Cooking: The Quintessential Art
Author: Herv This
From its intriguing opening question--"How can we reasonably judge a meal?"--to its rewarding conclusion, this beautiful book picks up where Brillat-Savarin left off almost two centuries ago. Hervé This, a cofounder (with the late physicist Nicholas Kurti) of the new approach to studying the scientific basis of cooking known as molecular gastronomy, investigates the question of culinary beauty in a series of playful, lively, and erudite dialogues. Considering the place of cuisine in Western culture, This explores an astonishing variety of topics and elaborates a revolutionary method for judging the art of cooking. Many of the ideas he introduces in this culinary romance are illustrated by dishes created by Pierre Gagnaire, whose engaging commentaries provide rare insights into the creative inspiration of one of the world's foremost chefs. The result is an enthralling, sophisticated, freewheeling dinner party of a book that also makes a powerful case for openness and change in the way we think about food.
Table of Contents:
Two Introductions 1
Pt. 1 The Beautiful Is the Good
1 The Existence of a Culinary Art 9
2 Artisanal versus Artistic Cuisine 14
3 Tradition and Love 31
4 The Question of Nature 47
5 The Recognition of a Culinary Art 59
Pt. 2 Classical Ideas of Beauty
6 The Origin of Beauty 77
7 Beauty by Numbers 85
8 The Idea of Flavor 93
9 Aristotle and Subtlety 108
Pt. 3 Beauty in the Middle Ages
10 The Path to the Mystical Good 127
11 Of Cooking and Cathedrals 145
12 Boethius and the Brain 153
13 Thomas Aquinas and the Green of the Grass 166
14 Drawing Earth Nearer to Heaven 179
Pt. 4 Artistic Creativity Unbound
15 Medieval Ramifications 191
16 The Occult Influence of Aristotle Lives On 198
17 The Dawn of the Renaissance 212
18 From the Renaissance Onward 223
19 The Enlightenment in the West and the East 231
20 Nature Overcome 243
Pt. 5 The Present and Future of Cooking
21 The Many Strands of Modernity 259
22 Yesterday 271
23 And Tomorrow? 289
24 Simplicity and Completeness 299
25 The Illusion of the Perfect Bouillon 317
Notes 327
List of Recipes 337
Index 341
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San Francisco: Authentic Recipes Celebrating the Foods of the World
Author: Williams Sonoma
A respect for premium ingredients, culinary tradition, and never-ending innovation have come together to create San Francisco's unique food scene. Here, in the legendary city by the Golden Gate, it is not unusual to feast on organic heirloom tomatoes, locally raised grass-fed beef, and a superb artisan cheese all at the same meal. Freshness, seasonality, and simplicity are hallmarks of this ever-evolving cuisine, characteristics that cooks around the world strive to duplicate. Add to this enviable portrait a healthy restaurant landscape and the various seductive flavors of an international pantry stocked by residents from every corner of the globe, and it is easy to see why San Francisco continues to leave its distinctive imprint on tables across the country.
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