I tried to read it straight by way of, and stopped dejectedly in the course of a history of dairy—I suppose around where McGee describes the first time humans turned water-buffalo milk into mozzarella. McGee’s guide is better skipped around in often than turned to for a centered lesson on cooking ideas. One of the reasons for that is that the usual recommendations for a concept-based book about cooking usually are not fully useful. And of the recommendations that did match the category, few struck a readable steadiness between in-the-weeds scientific digressions and on an everyday basis pragmatism. After reading…
