Make a resolution to cook smarter in 2021

Digging deeper, the course and the book take inspiration from Harold McGee’s 1984 classic, “On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen” (Scribner, $24.99), which was completely updated and revised in 2004.

McGee said he wrote it to “translate technical food science into cook-friendly kitchen science, something that had not yet been done in a systematic, comprehensive way.” And it soon became a standard reference in both home and professional kitchens.

Credit: Handout

Credit: Handout

“Science and Cooking” is all about physics and chemistry, which is what the professors teach and research. But the true topic is how and why recipes work. The first example in the book is a deconstruction of a “standard” chocolate chip cookie recipe versus chef Christina Tosi’s Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies. But don’t fear, it becomes a fun and tasty lesson on texture and flavor molecules.

One of my favorite recipes in the book, chef Carme Ruscalleda’s Crema Catalana, comes from the chapter on Texture, Flavor and Elasticity. It turns out that an egg is an example of a heat stable gel. And as anyone who’s fried an egg knows, and the authors explain in detail, “once the gel of a solid egg is formed, there’s no going back.” But gentle heat plus other ingredients can coax the eggs into creamy deliciousness.

Unlike my grandmother and mother, I’m not much of a baker, especially when it comes to bread. I know sourdough has become the signature loaf of the pandemic, but it’s not my thing.

Thankfully, “Mastering Bread: The Art and Practice of Handmade Sourdough, Yeast Bread, and Pastry” by Marc Vetri, Claire Kopp McWilliams and David Joachim (Ten Speed Press, $32.50) covers a lot of ground.

Vetri is the founder of the Cucina Bread Program “part of the American movement to reclaim high-quality bread as a cornerstone of our food culture.” And the book offers a complete course through chapters on grain, mixing, fermentation, shaping and baking.

But of all the information and inspiration to be found, the explanation of why serious bakers measure ingredients by weight instead of volume is key. I’m convinced that everyone who buys this book, or bakes a bunch, needs to buy a digital scale.

Beyond the realm of heavenly yeast bread and rolls (like my mother made), the recipes that fascinated me most were soft pretzels, and an Italian version of hard pretzels called Taralli. Yes, there’s shaping and boiling and baking to be done, but the loop shape is super cool, and the crunchy end product is perfect with beer, chilled wine or cocktails.

Credit: Handout

Credit: Handout

Speaking of drinks, Dale DeGroff’s “The New Craft of the Cocktail: Everything You Need to Know to Think Like a Master Mixologist” (Potter, $35) is a tutorial in the art of bartending. DeGroff worked in New York’s Rainbow Room at the top of 30 Rock, and Windows on the World on top of the World Trade Center. He released the first edition of his book, “The Craft of the Cocktail” in 2002, but the 9/11 attacks made the timing “so right and so wrong,” he writes in the intro.

Nonetheless, DeGroff became known as a founding father of the modern cocktail revival, and a major influence on a new wave of bartenders and cocktail bars. What’s more, he and his wife, Jill, are the co-founders of the Museum of the Cocktail in New Orleans.

Credit: Daniel Krieger

Credit: Daniel Krieger

“The New Craft of the Cocktail” includes chapters on history, ingredients, tools and techniques. Not surprisingly, though, the heft of the hardback book is in the recipes, which include lots of helpful notes and interesting anecdotes.

Though I’m much more of a bourbon guy, I’ve become interested in the complexity of scotch cocktails. DeGroff features two versions of one of my favorites, the oh-so-Scottish Bobby Burns. The variations in the spirits are fascinating, and he serves them both with a shortbread cookie for a garnish.

RECIPES

These recipes from three new cookbooks serve up science, along with a delicious Spanish dessert, a surprising Italian snack, and two versions of a classic Scottish cocktail.

Credit: Handout

Credit: Handout

Crema Catalana

This crema catalana is the Spanish version of crème brûlée. The secret to the smooth silky texture of this dish is this: When eggs are heated quickly as in hard-boiled eggs, certain egg yolk proteins become scrambled by aggregating with each other. But in the environment of gentle heat, diluted with milk along with some sugar and flour to coat the proteins, the yolk proteins eventually form a fine network that gives the custard its elasticity. Crema catalana is an excellent example of how certain molecules can be coaxed toward a specific result by providing the correct conditions.

Excerpted from “Science and Cooking: Physics Meets Food, From Homemade to Haute Cuisine” by Michael Brenner, Pia Sörensen and David Weitz. Used with permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company Inc. All rights reserved.

Credit: Ed Anderson

Credit: Ed Anderson

Taralli

Italy’s answer to hard pretzels, Taralli are especially popular in Puglia. They’re boiled before baking, similar to the process for making bagels, which sets the crust before these crunchy snacks even hit the oven. The loop shape makes it easy to pick them up and dunk them in chilled wine.

Reprinted with permission from “Mastering Bread” by Marc Vetri, Claire Kopp McWilliams and David Joachim, copyright © 2020. Photographs by Ed Anderson. Published by Ten Speed, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

Credit: Daniel Krieger

Credit: Daniel Krieger

Bobby Burns

Frank Meier’s version of this drink in “The Artistry of Mixing Drinks” (1936) calls for one part sweet vermouth and one part dry vermouth.

Bobby Burns Naren’s

This variation on the theme was created by Naren Young for Saxon + Parole, New York City.

Reprinted with permission from “The New Craft of the Cocktail” by Dale DeGroff, copyright © 2020. Photographs by Daniel Krieger. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

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