On food and eating
back. Learning about food—learning to eat—is a series of edible adventures and surprises. For instance, just when you think you have mastered the potato, that such a basic ingredient could have nothing new to offer, you discover aligot, a velvety blend of mashed potatoes, garlic, and Cantal cheese. Or you are introduced to the unlikely but triumpha
... See morePeter Mayle • French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew (Vintage Departures)
What’s the difference between herbs and spices? Herbs are the leaves and stems of plants. Spices include all the other parts: bark, fruit, buds, seeds, roots. That’s the difference! That’s it!
Hilah Johnson • Learn To Cook: A Down and Dirty Guide to Cooking (For People Who Never Learned How)
The internet certainly played its part. As we spend increasing hours buried in our computers the very fact that food can't be consumed virtually gives it a special resonance. You can, of course, post pictures of what you’re eating - people do that by the millions - but that’s no substitute for the scent of onions caramelizing in butter, the sound o... See more
Food Writing Grows Up
The sandwich was not invented by an average eater. The Earl of Sandwich was an obsessive gambler, and demanded food in a form that would not require him to leave the card table while he ate.
Origins of sandwich
Food has the power to patch up the ragged edges of our souls – the frayed tempers and unravelled dreams – and make the world seem OK again, if only for a few moments.
Ruby Tandoh • Eat Up: Food, Appetite and Eating What You Want
The power of food or a cooking habit
By simmering the vegetables until soft, the cook breaks down their cell walls and releases the cell contents into the water. These contents include salts, sugars, acids, and savory amino acids, as well as aromatic molecules. Carrots, celery, and onions are almost always included for their aromatics, and mushrooms and tomatoes are the richest source... See more
Harold McGee • On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
In practice, most cooks keep their flavorings at room temperature. As long as they aren’t regularly exposed to strong light, whole spices keep well for a year, and ground spices for a few months.
Harold McGee • On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
I have come to believe that food is history of the deepest kind. Everything we eat tells a tale of ingenuity and creation, domination and injustice—and does so more vividly than any other artifact, any other medium.
Robin Sloan • Sourdough: A Novel
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
Harold McGee • 3 highlights
