Harold McGee /Harold McGee/ knows more about food/than either you or me
March 21, 2025 3:36 PM Subscribe
My Dinners With Harold: How a shy Ph.D. in English literature revolutionized the science of cooking and became revered in the most famous kitchens in the world
A Dinner Encounter with Author Harold McGee: Science, Surprises, and Culinary Tales (previously)
What the fuss is about.
A Dinner Encounter with Author Harold McGee: Science, Surprises, and Culinary Tales (previously)
What the fuss is about.
Harold McGee is wonderful! His science in cooking book is a great read. And you learn so much. His newer book, Nose Dive, is all about the chemistry of smells. After reading this book, if something stinks, or smells good, you’ll know what chemicals are twinkling your nose. Thankfully, it’s not a scratch and sniff book, given the range of smells and stinks he covers.
posted by njohnson23 at 5:07 PM on March 21 [2 favorites]
posted by njohnson23 at 5:07 PM on March 21 [2 favorites]
…On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, first published in 1984, last revised in 2004, and so dense with gripping material like the denaturing effect of heat on meat proteins that it cannot possibly have been read cover to cover by more than two or three people, McGee included.
Hmm; I wonder who the other one is.
posted by TedW at 5:42 PM on March 21
Hmm; I wonder who the other one is.
posted by TedW at 5:42 PM on March 21
The less said about his second book in the aeries (The Curious Cook), the better -- but On Food and Cooking would be enough for a whole career.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:44 PM on March 21 [1 favorite]
posted by wenestvedt at 5:44 PM on March 21 [1 favorite]
Hmm; I wonder who the other one is.
In Michael Ruhlman's The Making of a Chef, he relates that incoming students to the Culinary Institute of America are advised to read "McGee" - it needs no other name there - at least twice in its entirety before graduation.
posted by Lemkin at 5:49 PM on March 21
In Michael Ruhlman's The Making of a Chef, he relates that incoming students to the Culinary Institute of America are advised to read "McGee" - it needs no other name there - at least twice in its entirety before graduation.
posted by Lemkin at 5:49 PM on March 21
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My favorite bits are the last paragraph and the last photo.
Thank you so much for posting this, Lemkin - I'm very glad to have read it!
posted by kristi at 4:02 PM on March 21 [2 favorites]