Hot take: People are sleeping on swapping cookbooks for food science books

I was in a trades group on Facebook and someone kept insisting a 1975 Joy of Cooking was better than any modern book for baking. I grabbed a copy of On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee from a swap last March and it completely changed how I fix recipes. The Joy book is great for nostalgia but McGee explains why bread dough acts different at 70 versus 80 degrees. Has anyone else found that swapping a classic recipe book for a science based one actually helped their cooking more?

2 comments

2 Comments

paulmitchell21d agoMost Upvoted

Did your friend try swapping their mom's old cookbook for a science book too? My buddy Dave was convinced his grandma's meatloaf recipe was the only way until he read about fat ratios in cured meats. Now he tweaks everything on the fly and his food actually tastes better than hers did.

casey68223d ago

That part about "why bread dough acts different at 70 versus 80 degrees" hit home for me. I spent YEARS wondering why my sourdough was great in spring but a flop in summer, then McGee explained hydration and temperature relationships like it was basic math. Honestly, I still keep my mom's old Betty Crocker binder for the peanut butter cookie recipe but I haven't touched a traditional cookbook for technique since I got my head around the science stuff.