The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

to reach the desired end results—and you’ll find plenty of
recipes and instructions that tell you how to get better
results. (Did you know that you can parcook pasta in room-
temperature tap water? Or that the key to perfect French
fries is vinegar?)
You’ll probably find that I talk about my wife and my
dogs a bit too much, and that I’m an insane fan of both the
Beatles and the pun, that lowest form of wit. I may rightfully
be accused of making abstruse references to any or all of
the following topics: The Simpsons. Cartoons and movies
from the 1980s. Star Wars. British comedians. The Big
Lebowski. MacGyver. To these crimes, I plead guilty, but I
will not repent.
Occasionally you will come across an experiment
designed for you to carry out yourself at home. All of these
experiments are party-friendly, and most of them are kid-
friendly too, so make sure you’ve got company around if
you’re going to attempt them!
Some of you may use this book solely for the recipes, and
there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ll still like you. I’ve done
my best to write them as clearly and concisely as possible,
and I guarantee each and every one of them will work as
advertised (provided you follow the instructions). If they
don’t work for you, I want to hear about it! Others may read
through the entire book without ever cooking a single thing
from it. I might even like you guys more than I like the
recipe-only guys, for it’s what’s going on behind the scenes,
or under that well-browned crust, that really interests me.
If you’re the armchair-cook type, you’re in luck. This
book was written to work from front to back. Recipes in