On Food and Cooking Reviewed

Review:

Ambitions
		*On Food and Cooking* The Science and Lore of the Kitchen By Harold McGee ISBN: 0684800012 Publisher: Scribner Publication date: November 2004 Format: Hardcover List price: $40 (Canada, UK)
Type: Reference, Textbook
Sample recipe: Asparagus in Fragrant Sauce
intended audience:	novice	advanced beginner	good home cook	gourmet	professional
apparent goal:	stocking stuffer	sampler	comprehensive	Biblical stature	coffee-table
competition:	outclassed	also-ran	midrange	strong challenger	leads the pack
Content
# of recipes:	<50	<100	<200	<300	>300
practical recipes:	<20%	<40%	<60%	<80%	>80%
# of ingredients:	<3	<6	<9	<12	>12
ingredient hunt:	7-11	pantry	supermarket	online	airfare required
recipe complexity:	baby steps	simple	medium	intense	professional
instructions:	inadequate	bare bones	full figured	educational	verbose
time conscious:	outright lies	speed of light	fairly quick	takes time	takes all day
photos/drawings:	skimpy	adequate	decorative	instructive	glorious
recipe results:	dorm food	casual food	family meals	fancy food	fit for royalty
flavor quotient:	disappointing	fair	good	delicious	exceptional
Format
layout:	ick	cluttered	clean	kind to cooks	work of art
legibility:	microscopic	challenging	adequate	clear	brilliant
production quality:	cheesy	questionable	years of service	gift-quality	stunning
value:	ouch!	a little pricey	on the money	excellent	worth splurging
Ease of Use
page numbers:	invisible	hard to find	spotty	adequate	obvious
table of contents:	missing	frustrating	passable	useful	helpful
index quality:	none	tragic	adequate	good	excellent
page flipping:	infuriating	tedious	acceptable	rare	never
Author
writer:	hack	cook turned writer	writer turned cook	comedian	auteur
cook:	self-taught	non-restaurant	chef	teacher	celebrity
Summary
overall rating:	fair	good	above average	excellent	Ochef Top 100
Comments: Excellent, stunning, superb, informative, fascinating, etc., etc. Not a cookbook at all, of course, but an exhaustive reference, answering nearly every question on food and cooking that you could dream up. The few recipes in the book are of historical interest. The one point to remember as the food world continues to gush over Dr. McGee's book is that it really is a textbook. This is not a book one is going to read casually in a few weekends. It's well written and interesting, but reading and digesting the material takes a lot of work.