Hervé This (pronounced "Teess") is an internationally renowned chemist,
a popular French television personality, a bestselling cookbook author,
a longtime collaborator with the famed French chef Pierre Gagnaire, and
the only person to hold a doctorate in molecular gastronomy, a
cutting-edge field he pioneered. Bringing the instruments and
experimental techniques of the laboratory into the kitchen, This uses
recent research in the chemistry, physics, and biology of food to
challenge traditional ideas about cooking and eating. What he discovers
will entertain, instruct, and intrigue cooks, gourmets, and scientists
alike.
Molecular Gastronomy, This's first work to appear in English, is
filled with practical tips, provocative suggestions, and penetrating
insights. This begins by reexamining and debunking a variety of
time-honored rules and dictums about cooking and presents new and
improved ways of preparing a variety of dishes from quiches and
quenelles to steak and hard-boiled eggs. He goes on to discuss the
physiology of flavor and explores how the brain perceives tastes, how
chewing affects food, and how the tongue reacts to various stimuli.
Examining the molecular properties of bread, ham, foie gras, and
champagne, the book analyzes what happens as they are baked, cured,
cooked, and chilled.
Looking to the future, Hervé This imagines new cooking methods and
proposes novel dishes. A chocolate mousse without eggs? A flourless
chocolate cake baked in the microwave? Molecular Gastronomy explains
how to make them. This also shows us how to cook perfect French fries,
why a soufflé rises and falls, how long to cool champagne, when to
season a steak, the right way to cook pasta, how the shape of a wine
glass affects the taste of wine, why chocolate turns white, and how salt
modifies tastes.
