I can get you the ISBN number if you're interested in ordering
    it at a book store.
    
    I really enjoyed the book - it told you all about the why's and
    wherefore's of cooking. Unfortunately, I'm not an avid cook, so
    I don't use it in everyday practice, but it still explained a lot
    of things to me.
    
    helen

    EATING WELL magazine did a writeup on someone (was it this Spring?) who
    wrote one of these scientific type cookbooks.  Seemed like a really
    interesting book.  Check your local library for back issues and you
    might luck out with finding the issue...

    While it's not a direct answer to your question, there's a book
    by Harold McGee titled _On Food and Cooking_ that has an immense
    amount of interesting facts about food, its history, and its
    science.  Highly recommended!

    There are also definitely books that explain the why as well as the
    how - _The Cake Bible_ is an example.

    I've heard of the kitchen science book mentioned before but never
    looked thru it.

    - Jim

    
    
    McGee also has another book _The Curious Cook_. It is not quite as
    large as OFaC.  But still interesting.  This one is still in the
    bookstores (in paper). OFaC I have seen in some of the mail order
    places (I haven't looked for it in the bookstores).
     

    Don't know if it's available outside the UK, but Delia Smith's
    "Complete Cookery Course" is great for giving basic cooking techniques,
    some excellent recipes and good background on the techniques and how/why
    they work. 
    
    Also any of Elizabeth David's books make great reading as well as being
    superb cook-books.
    
    Incidentally, I always thought the reason for the oil in the water was
    to stop the pasta strands sticking together ?!
    

    re .5
    
    The added oil - 
    
    That's what I always thought too, and it does work.  My pasta doesn't
    dare stick together now....
    
    K.

Julia Childs  "The Way to Cook" is technique based moreso that just follow
the recipe...


Al

The best I've seen in this category is "Kitchen Science" by _<don't know 1st name>
Hilman. Excellent. Everything you always wondered about in your kitchen regarding
processes & how they work and why. The book also contains many "principle illus-
trating recipes" such as a basic souffle. 

Go ahead and buy it  -  you won't be disappointed.


Scott

    According to today's Hartford Courant, there's now a magazine dedicated
    to the science of cooking, _Cook's Illustrated_, that should be on
    newsstands by the end of the month.  Actually, it's the resurrection of
    a magazine that ceased publication back in 1990.  
    
    The 36-page magazine will be published bimonthly and contain no
    advertising.  According to its executive editor, Mark Bittman, the
    magazine will emphasize the science of cooking--complete with
    illustrations breaking down cooking techniques step by step--so that
    home cooks can improvise with confidence.  The first issue will contain
    articles on soups, breads, roasting chickens, and taste-testing olive
    oils and chianti wines.
    
    _Cook's Illustrated_ will be sold by subscription, and at newsstands,
    bookstores, and culinary stores.  A charter subscription is $19.95 for
    one year; the regular subscription rate will be $24.95 for six issues. 
    For information, call (800)544-7100.
                           

    "Kitchen Science" is still readily available; I just ordered a copy
    through my local bookstore ('Jabberwocky' in Newburyport) and received
    it within a week. $8.95 in paperback.
    
    	/Harry

I made a another dish this weekend that called for frying chicken parts
prior to oven-baking them in a sauce. (The results were excellent.) But I
wondered, why fry the chicken first? It was going to be in the sauce in a
350 degree oven for 1� hours anyway, so it can't be a salmonella or
botulism issue. And, cooking chicken in a sauce for that long practically
ensures that it's going to be in a falling-off-the-bone condition.

I think I understand sauteing beef chunks prior to stewing; but chicken?

Art

�                               -< Why pre-fry? >-
    
    To crisp the skin and render the fat.

Or,maybe the object is to seal the pores on the skin of the chicken
pieces to minimize moisture loss during the subsequent cooking.



Scott

    
    I believe the previous reply is close to the answer of pre-frying or
    browning if you will. I make Hungarian Chicken Paprikash often(cuz
    I'm Hungarian) and many times I'm in a hurry. If I rush and do not
    brown the chicken first it leaves little floaties all in the sauce
    as it cooks. The floaties are blood from the chicken I believe and
    browning seals the pores and reduces this effect. Much like when you
    make chicken soup and the foam rises to the top...if you leave this it
    will leave the little floaties in your soup..:-)
    
    Regards
    Les
    

<   ...
<    will leave the little floaties in your soup..:-)
			   --------


   "floaties" -- now there is a technical term for a topic dedicated to the
   "science" of cooking.....



Al,

ps.	I'm sorry Les,  I just couldn't help my self....

I'm a writer, a communicator, and sometimes a cook. I *like* the word
FLOATIES. It immediately conjured up the image of the (previously
referred to as-) stuff that emerges during the making of chicken broth.
I'll call it floaties from now on.

I'm arriving at an agreement with the latter explanations. First, the
major fat is rendered off. Second, the outer 1/8" or so of flesh is
rapidly cooked (lightly seared?), thus sealing that layer and preventing
the release of internal juices.

It makes sense.

Art

    
    Ah that's OK Al...guess I left myself kind of open on that highly techno
    term of  "floaties"..;-).
    
     Something that dawned me last evening as well is that the ends of the
    joints(ie leg,thigh,etc) are also sealed by browning...much of the
    "floaties"(geez I like that word) come from the leakage of bone marrow
    into the liquid.
    
    Les
    

    
    
    re .13
    
    The poeter should check out _The Curous Cook_ that was mentioned
    previously.  The first chapter discusses this topic.
    
    (If you brown meat to seal in juices, why is it that when the meat is
    placed on a plate, it 'leaks'?)
    

well I LIKE "floaties" and it fits the subject perfectly...so, from now
on in my house, it's "floaties"...

				8^}    

    
    	My favorite cooking science book is:
    
    		The Cookbook Decoder
    			or Culinary Alchemy Explained
    
    		  Arthur E. Grosser	�1981
    		   
    		   Beaufort Books, Inc.   New York
    
    		ISBN: 0-8253-0033-9		$14.95
    
    
    -rjc-