The New Making Of A Cook

A superb book; a cornerstone of any serious kitchen book shelf. A sort of "applied Harold McGee," it contains as much discussion of why things happen the way they do, as it contains recipes. The recipes (which are essential and excellent) act as illustrations of the concepts she has just discussed, and allow the reader to extend, modify, and improvise with the security of understanding how the changes relate to the paradigm. Even if I'm not going to use her recipe, I always end up going back to her discussions, and often usefully modify the recipe I am using, based on those discussions. I really don't know who I'm writing this for - if you're searching for books on this website, I assume you already own the book!