The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

control over our holiday menus, but I’d like to apologize for
monopolizing the kitchen year after year in pursuit of ever-
better roast turkey and stuffing. Next year, you all get a one-
time pass. Aya, you can put as many cranberries as you’d
like in the stuffing. Pico, you can make your mashed
potatoes lumpy. Fred, you can poke and pick at any pot or
bowl in the kitchen you’d like (and I’ll even let you
interrupt my carefully regimented cooking schedule to mix
yourself a martini or two, so long as you make one for me
as well). Koji, you can continue to entertain us all with your
magic tricks and Keiko, well . . . I’m sorry, but the turkey is
still mine. I think we can both agree it’ll all be better that
way.
It’s true that this book started out as a blog post about
eggs, but none of this—the blog post, the book, the online
column—would have existed without Ed Levine, who has
been by far the most generous and supportive boss I’ve ever
had. It was at his suggestion that I started writing a food
science column. He was the one who came up with “The
Food Lab” as the title. He gave me the boost I needed to get
off my butt and start working on this book. Yes, he offered
me a job, but what I’ve got at Serious Eats is more than just
a job. It was an open platform, a playground for food nerds,
and Ed and I are still figuring out what it’s transforming into
as we enter our fifth year of what has been an
extraordinarily and mutually fruitful relationship. Heck,
even his wife, Vicky, is my agent.
Speaking of which, you couldn’t ask for a better agent or
advocate than Vicky Bijur. She’s not only represented me
and my interests with great vigor and zeal, she’s also been