Challenges traditional ideas about cooking and eating. This book examines and debunks a variety of time-honored rules and dictums about cooking and presents ways of preparing a variety of dishes from quiches and quenelles to steak and hard-boiled eggs.

Series Editor's Preface Introduction to the English Language Addition Part One: Secrets of the Kitchen 1 Making Stock 2 Clarifying Stock 3 Hard-Boiled Eggs 4 Quiches, Quenelles, and Puff Pastries 5 Echaudes and Gnocchi 6 The Well-Leavened Souffle 7 Quenelles and Their Cousins 8 Fondue 9 Roasting Beef 10 Seasoning Steak 11 Wine and Marinades 12 Color and Freshness 13 Softening Lentils 14 Souffleed Potatoes 15 Preserves and Preserving Pans 16 Saving a Creme Anglaise 17 Grains of Salt 18 Of Champagne and Teaspoons 19 Coffee, Tea, and Milk Part Two: The Physiology of Flavor 20 Food as Medicine 21 Taste and Digestion 22 Taste in the Brain 23 Papillary Cells 24 How Salt Affects Taste 25 Detecting Tastes 26 Bitter Tastes 27 Hot Up Front 28 The Taste of Cold 29 Mastication 30 Tenderness and Juiciness 31 Measuring Aromas 32 At Table in the Nursery 33 Food Allergies 34 Public Health Alerts Part Three: Investigations and Models 35 The Secret of Bread 36 Yeast and Bread 37 Curious Yellow 38 Gustatory Paradoxes 39 The Taste of Food 40 Lumps and Strings 41 Foams 42 Hard Sausage 43 Spanish Hams 44 Foie Gras 45 Antioxidant Agents 46 Trout 47 Cooking Times 48 The Flavor of Roasted Meats 49 Tenderizing Meats 50 Al Dente 51 Forgotten Vegetables 52 Preserving Mushrooms 53 Truffles 54 More Flavor 55 French Fries 56 Mashed Potatoes 57 Algal Fibers 58 Cheeses 59 From Grass to Cheese 60 The Tastes of Cheese 61 Yogurt 62 Milk Solids 63 Sabayons 64 Fruits in Syrup 65 Fibers and Jams 66 The Whitening of Chocolate 67 Caramel 68 Bread and Crackers 69 The Terroirs of Alsace 70 Length in the Mouth 71 Tannins 72 Yellow Wine 73 Wine Without Dregs 74 Sulfur and Wine 75 Wine Glasses 76 Wine and Temperature 77 Champagne and its Foam 78 Champagne in a Flute 79 Demi Versus Magnum 80 The Terroirs of Whisky 81 Cartagenes 82 Tea Part Four: A Cuisine for Tomorrow 83 Cooking in a Vacuum 84 Aromas or Reactions? 85 Butter: A False Solid 86 Liver Mousse 87 In Praise of Fats 88 Mayonnaises 89 Aioli Generalized 90 Orders of Magnitude 91 Hundred-Year-Old Eggs 92 Smoking Salmon 93 Methods and Principles 94 Pure Beef 95 Fortified Cheeses 96 Chantilly Chocolate 97 Everything Chocolate 98 Playing with Texture 99 Christmas Recipes 100 The Hidden Taste of Wine 101 Teleolfaction Glossary Further Reading Index

An international sensation, Molecular Gastronomy debunks a variety of time-honored rules and dictums about cooking, but also presents new knowledge from which readers can improve the preparation of a variety of dishes. Herve This, a physical chemist, discusses the physiology of flavor and explores the brain's perception of tastes, the effect of chewing on food, and the reaction of the tongue to various stimuli. Bringing the instruments and techniques of the laboratory into the kitchen, Herve's entertaining revelations are for cooks, gourmets, and scientists alike.