Modern Gastronomy: A to Z |  | Author: Ferran Adria
Publisher: CRC Press
Category: Book
List Price: $59.95
Buy New: $40.46
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Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 59386
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 265
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 0.6
ISBN: 1439812454
Dewey Decimal Number: 664
EAN: 9781439812457
ASIN: 1439812454
Publication Date: December 21, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Although the combination of science and cooking may seem fashionably modern, in fact the pairing of these disciplines goes way back. This book gives readers a better understanding of the terminology that describes the nature of ingredients and why they produce certain reactions. It also helps readers discover the potential of a wide range of products that can be used in a diversity of preparations. They can quickly and easily look up and find, in plain language, everything they need to know about the science of cooking. As the name suggests, the book has a lexical format, with all the entries in alphabetical order.
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| Customer Reviews:
 It's additionally subtitled "A Scientific and Gastronomical Lexicon" January 5, 2010
Michael A. Duvernois (Minneapolis, MN United States)
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
Which is exactly what the book is. It's a lexicon/encyclopedia organized alphabetically and covering the intersection of science and food. It's heavily influenced, derived might be a better term, by the molecular gastronomy school of culinary science. Food preparations dictated by the science and technology of available tools and possible reactions rather than by tradition. Think of this as molecular gastronomy's answer to the Larousse Gastronomique (Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Culinary Encyclopedia, Completely Revised and Updated) and you've got the picture. It's probably better as a food reference than a guidebook or textbook to food science, but if you use Gastronomique for reference, this can be the modern appendix to it.
I'd only recommend this thick tome (from the science guidebook publishing house CRC Press (that's the Chemical Rubber Company originally)) if you already have some knowledge and/or interest in molecular gastronomy. Otherwise it would be a confusing starting point. If you do have a background, then this is a good second step (to fill in details) or as a reference book. It's not as well edited as it should be (typos galore!) but otherwise it's hard to criticize.
Reference. Nothing More, Nothing Less February 4, 2010
Christopher Hernandez (Chicago, IL)
I have always been curious as to the idea that is 'molecular gastronomy'. I have been reading blogs and books, such as Grant Achetz, and I was really hoping this could unravel the mystery to some of the processes. Alas, it does not.
This book is a big dictionary of words you may run across in your search of culinary magic. It compiles what various ingredients and processes are in one easy to find location (although some listings are labeled as still being 'experimental'). So who is this book for? Well not the everyday reader and at the current price of nearly $40+, it isn't even for the person who is thinking of playing around on the weekends. It should be for someone that has a few 'molecular gastronomy' books and needs some expanding on terminology.
I recommend it but with reservations, to newcomers of this idea of cooking it will not help alone. This book should be seen more as cliff notes, a book you have beside you when you are reading others like Grant Achetz or Heston Blumenthal.
 Confusing February 19, 2010
Gia Terranova (Atlanta, GA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I purchased this book thinking it would be like a cook book mixed with information on how he makes his creations. It is more like a science lab book. When I purchased it, it was brand new and did not have reviews written on it. The book was not user friendly. I am not even sure what the point of it was. Thank goodness Amazon let me return it.
 An overpriced pocket dictionary for molecular gastronomy January 24, 2010
J. brooks (CA USA)
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
I ordered this book and eagerly awaited it's delayed shipment. There were many disappointing aspects of this book.
First, the author description on Amazon is wrong. Yes, wrong. Ferran Adria is NOT the author. Rather, the book was authored by 'Alicia Foundation elBullitaller', which was founded by Ferran Adria. It is unclear to what degree Adria was involved.
Second, contrary to the first review of this book (I've no idea what he was smoking), this is not a 'thick tome' unless you consider lecithin-based foams are the equivalent of beef wellington. the book measures 6x9" and is barely 1/2 inch thick if you count the hardcovers. There are 247 small glossy pages in between, including the indices. Each page has generous 5/8" margins all around to help set off the easy to read text that includes much white space between items. This makes the text roughly 4x7" including the white space, and there is a lot of white space.
Third, I suppose this book is supposed to be a definitive compendium of molecular gastronomy. Perhaps, but in that case there aren't many letters in the alphabet. I'm not really sure what one is to make of a molecular gastronomy book that includes definitions such as:
* 1.25" devoted to "Centrifugation. See Centrifuge"
* almost an entire page of cross references for calcium chloride, gluconate, gluconolactate, lactate, and oxide.
* and one of the highlights (I'm NOT making this up" is 3 inches of space devoted to defining "Bitter". It is first fancified as an 'organoleptic perception'. Then it is defined as: "One of the basic tastes." The additional information included is: "In the retail food industry quinine is considered to be the standard of bitterness. However, caffeine is increasingly being used as a reference. Other bitter products: gentian, caffeine. It is a taste that is readily rejected in childhood, as it is instinctively associated with venomous substances; later it becomes part of people's eating routines out of habit."
Oh yes. I habitually bite into a chunk of quinine every other day in adult life. When a fair amount of space wasted on unenlightened, uninformative entries, one wonders what the author and publisher must have been thinking. One of the few color photos is of a glob of 'lyophilized pistachio' having water poured on it to 'rehydrate it'. There are six pictures ranging from a smear of green gunk to a puddle of green goo, which is presumably the 'rehydrated pistachio.' I've no idea why these images are important much less why it takes an entire page to present them.
This book is vastly overpriced even with Amazon's discount. The amount of effort and work in it do not compare in the least to, say, Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc. The book provides no techniques, suggestions, hints, or examples. It includes much extraneous information, the apparent purpose of which is to fill space. It is laughable to compare Molecular Gastronomy A to Z to a tome such as Larousse Gastronomique. There is nothing insightful in this small book, and it does not inform one regarding any techniques of molecular gastronomy. It is about as useful as a frozen egg.
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