...Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is written smoothly and casually, and kept breezy via charming watercolors by the perceptive Bay Area artist Wendy MacNaughton. Nosrat’s wisdom is apparent in the way she instructs, which lets her cover food science without ever getting lost in the finer points of chemistry ... Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’s framework is a valuable user’s manual for recipes, letting even the greenest cooks disassemble them to see how their parts fit together. Her book is full of perspective-altering moments that are akin to being told about the arrow hidden in FedEx’s logo and never being able to unsee it ... Not everything described in Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is easy or quick, but it is nonetheless an achievement that Nosrat’s book would be of value both to people who don’t consider themselves cooks and to people actively striving to become better ones. It is additionally impressive that she accomplished this without going into as much depth as other writers have felt the need to ... so many of today’s more popular cookbooks are essentially postcards from some idyllic region or some big-shot chef’s critically acclaimed restaurant ...These cookbooks can be enchanting, but the message they carry is that your truest, most carefree self is unlockable only by assembling the perfect grain bowl in an immaculate kitchen other than the one you own. Nosrat’s is different. It is about using simple concepts to make the most of the scratched-up cutting board, the stove in need of a thorough cleaning, and the slow-to-heat oven that are already right in front of you.
...Nosrat's talent for elegantly and exuberantly articulating technique and the science behind it is rare. It's equally rare that the resulting book is actually useful and a pleasure to read ... in a decade, your copy of Salt Fat Acid Heat may be dogeared, some pages flecked with oil, vinegar, and wine, but it will not have fallen victim to library dust bunnies, its cover faded with a decade of water rings. It has a sense of permanence ... The very ordinary-ness of salt, fat, acid, and heat becomes extraordinary with the addition of MacNaughton's richly watercolored flavor wheels, charts, and delightful instructionals ... Illustrations are analogue when deployed in magazines like Cooks Illustrated or Mark Bittman's books, but here they feel like the inverse; they add a peep hole through which to observe cooking differently. Flipping through what could have been a straightforward, practically photographed book is transformed into an experience something like culinary synesthesia ... each recipe is the best version for the purpose of cooking at home wrapped in language that will welcome in all levels of cooks across generations for decades—and perhaps the next century—to come.
This is an indispensable guide to the whole subject of cooking. The author...takes a simple scientific approach, explaining with humour and concision how all dishes boil down to four elements ... Through a blend of illustrations, grids and essays, she arms you with the underlying principles that you need to make anything taste good. The recipes in the second half are inviting, and the book as a whole will liberate even the greenest of cooks from being a slave to recipes and shopping lists. I’ve been waiting for a book like this for a long time.
This is a book that everyone should own ... an essential guide to the whys of cooking ... It is a course in how to be a chef. It is entertainingly written, and the author shares personal mistakes all cooks make, what she’s learned from them, and how to use the experience to be a better cook. The recipes are delightful, and the explanations are clear and very helpful. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
A talented explainer—on her website she calls herself a 'writer-cook-teacher'—Ms. Nosrat writes as if playing the role of a fairy godmother who has special gifts to bestow on the reader ... It’s perhaps inevitable that a book so ambitious should also be, in certain of its details, disappointing and occasionally dead wrong ... All the illustrations, charming and lively, are an invaluable complement to the text. They bring explanations to life, and they make the occasionally complex ideas much clearer.
Before Salt Fat Acid Heat I was of the opinion that given I already have a good stash of the usuals – Ottolenghi, Slater, Fearnley Whittingstall, Langbein, Stein, even Nigella, Mary Berry and Jamie – I really didn’t need another cookbook ... I wasn’t far into Salt Fat Acid Heat before I knew that I was reading something different. Nosrat is no Nigella, seductively stirring some tasty morsels. She’s an unfalteringly curious concocter; she’s actually a scientist, minus the sandals ... The book does not have the normal layout, managing successfully to incorporate a touch of memoir, comment, information and actual recipes in a fairly loose format. This tone means that at any stage you can go back into this book and just enjoy any bit of it. A glance at any page will mean you’ve learnt something new ... At nearly 500 pages Salt Fat Acid Heat is solid; but it’s just so interesting. I’m curious to know how often I’ll refer to it over the coming months: I think, often. Whenever I want to feel celebratory.
As Nosrat understands, the elements of good cooking couldn’t be simpler ... Trained at famed Chez Panisse, Nosrat lays out the science of cooking, but only insofar as it enhances flavors and creates gastronomic art. Culinary students and serious home cooks can discover from both text and drawings how to succeed through fundamentals of their craft.
In this excellent, accessible cookbook, Nosrat leads readers through the cooking process ... Over the course of the book, readers will learn how to make the perfect Caesar salad, break down a chicken, boil an egg to the desired doneness, and put those skills to use in creating many other dishes. MacNaughton’s whimsical illustrations, charts, and graphs add to the experience. This exceptional debut is sure to inspire greater confidence in readers and enable them to create better meals on their own.
