One food science show, refined, clarified.

September 19, 2009 10:56 PM

Science- and technique-heavy, recipe-light cooking shows? Video podcasts? YouTube channels? Know any?

I consider myself an adventurous, experimental intermediate-level home cook. I've done mushroom foams, the 5 basic sauces, I have a rack full of emulsifiers, I know my spices, I have a lot of cook books, and I've been cooking since I was two and my grandpapa put me up on the counter while he made lunch every day. I've made every basic recipe that people try. I routinely build my own toothsome dishes in several styles. I like spending all day cooking. I don't need more "best half-hour cheesecake ever" recipes if it's nothing but a video of some guy cooking a cheesecake.

What I would like are cooking shows that highlight esoteric, weird, advanced, forgotten, or unusual techniques. I love restaurant techniques, as well as professional techniques hacked for home consumption. I'd also like a fair dose of science up in there.

Good Eats is kind of what I'm looking for, but the host's "humorous" schtick gets real painful real quick. So something similar, but without the schtick, would totally suffice.

posted by Netzapper to food & drink (7 comments total)

America's Test Kitchen!
posted by EatTheWeak at 11:02 PM on September 19 [3 favorites]

If this is too off-topic, mock or delete away, but I think you'd really enjoy the blog Ideas in Food. They drop "CVap" and "activa y-g (1%)" like most food bloggers say "microwave" and "cornstarch."
posted by Juliet Banana at 11:22 PM on September 19

What about In Search of Perfection? Old Heston really kicks it up a notch with the obsessing.
posted by Go Banana at 11:48 PM on September 19

If you're willing to consider a book instead, have a look at McGee On Food And Cooking. It does contain recipes, but it's more of an encyclopaedia than a cookbook. Each chapter discusses a certain food. So the chapter on eggs diagrams the anatomy of eggs and the rough chemical composition and properties of each part. Then it goes on to talk about the uses of each part end discusses e.g. the chemical changes that occur during cooking and the three stages of an egg white foam: their microscopic structures, how to recognise the stages and what culinary use each is best suited for. Other chapters discuss milk, chocolate, yeast cookery, etc.

Fascinating stuff for anyone interested in understanding the science behind cooking.
posted by metaBugs at 6:42 AM on September 20 [1 favorite]

I'm sure I'm stating the obvious here, but I watch Iron Chef America for all those reasons. Wacky ingredients, wacky equipment, wacky methods - and I like Alton Brown and his "soft" science interludes, no matter how dorky that makes me. (I wish the show had even more science, but it has a bit.) I also like watching the old original Iron Chef episodes - even wackier! The show always gives me new ideas to try in the kitchen and I usually learn something new and have a fun new ingredient to Google and then look for at the farmer's market.
posted by Cygnet at 10:09 AM on September 20

(Although, as a vegetarian, I have to admit I've only watched the episodes where the "secret ingredient" is vegetarian - I can only stand to see so many fish gutted per show, and if it's the secret ingredient I just can't stand it, so I haven't even seen half the episodes. See "Battle Asparagus" for some seriously creative sushi if somehow you've never watched the show before.)
posted by Cygnet at 10:12 AM on September 20

Seconding Blumenthal. Very, very heavy on the science and technique. Recipes obviously, but as an experienced chef the techniques for you would be infinitely adaptable.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:02 PM on October 4