Culinary Science

Pie witch Reese is living her dream: running the bakery she’s always wanted, selling magical pies, and landing a date with handsome Prince Forrest of the Autumn Court. But people around her start vanishing, returning hours or days later with no memory of their missing time.

A new American cuisine is forming. Animals never before considered or long since forgotten are emerging as delicacies. Parts that used to be for scrap are centerpieces. Ash and hay are fashionable ingredients, and you pay handsomely to breathe flavored air. Going out to a nice dinner now often precipitates a confrontation with a fundamental question: Is that food?

Fayetteville seems ordinary enough, but in this little town, all the legends - the fairytales and the folklore - live next door! Marilee Harper is desperate to find another job after she accidentally set fire to the home of the richest woman in town. Converting an old hospital into a bed and breakfast seems like a golden opportunity. Stressed and aggravated, Marilee wants nothing more than to redeem herself, even if faucets and lights turn themselves off and on, and old baseballs fly without help.

Mokhtar Alkhanshali is 24 and working as a doorman when he becomes fascinated with the rich history of coffee and Yemen's central place in it. He leaves San Francisco and travels deep into his ancestral home to tour terraced farms high in the country's rugged mountains. He collects samples and organizes farmers and is on the verge of success when civil war engulfs the country. Saudi bombs rain down, the US embassy closes, and Mokhtar has to find a way out of Yemen with only his hopes on his back.

In this remarkable culinary biography, Rae Katherine Eighmey presents Benjamin Franklin's experimentation with food throughout his life. At age 16, he began dabbling in vegetarianism. In his early 20s, citing the health benefits of water over alcohol, he convinced his printing press colleagues to abandon their traditional breakfast of beer and bread for "water gruel", a kind of porridge he enjoyed. Franklin is known for his scientific discoveries, including electricity and the lightning rod, and his curiosity and logical mind extended to the kitchen.

Words to Eat By explores the remarkable stories behind five of our most basic food words, words which reveal fascinating aspects of the evolution of the English language and our powerful associations with certain foods. Using sources that vary from Roman histories and early translations of the Bible to Julia Child's recipes and Frank Bruni's restaurant reviews, Ina Lipkowitz shows how saturated with French and Italian names the English culinary vocabulary is, "from a la carte to zabaglione."

Focusing on contemporary practices, The Culinary Imagination traces the social, aesthetic, and political history of food from myth to modernity, from ancient sources to our current wave of food mania. What does it mean to transform raw stuff into cooked dishes, which then become part of our own bodies; to savor festive meals yet resolve to renounce gluttony; to act as predators where in another life we might have become prey?

Ambrosia Bourgeois, the New Orleans Goddess of Gastronomy, uses food to seduce men in hopes of concocting Mr. Right. Paralleling Southern cuisine, each chapter captures the hearts, minds, and even the bodies of various men. Ambrosia tries to perfect her craft by using traditional recipes from her deceased grandmother. When she discovers that her meals fall short of converting each man to her calculated preference, she moves on to the next one - a total of 16. Her subjects range from a local sheriff to a Bourbon Street musician. Will she reach her goal of complete succulent seduction before the monstrous hurricane hits her city?

Egg Mastery: The Definitive Guide to Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs" is an in-depth guide dedicated to the art and science of cooking hard-boiled eggs perfectly. This book thoroughly explores the scientific principles that influence egg cooking, from understanding protein denaturation to mastering the precise heat transfer needed for flawless results. It provides practical advice on selecting the best eggs, detailed steps for various cooking methods, and expert techniques for peeling. Additionally, the guide addresses common issues and questions, offering solutions to ensure every hard-boiled egg...