Good book on the chemistry of cooking?

Question

What is a good book on the chemistry of cooking? I am looking for a book that discusses fermentation chemical reactions and reactions that occur when food is heated.

Answer 1

The standard and most commonly referenced home-cook-approachable book on the science of cooking is On Food and Cooking, by Harold McGee.

Answer 2

Many books! Here's a few:

• Culinary Reactions is probably the book that most directly addresses your question, since it's specifically cooking and chemistry.
• The Food Lab has quite a bit of chemistry in it.
• Science and Cooking is both chemistry and physics.
• Modernist Cuisine, while about all the new cooking techniques, sure has a bunch of applied chemistry which is explained in the booth.

Answer 3

I’m a fan of Shirley O. Corriher’s books for depth in what’s actually going on when cooking. She was a biochemist, and was a semi-regular on Good Eats. Her first two books explain some of the chemistry of what’s happening, the variables at play, and then presents a few recipes that show how you can change things up:

• CookWise: The Hows & Whys of Successful Cooking, The Secrets of Cooking Revealed
• BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 200 Magnificent Recipes

She also has a new book that I haven’t read yet:

• KitchenWise: Essential Food Science for Home Cooks

There’s also Cook’s Illustrated The Science of Good Cooking, but it’s out of print, so you might instead one to look into the other ones that have already been mentioned (like The Food Lab)