Modernist Cuisine

For the general style of cooking, see molecular gastronomy.
Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking
The six volumes of Modernist Cuisine
AuthorNathan Myhrvold with Chris Young and Maxime Bilet
Cover artistRyan Matthew Smith
LanguageEnglish
PublisherThe Cooking Lab
Publication date
14 March 2011
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages2,438
ISBN978-0-9827610-0-7
OCLC711381030
LC ClassTX651 .M94 2011
Followed byModernist Bread 
Websitemodernistcuisine.com/books/modernist-cuisine/

Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking is a 2011 cookbook by Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young and Maxime Bilet. The book is an encyclopedia and a guide to the science of contemporary cooking.[1]

It is notable for the use of elaborate equipment that many non-professional kitchens lacked at the time (sous vide machines, vacuum-chamber sealers, culinary centrifuges, culinary torches, high-precision gram scales) and for its lush photography, particularly its tricky cross-sectional images of ovens, barbecue grills, and woks, apparently caught in the act of cooking the food inside them, though this isn't physically possible; rather, each individual part of the cooking apparatus was hand-cut in a nearby metal shop and then photographed, the food—already cut in half—was shot at high shutter speed, and the images of both were combined into one in post production.

The book was not published by a traditional publishing house. With no publishers thinking that the book would be profitable, Myhrvold and the culinary research and development lab known as The Cooking Lab published the book themselves.[2] Its six volumes cover history and fundamentals, techniques and equipment, animals and plants, ingredients and preparation, plated dish recipes and a kitchen manual containing brief information on useful topics.[3] At the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2010 the book was named "the most important cookbook of the first ten years of the 21st century" and was introduced into the group's hall of fame.[4] Containing 2,438 pages and weighing in at 23.7 kilograms (52 lb),[5] the work has been described as the "cookbook to end all cookbooks."[6]

In 2012, Modernist Cuisine was condensed and adapted as the single-volume Modernist Cuisine at Home, better suited for the home cook, but which continues to feature the scientific recipe layout, with ingredients specified in traditional American volumetric units for convenience, as well as the more precise S.I. units of mass better suited to culinary science.

The Modernist Cuisine Team together with chef Francisco Migoya[7] also published the 2,642-page Modernist Bread (2017)[8] and 1,708-page Modernist Pizza (2021).[9]

  1. ^ Rosner, Helen. "Modernist Cuisine: Defending the Spaceman". Saveur. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2011-04-30.
  2. ^ Tan, Vaughn (2020). "Part VII: Insights from the Frontiers of Food". The Uncertainty Mindset: Innovation Insights from the Frontiers of Food. New York City: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-55187-8. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
  3. ^ McClusky, Mark (28 February 2011). "Microsoft's Former CTO Takes On Modernist Cuisine". Wired.
  4. ^ "GOURMAND AWARDS 2010 COOKBOOKS" (PDF). March 3, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 April 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
  5. ^ Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking [Hardcover]. ISBN 0982761007.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Wall was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Francisco Migoya". Modernist Cuisine. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Modernist Bread". Modernist Cuisine. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  9. ^ "Modernist Pizza". Modernist Cuisine. Retrieved 16 March 2022.