The Curious Cook: Harold McGee

If you’re anything like us, you want to know why things happen they way they do, especially in the kitchen. For example, why does meat have to “rest” before slicing into it? Why do eggs get a greenish/bluish band when they cook too long? What’s an anthocyanin? From home cooks to professional chefs, there is one profound resource that everyone turns to: the seminal book by Harold McGee - On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, initially published in 1984 (and greatly updated in 2004). As a food science writer, McGee focuses mostly on explaining why things happen from a chemistry perspective, and things really heat up when he starts to debunk conventional kitchen wisdom. He writes a blog, The Curious Cook, and teaches at the French Culinary Institute, but mainly you'll find his unique perspective present in a steady flow of articles in publications like the New York Times, Nature, and Health, covering everything from the toxic myth of tomato leaves to the invisible ingredient in every kitchen. Go to him. He knows.