Wednesday 25 April 2018

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat



This book is not for everyone.  People who would not enjoy it include:

·         People not interested in cooking
·         People who like to flip through cookbooks to gain general inspiration

But if you are interested in cooking you should give this a try.  It is a tome – about 2 inches thick in old money.  And although there are some recipes in the second half of the book, there are no photos.


The book explores the impact of salt, acid, fat and heat on food – in detail.  I found it quite illuminating – although I can't say I read every word.


One entertaining thing about the book is its illustrations which are both useful and humorous – as I hope you can see.  The illustrator is Wendy MacNaughton

I had never heard of the author before.  She was a chef at Chez Panisse.  This is her first book and it's a doozy.

I note that the cover of the copy I got from the library is very serious whereas there are much livelier covers out there – if Google is to be believed.

7 comments:

  1. The illustrations look like they're by a different artist than the cover? Interesting. I've always made mayonnaise in my blender, and never had a failure.

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  2. That's been getting a lot of attention. Is it very technical when explaining the way those basic substances impact your cooking?

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  3. I have picked this one up to look at it but have not gone further than that. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. I think this would be fun (and informative) to look through. I'd probably be like you and not necessarily read every word, but I bet I'd learn a lot.

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  5. I enjoy illustrated cookbooks (especially with hand-lettering), so will look for this one. Thanks for featuring it!

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  6. I like these types books on occasion. They are so informative and sometimes I want to know everything about a particular subject.

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  7. Sometimes it's fun to have these on the coffee table to flip through. You never know what you might learn.

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