In the annals of essential books both cooking-related and non (for me that would include a thesaurus, Larousse Gastronomique, Hazan’s Essentials of Italian Cooking, Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and the entire Joan Didion catalogue), a new tome should be immediately added. The Food Lab (W.W. Norton) by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, the managing culinary director at Serious Eats, is an encyclopedic (an entire Britannica set really) compendium of food preparation. Alt introduced himself as a proud nerd and the intense geek-dom is evident on every page (there are more than 900). A very lengthy explanation of clarified butter is followed by a recipe for heavenly, creamy scrambled eggs; three dense pages are devoted to outlining the importance of resting meat; and there is a massive chapter about the many various oils, their smoke points, and how best to utilize them. Not to mention detailed instructions for mastering the knife skills for every vegetable imaginable from potatoes to shallots. Whatever your food query, chances are Alt has already had it, pondered it, extensively researched it, and shared an answer on these pages. FV
