Book Review: What Einstein Told His Cook 2
Robert L. Wolke’s book What Einstein Told His Cook 2 delivers another blow to the many myths that abound about food. He also manages to illuminate the science behind what we do every day when we enter the kitchen in simple terms.
Kitchen science books have come into vogue in the last few years, Harold McGee being the most famous author in the ‘genre’. He is closely followed by Robert L. Wolke, professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh who manages to combine the clarity of a good journalist with the nosiness of a good scientist.
His latest book What Einstein Told His Cook 2 is the second in the series and it is every bit as interesting and as useful as the first. (His first book What Einstein Told His Cook 1 asks and answers questions that we often take for granted. Why does it take so long to reduce a stock? Can you really fry an egg on the sidewalk? What does ‘caramelise’ mean? Why do recipes tell you to use unsalted butter and then add salt? Do microwaves destroy the nutrients in food? See below).
What Einstein Told His Cook 2 asks a new set of equally useful questions: Why are there sulfites in wine? Does hanging a spoon in the neck of the bottle keep champagne from going flat? Why do you need to use different pasta shapes? And at last an answer to a question we ask ourselves at greatfood.ie: what’s the best way to wash fruits, vegetables and produce to make sure there aren’t any germs, pesticides and insecticides on them? (Wolfe says that for skin-enclosed fruits, such as apples, tomatoes, cucumbers, lemons etc you should use a few drops of washing up liquid, brush and then rinse well to get rid of contaminents, especially important if you are eating the zest of a fruit).
Each section ends with recipes devised by Wolfe’s wife, further proof that this man doesn’t just disect food, he loves to cook and eat it too. He is also very humorous and just the kind of scientist who would be vivacious at a dinner party (any other kind talking about our beloved food and drink would be suspect). Some of the details are a bit on the scientific side, but that’s why you buy these books, you want a valid explanation from someone who knows so that when you’re telling everyone in the pub or over dinner, you have the facts to back it up.
The What Einstein Told His Cook series are not just for cooking nerds who want to turn food into some experiment – they are for cooks who practise alchemy everyday, without even knowing it, whether it is breaking down the gelatin in meat bones to thicken a stew or using raising agent to make a cake fluff up. What Wolfe does is show us why things happen in the kitchen so that we can make better decisions when we cook.
