Modernist Cuisine - Six Volumes at US$650

[Daniel Rogov]

Writing in the New York Times, Michael Ruhlman reviews the six volume cookery masterwork "Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking". Written by a team of 46 led by zillionaire Nathan Myhrvold, the set of six books (total of 2,438 pages) sells for US$650 and deals in no small part with what until now has been called "molecular cuisine" but after this work will henceforth be "modernist cuisine".

Lots of detail in the review (including a notation of how six pages are devoted to precisely how one should wash one's hands before cooking).

Whether this will be perceived by history as a serious culinary work or a continuation of what I consider the post-modern joke started by chef Ferran Adria will be determined in time. You may not choose to shell out the large dollars for the book but reading the review is well worth-while, if only for the two photographs on the first page.

See the review at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/dinin ... .html?_r=1