[.ca] The Science of Cooking (ISBN 3540674667)

Interesting, but contains a mistake:
The author does a good job describing the scientific (especially biochemical) basis behind cooking. However, he makes a fundamental mistake regarding thermodynamics when he states that metals tend to have higher heat capacities than water, and therefore take longer to heat up in an oven at a fixed temperature. This is wrong for two major reasons: a) metals tend to have lower heat capacities than water, not higher, and b) metals have extraordinarily high thermal conductivities, speeding their heating rates up dramatically. Anybody can verify that a piece of metal will heat up much more quickly than an equal mass of water in an oven at a fixed temperature. Perhaps it shouldn't, but mistakes like this one make me suspicious of the validity of the rest of the work.

chemistry 101:
Don't buy this book if you're looking for a cookbook. The recipes listed in this book are bare bones basic, with no flare. I felt like I was back in chemistry 101 while reading this book, and could only read a little at a time in order to digest all that was presented. Barham gives an excellent description and portrayal of fats, sugars, starches, gluten, proteins, etc., but doesn't flesh out his recipes at all. Each item in his recipes is there for a purpose, and he explains each of their purposes. But I felt that after the basics were presented, he could have added some extra ingredients to jazz up the dishes a little. This could have shown what the 'unnecessary' ingredients do to enhance a dish and how they alter the chemical composition. After reading his book though, I feel as though I truly understand the processes going on in my kitchen, and somehow, it has taken away the 'art' of cooking. I can't just go play in my kitchen now - I feel like I'm doing a chemistry experiment:) The book is presented in the metric system, along with British terms that make it hard to follow every now and then. I would really recommend this book to upper high school students as well as college freshman for the practical chemistry application.

Great, but everything is metric!:
I know we in the US are behind in catching up to the metric system, but certainly our sheer population and market size dictate that an edition edited for our us should be released. Other than this, the book is excellent as an introduction to the subject of food science. I will argue though, that science is never a substitute for the masters. Cooking can be viewed as a science (like here), or an art (as in the great chefs collections).

Great stuff for the science-minded cook:
Fascinating exploration into the physics of cooking, written in an engaging and detailed style. Probably better for the scientist who cooks than for the cook who's into science, since the language is sometimes a little dense for the layperson. Worth working through, though. One caveat: the author is British, and recipes, measurements, and terms are geared for the British/European cook. This means you'll find a complete explanation of sausage rolls and nothing about popcorn. Just FYI.

A super book:
This book is really great, particularly if you have a science bent. The few recipes are the bare basics, but produce wonderful results, and illustrate exactly how each ingredient and process interacts to give the desired results. I find that with this knowledge I have much more confidence in figuring out what is going on in other recipes, and how to create my own derivations. The use of metric throughout (with appropriate conversion tables at the end) is a refreshing change. We are planning on picking up multiple copies as gifts.