I’m Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking

Finally, a book that is about cooking, and not just a invitation into someone's kitchen where they put on a show for you. I don't have that many cookbooks, but most of them tend to be short on details and long on atmosphere (do I really need a picture of where the celebrity chef buys their fresh arugula?). This book is also different in that it _expects_ you to change the recipes. It's not a paint-by-numbers book. It really doesn't have that many recipes for the size of the book, but it tells you at each stage what you are doing, why you are doing it, and exactly what is happening to the food at each point. It may not be for everyone - it's not designed to give easy recipes to make, but more to enable you to do the creating yourself - show more but highly recommended if you ever wondered why your cooking just doesn't come out like you expected. show less

This book changed my life.

I’ve never been a big cook. I think mostly because I’m a little impatient and the results are spectacular enough normally for me to get a charge of out taking the time to cook.

That may all be changing because of a book I got this weekend. The Mrs and I like to watch Good Eats on the Food network. Its just a fun show. I watch cooking shows for the same reason I was do it yourself shows. Its fun to watch people who know how to do something well do it. But I don’t ever cook anything I see on a cooking show. Because, like building a deck or replacing a sink, when you do it is harder and never works out the way it does for them.

I was at the book store and I saw Alton Brown’s book I’m Just Here For the show more Food.

I sat down in comfy chair at B&N and decided to thumb through it. I was going to skip the intro, but then thought Alton is pretty interesting I’ll see what he has to say. About half an hour and two chapters I was ready to buy and make a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond.

Needless to say it is the coolest cooking book ever. Notice I didn’t say cookbook. A cookbook is a collection of recipes. I’m Just Here for the Food (JHFF) is a cooking book. It talks about how cooking works. The book is organized by kind of heat application. Starting with Searing and going through grilling, frying, roasting all the way to microwave cooking.

There are some recipes, but they are more practical applications of the knowledge you just gained than ways to make a particular food. And I think it really will help when you make a recipe and it doesn’t turn out like you expected. Now I understand to look at the application of heat, how it gets into the food and how the ingredients effect that. show less

Ok so Alton Brown is my tv crush but I still really liked this book. Teaches basic techniques but also gives you the why.

Science nerd meets food nerd. What could be a better combo? I loved the explanations, and a lot of the passages had me laughing out loud.
The recipes are probably good, too.

Fantastic book, logically laid-out and just generally well-conceived. It changed the way I write and think about my own recipes, and it's one of the first books in my hand when I'm wondering what to do for dinner.

Science nerd meets food nerd. What could be a better combo? I loved the explanations, and a lot of the passages had me laughing out loud.
The recipes are probably good, too.

Everyone loves Alton Brown: the shocked hair, the espresso-aided delivery, and the Harold McGee-grade scientific foundations for his explanations of how food behaves between his kitchen's four walls (and outside on the grill!) are concise, entertaining, and even practical.