Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes

Don't hesitate to buy this book if you like Harold McGee, or cooking science generally. Whatever unhappy reviews you see here have completely mistaken the nature of the project. This is a pellucid distillation of McGee's knowledge about cooking, where every word is made to tell. It's something few writers could ever have managed. The section on vinaigrettes explains several more aspects of how they work, why you make them as you do, and how they might be injured and repaired than J. Kenji López-Alt's equivalent section of The Food Lab does, in a tenth as many words.So it's not rambling, discursive, anecdotal, or overlong, and the prose soars only a little, here and there, mainly at the chapter starts. But read with attention, it casts a delicious spell of clarity, and regularly achieves the goal of all true explanations: to make the familiar, strange. McGee has packed this beautifully designed book with thousands of little insights and pieces of advice that will make you cook better. It's a delight.My only dissatisfaction with the hardcover is that I wish the dust jacket had been reproduced on the surface of the book itself, and that the surface was glossy, to make it feel more like the kitchen-based book it is than a standard nonfiction offering (and that it had a sewn, not a glued, binding, as so many cookbooks do, for durability). But none of Penguin Press's books have those features, and as regular hardcover books go, it is very pleasingly printed, with thick, luxurious paper.

I'm a big, big fan of Harold McGee and his famous volume "On Food and Cooking." Over the years I've bought a few copies of that book. I thought that "Keys to Good Cooking" would be a blend of the discussions from his earlier work with practical recipes or techniques. In a way it is just that. For someone who wouldn't enjoy his other work this is an extensive list of tips and techniques that will be very useful in the kitchen.

I read this like I read computer books: go to the sections that are applicable to what you're doing and follow the methods thereof. Author even recommends this!

The second of Harold McGee's excellent resources on food preparation. This book is not as technical as his first, but very practical. It answers many how, what and why questions that arise as you prepare foods. It too is a reference even though it is for me easier reading than his "On Food and Cooking" book. When you want to know why something works or why it did not this is a valuable resource.

This book is very casual. I found it to be fairly random, and not as informative as I'm used to from Harold McGee.BUY "ON FOOD AND COOKING" INSTEAD. Its by the same author, and is a masterpiece. It covers every aspect of cooking to the very grittiest detail. The chapter on eggs begins with a detailed, scientific description of the chickens entire gestation period.Why is that important? Once you know what an egg is composed of you'll know why and how cooking it certain ways changes its characteristics. Once you know the chemistry and physics behind food and cooking you know EVERYTHING. No more rules of thumb or pointers, just genuine, fundamental knowledge.If you want simple rules of thumb, but no genuine knowledge, then buy this book. If you want the knowledge of an executive chef buy "On Food and Cooking" same author, different world.

Just opened my parcel. What is said on 550 pages could be said on 150 or less.I do not appreciate the self advertising on the cover and the first pages.The ratio of actual information, print and empty space on each page is appaling. The print and the binding are substandard.In between there are some useful ideas, but the editor has not done his or her job.

Rather cursory.

I enjoy using McGee's "Keys to Good Cooking. its information is useful, clear, and fairly copious, and as usual it debunks commonly held myths. the book takes the perspective of focusing on ingredients or types of ingedient and then the different means of preparing them and how any method affects the taste and texture. since I do more experimentation than recipe following, McGee's approach works well for me. it presents alternative ways to consider the taste or texture problem I am trying to solve, and so far has steered me in fruitful directions.if I could own just one book by McGee, it would still be the justly famous [[ASIN:0684843285 On Food and Cooking], which is a hard act to follow. nonetheless, I find the new volume a welcome addition and I refer to it frequently.one warning about the Kindle edition, however: the publisher made the index flat text without hyperlinks, so you can see what's in the book, but you can't get there from here. this is *REALLY* irritating; perhaps later editions will correct this lunacy.

I am a retired professional chef/restaurant manage, and I found some interesting and useful information. My daughter who is studying GCSE Food Tech found it very useful.

The book was in very good condition when I received it. I'm very happy with this product.

bought as a reference book. Nicely packed etc

Excellent tips.

a bit disappointing and not a great book.Paolo