Web Resources for learning cooking science?

June 2, 2010 7:02 PM

What are some web resources to learn more about cooking science?

I want to learn more about the why of cooking than the what. It's easy for anyone to find recipes to follow on the internet. Where are some places I can learn what's going on with the food as it's being made?

posted by fizzzzzzzzzzzy to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

You mean like Alton Brown on Good Eats?
posted by amro at 7:06 PM on June 2, 2010

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at serious eats.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 7:13 PM on June 2, 2010 [2 favorites]

It's not a web resource, but On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee is exactly about this. You might be able to buy it on Kindle, I guess...
posted by wondercow at 7:15 PM on June 2, 2010 [1 favorite]

Harold McGee.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 7:17 PM on June 2, 2010

Well, this is not exactly what you've described, but chef Homaro Cantu has a website that is devoted to his passion of melding mad scientistry with food. It's got a lot of science that normally wouldn't be in food, but it might have some regular cooking science too.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 7:25 PM on June 2, 2010

Biggest bang for your buck? Get a web-only subscription to Cook's Illustrated. You'll gain access to every recipe they've ever done - but more importantly, every accompanying article. Their testing methodology is AMAZING. Each article you read will teach you a few new things about WHY food behaves the way it does, which is much more useful from a creativity standpoint than memorizing recipes. I can't say enough good things about Cook's, man.
posted by julthumbscrew at 7:45 PM on June 2, 2010

I also came in to recommend "On Food and Cooking." I absolutely tortured my husband with that book because every paragraph I'd say, "Huh -- honey, listen to this!"
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:15 PM on June 2, 2010

If you want your science delivered via food that is actually delicious I'd recommend Cooking for Geeks.
posted by alms at 8:19 PM on June 2, 2010

Seconding Cook's Illustrated. I have a huge geek crush on that magazine/site. Any article that includes the (paraphrased) lines "How to make the perfect chocolate cake? We baked 130 of them to find out!" just sends me.
posted by guybrush_threepwood at 8:56 PM on June 2, 2010

Similar question previously (about books, rather than web resources).
posted by Gortuk at 6:45 AM on June 3, 2010

The Curious Cook, Harold McGee's blog. If you haven't read his book (see wondercow's comment above), your next action should be to buy his book. He's the father of kitchen geekery.

Cooking Issues, the cutting edge of what's possible with food, from the French Culinary Institute. Technical as all get out, and probably no so practical for actually doing at home, but so much fun to read as a science type. I'm seriously tempted to use their rotovap cut-point setup in our lab, actually.

Ideas in Food another out-there molecular gastronomy blog. More amazing than practical, but still worth a read.

Khymos is another molecular gastronomy-type blog, but rather more in reach for the home cook.
posted by bonehead at 7:00 AM on June 3, 2010

N'thing Cook's Illustrated, plus their PBS show America's Test Kitchen. They are my go-to resource for all things food.
posted by I am the Walrus at 7:42 AM on June 3, 2010

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at serious eats.

FYI, Kenji is also an editor at Cook's Illustrated, and occasionally on the TV show. I will definitely be checking this out.
posted by I am the Walrus at 7:45 AM on June 3, 2010

Nth for On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee. If you're after the science of why cooking works, that's the book for you. It's a classic.
posted by thatone at 9:31 AM on June 3, 2010