When I wrote about Nathan Myhrvold’s book project in November he estimated the book to reach 1500 pages. But what originally started out as a 300-page book on sous vide has now, with the help of a 20-person team, grown to a total of 2200 pages spanning five volumes! Need I say more? Finally the long wait is over: The Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking is now available for pre-order, and the expected release date is December 1st. One could almost be afraid that there will not be anything more to blog about here at Khymos as everything will be covered in Modernist Cuisine 🙂 (but I know better – every previous talk about “end of science” has turned out to be more a starting point than a final destination)
Ferran Adrií says that “This book will change the way we understand the kitchen”, and according to Heston Blumenthal it’s “A fascinating overview of the techniques of modern gastronomy”. And if that’s not enough – take a look at this 26 minute video which guides you through the almost endless amount of high-tech equipment Nathan Myhrvold and his team have available. Oh boy, oh boy!
Other links:
The lecture “Cooking in Silico: Understanding heat transfer in the modern kitchen” by Nathan Myhrvold and Chris Young is available for streaming/download from University of Washington.
From the one chapter I’ve seen this book is going to be mind-bendingly wonderful! Can’t wait!
Was that a chapter on coffee?
Oddly enough! (though not finished) I hadn’t seen that video of the space they work in, I am jealous of all of Chris’ toys!
I winced a little when I saw the price, but given how valuable a resource it will be I will still add it to my wishlist.
Any chance to see a few samples before ordering?
These pictures should give a brief idea:
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/11/17/science/17profile_graphic.html
I probably saw the first mention of this book here on one of my visits. Dropped by tonight and now have Modernist Cuisine on my wishlist. Sticker shock, as mentioned above, hit me as well but thankfully we have until December to save our pennies. Although I probably would have bought it right now had it been released already.
Thank you Martin, for a great website and resource that you have built here.
I’d like to see Nathan do what he originally set out to do, write a book on sous vide. One tenth of one tenth of one percent of us in the real world have the resources to follow in Nathans footsteps. Let’s cook in the kitchen, not in the laboratory.
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[…] I bla-blah’d about it way back in June (here). You can read Martin Lersch’s take here (about the pre-order) and here (about the associated […]