I'm Just Here for the Food

MattE writes: "Alton Brown, for those who aren't familiar, has a cooking show on the Food Network called Good Eats. His new book isn't so much a cookbook, in the current sense of a book that contains a heck of a lot of recipes. (It does, in fact, contain recipes, but it really isn't what the book is about.) See the Perl cookbook, for a translation of this idea to programming. It is a book about cooking that covers science and technique first; Recipes are only example code. He says he is a 'culinary cartographer.'" This sounds like a fun book -- for the rest of Matt's review, read on below.

I'm Just Here for the Food
author	Alton Brown
pages	287 pages
publisher	Stewart, Tabori & Chang
rating	9/10
reviewer	Matt Eberle
ISBN	1-58479-083-0
summary	This is a book about cooking, by a geek, for geeks. If you code and you cook, this is the book.

Rather than giving precise directions about how many rights and how many lefts, Alton aims to give you the lay of the land. "Cooking is not defined by seasonings ... it is defined by the application of heat." That is why the first six chapters are devoted to a single heating method each: searing, grilling, roasting, frying, boiling, and braising. This first book doesn't cover baking, or other manufactured food. Another book, in a similar vein, by a chemist, Cookwise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking , actually begins with baking.

As partial proof of the author's geekiness, I present an excerpt from the introduction to the grilling chapter:

I am typing on a Macintosh G4 Titanium Powerbook, which is roving through my MP3 collection like a digital whirling dervish. When I need to speak to someone, which isn't very often since the G4 is wirelessly connected to the Web through a device in the house, I do so on a Nokia cell phone capable of trading files with my Palm V, which I really should replace since it's so 1999.

He's got his own web site, complete with blog. Throughout the book, he describes approaches to cooking that have everything to do with good food and geekiness, and nothing to do with the manufacturer's instructions. Back to the grill, he's removed one of the plates on the side of his grill and fitted it with a piece of tailpipe. Then, when he's grilling, he sticks a hair dryer in the tailpipe and uses it to whip the coals into an inferno. Which might explain why he gets his oven mitts from the hardware store in the form of welding gloves. When talking about ovens, he describes how he builds an oven out of firebricks, and how he uses a large terra cotta pot to cook a chicken in his oven. It's all in the name of even heat distribution. He's also not above rewiring his electric skillet to provide a greater range of temperatures. You know you've read something good when the author includes a mini-disclaimer to the effect of "if you try this at home kids, I and the publisher are not responsible."

Alton encourages improvisation, suggesting you hold a refrigerator roulette party: everybody brings three ingredients and then everybody has to make something of it. Now there's a team building exercise for the daring. Basically, a recipe is like an open source app that nobody's willing to muck with -- you either eat it when somebody else has already prepared it, or you compile (I mean prepare) it yourself, but follow the directions exactly. This just ruins the whole point of making the source (or the recipe) available. Tinker with it, make it better, make it awful, hey, it's just food.

From Alton's Rules I Cook By: If the food is an existing hunk or hunks of something to be cooked, you can generally mess with seasonings, herbs, spices, and so on to your heart's content. The book is filled throughout with examples of Alton's own improvisations -- like the recipe he used to win a cheap chili competition he and some friends dreamed up while sitting around on somebody's porch. In this case, the ingredients were tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, and salt he had in his pantry, some cheap beef stew meat and some lamb stew meat from the supermarket, and the cheapest beer available from the local taqueria and the chips and salsa that came with it. Total cost: $7.74

The end of the book includes appendices with a Critter Map, which shows where different cuts of meat come from, and The Basic Culinary Toolbox, where he describes necessary tools, from heat resistant spatulas and all kinds of thermometers to what makes a good knife. Also included are a very brief selection of suppliers for various dry goods and a selection on cleanliness that has some tips on recognizing a good meat and produce department. The one weakness of the book may be its index. Again, since this isn't really a cookbook per se, it might not matter so much that all the chicken recipes in the book are not listed in the index under Chicken, or that his great recipe for microwave popcorn is listed under M, but not P. As for the popcorn recipe itself, here's a hint: popcorn, paper bag, and 2 staples.

If you are reading this I highly recommend I'm Just Here For the Food as well as the show Good Eats. This is the book on cooking I've been waiting for someone to write ever since I started cooking. It gives you the tools and the principles so that you can cook what you want and experiment with flavors and ingredients you like.

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Appetite whetted? You can purchase I'm Just Here for the Food from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Check the warehouse stores for this title

[Lumpish Scholar]

I saw it at Costco (yclept Price Club) the other day. Stores like these (e.g., BJ's, Sam's Club) often have books at a discount of 30% or more. (No shipping charge either.-)

The book looked like a hoot.

This is a great book

[dknj]

This is a book about cooking techniques, rather than recipies. It's organized by cooking method, rather than ingredients like most other cookbooks. There are a lot of cookbooks out there full of nothing but recipies, but many of them don't say anything about the different methods to prepare food. AB also goes into some of the how's and why's of the different preparation methods. afraid to broil? never poached anything? roasts turn out like lumps of coal? deep fried stuff ends up grease laden? You'll pick up a lot of good tips out of this book. There are a few simple recipies in with each section that you can use to test the waters and practice with.

If you like to cook and want to expand your repetoire of cooking techniques, this is a good one to add to the shelf.

-dk

Alton Brown Rocks

[elmegil]

Good Eats is one of the few TV shows that I regularly make time to watch. It's amusing, offbeat, and educational. My favorite bit was in the Oatmeal episode, when Alton took 3 minutes to get into pictish drag and describe making haggis with a scottish accent.

It's worth noting that Cookwise as referenced above is by Shirley Corriher, a food chemist who also is a semi-frequent guest on Good Eats. Alton & Shirley are definitely birds of a feather. And yes, we bought this book the minute it came out, and my wife and I both buzzed through it (she a bit more thorougly than I).

Alton Brown on FoodTV

[schematix]

I was suprised to see this review on /. but i must commend it. As a frequent foodtv watcher, i have to say that this guy is great. In every episode he goes after the science behind a particular food. He covers the chemistry of certain processes and explains often times how to circumvent problems.

He recently did a show about strawberries that was superb. He showed an ingenious technique for freezing the strawberries using dry ice (for the CO2) so that they don't get mushy. He also ended the show with a brilliant analogy of antioxidants and free radicals using the strawberry dessert he had just made.

Although often times quite eccentric, his show is always alurring to watch. Even if you aren't a fan of cooking shows this one might be of interest. On sunday around 9pm on foodtv (check your local listings) he has a full hour long show scheduled on cooking on a deserted island...or is that desserted? His culinary ingenuity is truly impressive.

Alton's web site

[smartin]

www.altonbrown.com [altonbrown.com] is pretty good. Read the rant's and raves section for funny stories from his book tour.

Another source

[r_j_prahad]

You can also buy the book from the Food Network website. When I got my copy, they were running a limited time special on autographed copies if you bought three or more items.. so mine has Alton's scribblegram on the inside frontspiece. This month it's a free apron with three items, and they're also featuring a complete collection of Good Eats on DVD.

I often wonder why I don't weigh 600 pounds sometimes.

http://www.foodtv.com/marketplace/index/

AB on tour, and a Good Eats fan link

[Silverhammer]

Back in June, Mr. Brown (AB to his friends and fans) went on tour to promote his book. I caught his last stop here in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (It's the hometown of Borders, don'cha know...)

Basically, the guy is just as witty and cool in person as he is on the show. He was obviously a little burnt out from the tour, and there were rumors his marriage was on the rocks, but in every other way he was just... himself. Most celebrities, when you meet them in person, are paler and scabbier and much more socially inept than they ever appear on screen. Not AB. Watching him during the Q&A session was just like watching him on his show -- so much so that I actually got a slight sense of dissociation.

He's going back out on tour again soon. Here are the dates [altonbrown.com]. If you can, go see him. It's definitely worth it.

The best Good Eats site is not at the Food Network's main site. They just warehouse AB's recipes. The best Good Eats site is the Good Eats Fan Page [goodeatsfanpage.com]. News, transcripts, FAQs, family tree (no, really ;-) and a complete index of the recipes. Enjoy.

what i love about his shows...

[paradesign]

he dosent show you one way to do things. he does it several ways, with a scientific description of each. I love the little "muppets" that pop up to explain things.

best example is his episode on baking cookies, i think he did like 4-5 variations explaining all of the variables in the CCCokie combination. From the sugar / brown sugar ratio to the cook time / heat ratio, to the butter used. its the most memorable to me.

if you havent seen his show, you missing out, its not just a slurry of concepts and vocab, theres a fair mix of humor as well. also good is Food 911, where the guy goes to peoples houses and prepares meals with whats on hand. ive learned several recipies from that show. best of all he tells you what to use if you dont have a specific ingredient on hand, good theory + simple ingredients = good show.

Re:Paper, Staples and Microwave?

[gopher_hunt]

I have the book and highly recommend it to anyone interested in the science of cooking. As for the great staple controversy, here is a paraphrase of what is said: as long as youre using a microwave oven with a turntable and dont place the bag where the staples can rub up agains the wall, no fires or sparking will happen. This is because the staples have very little mass and are shorter than a microwave wavelength, rendering them 'invisible'. P.S. Use two staples only, placed 2 - 3 inches apart.

Re:This is a great book

[bigfatlamer]

I'm going to go pick this one up, but for another book with a nice ratio of how/why info to recipes, try Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything." It's organized like most cookbooks (all the beef recipes here, all the potato recipes over there) but each section starts off with 5-20 pages of basics on the ingredient in question and cooking techniques.

Fan page

[asrb]

At the risk of slashdotting yet another site, check out http://goodeatsfanpage.com/

It has transcripts for the shows, and recipes for each show that link back to foodtv.com. I don't think the latest season is up yet, but lots of great stuff there.

Good Eats show times

[gopher_hunt]

Good Eats airs Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m. and 12 a.m., Saturdays at 9:30 a.m., 9:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. and Sundays at 6:30 p.m. and 3:30 a.m. All times ET.

See what the show's will cover at this website [foodtv.com]

Another good food science cookbook

[neile]

If you find this kind of subject interesting I suggest you also check out Cookwise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking [amazon.com] by Shirley M. Corriher. It's a similar type of cookbook: heavy on the science of food and cooking, with sample recipes. Ms. Corriher contributes frequently to food magazines like Fine Cooking [finecooking.com] and Cook's Illustrated [cooksillustrated.com]. In this month's Fine Cooking she went into gory details on the cause of freezer burn and how to prevent it.

Get a sense of his cooking style from these clips

[gopher_hunt]

linked to from the NPR webpage:

Audio "Rocket Hot Melon Menagerie" [npr.org]

Video Watch Brown give some sage advice on soy sauce. [npr.org]

The NPR webpage covering "an alton brown cookout"
NPR [npr.org]

What Einstein Told His Cook

[Anonymous Coward]

'What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Eplained' by Robert L. Wolke is another book in the same vein.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/039301183 6/ qid=1027094599/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/103-6531399-55438 39

Another Recommendation...

[signal7]

Robert L Wolke's "What Einstein Told His Cook" - if you're into kitchen/cooking/food science.

I wonder if it would be possible to get a /. interview with AB? :-) Now that would be interesting.

Re:Curry Anyone ?

[Zen Mastuh]

Thanks. Your post really is on topic, because curry has useful health maintenance properties. Just do a search on ayurveda [google.com], the 5000+ year old Indian science that was supressed during British/Dutch colonial rule because it explained more than their "science". Western medicine kicks ass with respect to traumatic injuries, but ayurveda acknowledges different body types and the diseases/treatments that vary according to particular body types.

Ginger, onions, garlic, cloves, cinnamon, and cumin all have strong antipathogenic properties. The small amount in a dish of curry won't cure a major infection, but can help maintain lower levels of unwanted pathogens in your GI tract. These spices also stimulate digestion. Some garam masala blends contain ajwan and/or asafoetida [smells like foetid ass!], which stimulate digestion and boost the immune system. Remember, sluggish digestion means that rotting rancid food spends more time in your GI tract--how can that be good for you?

Someone should do research into post-dining serotonin levels using bland American food as the control group and curry dishes as the experiment group. People often seem happier after dining on curries--this happens enough here in Gainesville [krishnalunch.com] that some people have started a nasty rumor claiming that the Hare Krishnas spike their food with antidepressants!

Re:Curry Anyone ?

[cOdEgUru]

Have you been to Shalimar in San Francisco.

Its on 532 Jones St, San Francisco, CA 94102.

And it has the best authentic North Indian cooking that I have tasted in a while.

Though the restaurant has no ambience, you atleast know that the food is fresh, coz they make it literally in front of you.

Go to the source....

[tomdarch]

If you watch Good Eats closely, you'll notice Alton reading a particular well-worn, dog eared book from time to time (usually while waiting for something to bake or rise) The book is:

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Cooking, Harold McGee, ISBN: 0684843285

Which is a sort of encyclopedia of food and science. He also wrote:

The Curious Cook: More Kitchen Science and Lore, ISBN: 0020098014

Which is more 'science project' based. "How much oil can one yolk emulsify into mayonayse?" It turns out to be an absurdly large amount.

If you have an analytical mind and care about being a better cook, Alton makes it entertaining and McGee delves in to the science.

Re:This is a great book

[HisMother]

This review was posted, word for word, to Amazon on May 13th, 2002, by one Eugene Mah. Pretty nasty work, plagarizing the work of others just to grub karma. Slashdot folks, why do you keep modding this jerk up?

Evil Amazon has Cookwise & Just Here as a pack

[wdavies]

Hi,

Amazon has a combined package on sale for $43.75, and free p&p if you push it over $50 with something else.

Cookwise link - Double at bottom [amazon.com]

Just Here For the Food - Double at Bottom [amazon.com]

Science & Lore of the kitchen

[mikewas]

I'll certainly get Alton's book, and I'd never miss am episode of Good Eats, but ...

If you like the science behind cooking, you must get a copy of "On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen" by Harold McGee. The book has a primer on chemistry in the back. In addition to the science of cooking (e.g. the biology of yeast, chemical changes to create alcohol, the physics of distilation) it gives you the history (when beer was discoverred, [ir]religous use of wine). A friend who is a CIA graduate had this book as a textbook in his science course.

McGee also has other books in the same vein.

If you're interested in actual cookery, though, reach for James Beard's books. His "Theory & Practice of Good Cooking" is arranged by types of cookery. There's a section on baking there're details of what baking is, followed by a highly detailed recipe for baked ham. After the initial detailed recipe he assumes you know what you're doing and provides you with less detailed recipes that show you the variety of food you can make with this technique (e.g. bread, ribs).

Beard also has books titled "Beard on *". "Beard on Bread" and "Beard on Pasta" come to mind. These are a very similar format to T&P, but concentrate an a particular type of food.

Good Eats!

Re:This is a great book

[SpatchMonkey]

• This review was posted, word for word, to Amazon on May 13th, 2002, by one Eugene Mah. Pretty nasty work, plagarizing the work of others just to grub karma. Slashdot folks, why do you keep modding this jerk up?

I can confirm that.

Eugene Mah's reviews are on amazon.com here [amazon.com]. The review that dknj [slashdot.org] plagarized [slashdot.org] is currently the third one down on that page.

Re:Curry Anyone ?

[Frogg]

Below is a fantastic recipe, which I would say is definitely on par with cOdEgUru's chicken (korma style?) curry. (...who needs to worry about karma when you can cook a korma?!?! ;o)

Curried Mushrooms with Spinach
Serves 6

450g / 1 lb button mushrooms
120 ml / 4 fl oz / 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
45 ml / 3 tbsp clear honey
45 ml / 3 tbsp oil
2.5 cm / 1 in ginger root, grated
450 g / 1 lb spinach, chopped
5 ml / 1 tsp ground cloves
2.5 ml / 1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 clove garlic, crushed
2.5 ml / 1 tsp paprika

Mix together the mushrooms, wine vingar and honey and leave to marinade for 1 hour. Drain off the liquid. Heat 30 ml / 2 tsp of oil and fry the ginger for 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms and fry for 3-4 minutes, stirring, then remove from the pan. Add the remaining oil and fry the ginger for a further 1 minute. Add the spinach, cloves, chilli powder and garlic, cover and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms, sprinkle with paprika and simmer, stirring, until well blended.

Enjoy!!

Re:Any other cooking fundamentals books?

[howardholton]

I can whole heartedly reccomend "Cooks Illustrated" it is a Bi-Monthly (6 issues / year) mag that features only cooking tips and tricks. The recipies are more informational on how to create the perfect (fill in dish here) that happen to have a recipie attached, it gives kitchen equipment reviews, helpful tips from others and the like - but best of all - absolutely NO ADS in the entire mag.

If you like the mag they publish every year's full set of mags in a hardcover book.