Rating: 
Summary: Amazing Reference
Review: The how and why. What else can I say? I love it!
Rating: 
Summary: Great Food Science - Impractical Recipes
Review: I have ambivalent feelings about this book. This book is a very good source of information about food science. However, the recipes are typically for about 6 people but I only cook for two. Moreover, the recipes require many ingredients which mean you'll spend a lot of time and money at the grocery store and in the kitchen if you want to really see how the food science concepts are demonstrated by the recipes. The world needs more Mark Bittman's instead of people who feel they need to compete with the CIA's "The New Professional Chef."
Rating:
Summary: Scientific knowledge - yes. Recipes - no.
Review: Let me say at the start that I highly respect Ms. Corriher. If you care about quality cooking and buy cookbooks by authors who truly know their stuff (and these are in the minority), you have seen her quoted and referred to many times. She DOES know what she's talking about. However, I simply don't care for any of her recipes that I have tried. For example, her cakes are overly sweet (which she admits to up front) for my taste and there's not much variety. In giving tips about chocolate chip cookies, she tells you how to make thin and crispy versions or thicker, chewy ones--but to get her cookies thick and chewy, she replaces butter with Crisco. Her science is flawless, but the cookies are quite dull since Crisco does not impart the wonderful flavor that butter does. Turn to Cooks Illustrated (Ms. Corriher also advises their staff) to learn how get thick, chewy cookies using all butter. I found similar examples throughout the book. Her science is sound, and this book is definitely valuable for it, but sometimes flavor and texture are compromised to achieve it. I guess it's just a matter of individual taste.Also, this book is very cluttered and ill-organized. Recipes are interrupted by charts and information pertaining to other subjects or recipes, and it's hard to just turn to a page and quickly find what you are looking for since there's so much stuff crammed onto each page. It's hard to believe that an editor even looked at this thing, with the result that it is one of the ugliest and hard-to-use cookbooks I have ever seen.
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Summary: All men who feel exploited should buy this great book...
Review: Most women are very familiar with all aspects of successful cooking. It is the men who need to know and understand the Hows and Whys- give this book to your man- he will thank you.
Rating:
Summary: Not Cooking for Dummies!
Review: If you want to understand the chemical processes that take place in cooking (and use this info for fun and profit), this is an excellent book. Now that I know the chemical processes, I can successfully BBQ anything from steak to monkey. I gave this book to a friend of mine who isn't very smart and he hated it. I gave it to another friend who is very smart and she liked it a lot. So, dummies don't like the book. Smart people like it (based on my 3 person sample). If you want a collection of recipes, just use [search engine] on the web and save your money. Bon Ape!
Rating:
Summary: great!!!!
Review: i love food. let me say that again: i love food. love cooking. needless to say, this is the book to have. in fact, upon showing it to friends, they've also purchased the book ('cause i want mine back....) really great, if you're serious about cooking.
Rating: 
Summary: Recipes that always work
Review: This book is great because you learn why, when even if you follow grandma's recipe EXACTLY, it may or may not turn out as good as hers. You see.. all flours aren't created equal. Shirley will tell you why. (She's a scientist/cook} This book is worth it just for the recipe for Touch of Grace Biscuits.. they are the most melt-in-your-mouth, to-die-for biscuits, ever created. My husband RAVED about his late grandma's biscuits until he bit into one of these. Now he raves about ME!! Thanks Shirley!! These will make me a legacy in my family!!
Rating:
Summary: The how and why
Review: This is likely the best book ABOUT cooking in existance. Not a cook book though it has good recipies, but rather the basic whys that get learned only in the best of the cooking schools. You continually find yourself slapping your head and saying, "That makes sense,, Why didn't I think of it." I'm 65 and have been cooking for years, even wrote a cookbook for friends. I learned more ABOUT food from Mz Corriher in the first week than I had in many years previous. This one gets sent to friends who will use and appreciate it. The real 'foodies'. Thanks Shirley JWH
Rating:
Summary: Cookwise
Review: What a wonderful book! I have collected cookbooks for years and this is the first one I have found that explains why things go wrong when baking certain items. I have baked for 50+ years and learned so much from Shirley's book. After seeing her on The Food Network show and reading the book,it was if she was speaking to me and explaining about the gluten, and other flours and the combination of ingredients one needs to make a perfect product. It really is more of an information book than a cookbook and thats OK. Well worth the money. Easy read.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have
Review: An excellent book for any level of cook. Shirley O. Corriher is a food scientist. She explains the chemical reactions that happen between certain ingredients. For example, if you are making a fresh mayonnaise (oil, eggs, lemon juice), she said that you must never use extra-virgin olive oil as this oil contains a chemical that prevents it from emulsifying with other ingredients. In her book, she also includes over 230 recipes which help support this technique. She is in high demand as chefs and cookbook authors are forever
consulting her on why their new recipes have failed. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand what is happening when they use a recipe.
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