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CookWise: The Hows & Whys of Successful Cooking, The Secrets of Cooking Revealed
Offering “the hows and whys of successful cooking,� Cookwise , by well-known food writer and culinary sleuth Shirley O. Corriher, tells you how and why things happen in the course of food preparation. The more than 230 outstanding recipes featured not only please the palate, but demonstrate the various roles of ingredients and techniques—making Cookwise an invaluable reference for anyone who has ever wanted to improve on a recipe, make a cake moister, or a roast chicken juicier.
524 pages, Hardcover
First published August 21, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
January 20, 2009
If you're a food science geek like me, this is a great reference. Not quite as approachable as Alton Brown (but you might have seen her on the Alton Brown show Good Eats). The recipes are chosen to be good examples rather than great eats, but they're still pretty good. The key is that she teaches you how food works -- which helps you to figure out how to make better food. If you're the type to cook by eye and taste and smell, this is the kind of cookbook you want to read.
June 1, 2009
This is an amazing book. There are recipes, but the value of the book is in how it explains the processes of cooking - why foods do what they do when they're cooked. Having a strong background regarding processes and ingredients makes it much easier to experiment and succeed. It's a Bible I return to again and again.
June 29, 2010
Recently I was cataloging my cookbook collection and the process was making me think about all the different books and why I had them. I decided to randomly work my way through some of them, cooking and reading, mostly out of curiosity about why I originally purchased them and what I thought about them now.
The first book I grabbed, Cookwise by Shirley Corriher, was chosen because although I remembered that I have used it for reference, I couldn't actually remember that I had cooked much from the book. So I started reading and cooking. Well, actually in this volume there was more reading and less cooking because it is basically about the techniques and materials of cooking and the recipes are designed and arranged to illustrate the points. This is good from the perspective of learning, but not necessarily so good when you just pick up the book looking for something to cook for dinner.
Cookwise was a very interesting book to read and it contains a lot of valuable information. As I mentioned, I have used if for reference, and I will refer to it again and again as it has some tables and charts that are either not available or not as clearly presented in my other cookbooks. It has a very thorough discussion of baking, which doesn't directly affect me any more as it is based on wheat, a grain I can no longer use. I don't do much baking anymore anyway. But there is still good information here that I can apply to good gluten-free baking because success requires understanding the underlying principles and knowing what one is trying to emulate.
As for the recipes; I find these less successful. There are really only two recipes I have tried in this book that I will make again. One is for my favorite sour-cream cornbread, a recipe that I easily adapted to hold up better as a gluten free bread, and one which my guests adore. It is not dry minimalist cornbread. I will save the book forever just for the reference materials and because it contains this cornbread recipe. The other recipe is for a cake by Rose Levy Beranbaum and I actually bake it from Ms. Beranbaum's original version.
Notice that the two recipes I use are for baked goods. There are other recipes in this book but I find they all emphasize sugar and starch too much as a substitute for fat. Now I enjoy me a good dessert now and then, but everything that I have tried is too sweet for my taste. And I am not convinced that adding more sugar and starch to food to make up for fat and flavor is all that healthy of a choice either. I certainly find it less satisfying.
In the end I find Cookwise excellent as a reference work and only so-so as a cookbook.
The first book I grabbed, Cookwise by Shirley Corriher, was chosen because although I remembered that I have used it for reference, I couldn't actually remember that I had cooked much from the book. So I started reading and cooking. Well, actually in this volume there was more reading and less cooking because it is basically about the techniques and materials of cooking and the recipes are designed and arranged to illustrate the points. This is good from the perspective of learning, but not necessarily so good when you just pick up the book looking for something to cook for dinner.
Cookwise was a very interesting book to read and it contains a lot of valuable information. As I mentioned, I have used if for reference, and I will refer to it again and again as it has some tables and charts that are either not available or not as clearly presented in my other cookbooks. It has a very thorough discussion of baking, which doesn't directly affect me any more as it is based on wheat, a grain I can no longer use. I don't do much baking anymore anyway. But there is still good information here that I can apply to good gluten-free baking because success requires understanding the underlying principles and knowing what one is trying to emulate.
As for the recipes; I find these less successful. There are really only two recipes I have tried in this book that I will make again. One is for my favorite sour-cream cornbread, a recipe that I easily adapted to hold up better as a gluten free bread, and one which my guests adore. It is not dry minimalist cornbread. I will save the book forever just for the reference materials and because it contains this cornbread recipe. The other recipe is for a cake by Rose Levy Beranbaum and I actually bake it from Ms. Beranbaum's original version.
Notice that the two recipes I use are for baked goods. There are other recipes in this book but I find they all emphasize sugar and starch too much as a substitute for fat. Now I enjoy me a good dessert now and then, but everything that I have tried is too sweet for my taste. And I am not convinced that adding more sugar and starch to food to make up for fat and flavor is all that healthy of a choice either. I certainly find it less satisfying.
In the end I find Cookwise excellent as a reference work and only so-so as a cookbook.
August 4, 2012
Shirley is the REAL brains behind Good Eats.
Episode Three Chips for Sister Marsha is blatantly stolen from Shirley's 3 dueling chocolate chip cookie recipes - designed to show the interaction of the baking ingredients.
Episode Three Chips for Sister Marsha is blatantly stolen from Shirley's 3 dueling chocolate chip cookie recipes - designed to show the interaction of the baking ingredients.
June 10, 2009
Now that I've looked through this one, I vaguely remember reading it a few years ago, but I liked it better then, for some reason. This time around, I went from being totally impressed to completely overwhelmed in just a few pages. The book starts with bread. Well, I bake bread. So I know about that. But this went so far over my head, it was into the stratosphere. I was overwhelmed with a discussion of which kind of flour I needed, based on protein content. Then we got into the importance of adding a little crushed ice to the batter for some reason and a little malt barely syrup and something else, and on and on and on.
The one recipe I did try, shallot mashed potatoes with garlic, was a complete disaster. Too soupy and too hard. I followed the recipe instead of using my own instincts, so I should have cooked the potatoes until done, checking them myself, instead of going by the time in the recipe.
I did copy a couple of dessert recipes (what else?), one for this decadent chocolate thingy and one for pralines. We'll see how those turn out.
In my opinion, this cookbook is best used as a reference. If you have a recipe that isn't working for some reason, this is a good place to look for why. Maybe more experienced cooks or ones willing to follow all the complicated directions and look for all the special ingredients would turn out some fabulous food, but I do not have the time or patience for that. I did enjoy all the name dropping and hints from famous chefs. But I don't think I'll bother with this one again.
The one recipe I did try, shallot mashed potatoes with garlic, was a complete disaster. Too soupy and too hard. I followed the recipe instead of using my own instincts, so I should have cooked the potatoes until done, checking them myself, instead of going by the time in the recipe.
I did copy a couple of dessert recipes (what else?), one for this decadent chocolate thingy and one for pralines. We'll see how those turn out.
In my opinion, this cookbook is best used as a reference. If you have a recipe that isn't working for some reason, this is a good place to look for why. Maybe more experienced cooks or ones willing to follow all the complicated directions and look for all the special ingredients would turn out some fabulous food, but I do not have the time or patience for that. I did enjoy all the name dropping and hints from famous chefs. But I don't think I'll bother with this one again.
September 11, 2013
A quick overview: CookWise is a guide to the hows and whys of cooking, the science behind why bread rises (or doesn't), what turns a juicy piece of meat into a tough lump ... and so much more. The book is fantastic on many levels. It's enlightening to read cover to cover (as I did); it's a great reference for specific questions. It's intriguing as an exploration of the conditions and chemistry that produce great (or terrible) food; it's useful for troubleshooting recipes both before and after cooking. The descriptions are straightforward for the layman, but detailed enough for real insight. The recipes span the very basics to some more complex and unusual dishes. I can't think of a cook who wouldn't benefit from these pages. Highly recommended.
January 16, 2020
I think there are two ways to cook: you can memorize recipes or you can understand what those recipes are doing. Cookwise is a great reference for the latter. Corriher does a great job describing how each ingredient and technique affects the final outcome. In doing so, we come to understand how we can get the effect we want (cripsy vs. chewy cookie) and figure out what we've done wrong (pastry creme coddling: add more sugar so that the egg proteins don't coagulate as quickly). I wish Corriher was my aunt.
August 13, 2013
Only the Kitchen Gods know how many ingredients I would have gone on throwing in the garbage had I not discovered this book and learned how to vet a recipe before even breaking out my bowls. This book isn't just for home chefs, however; I think it would be a fascinating read for your average science geek. If it weren't for her explanation of denatured protein I would never have arrived at the counter-intuitive revelations that skim milk is the best for a good sturdy cappuccino foam, or that using my fingers to feel if a bowl is clean and dry will sabotage my meringue. HOORAY FOR SHIRLEY!
April 26, 2016
I first heard of the author on 'Good Eats' where he uses her as a reference, normally admitting that she is more qualified than he.
It struck me to order the book online & I waited very impatiently for its arrival. I was not let down. It's filled with insight and science based explanation as to why food reacts the way it does depending on different variables. I especially appreciate the charts she laid out for "troubleshooting" a recipe.
One of my favorite tips was to use vodka for flaky pie crusts.
It struck me to order the book online & I waited very impatiently for its arrival. I was not let down. It's filled with insight and science based explanation as to why food reacts the way it does depending on different variables. I especially appreciate the charts she laid out for "troubleshooting" a recipe.
One of my favorite tips was to use vodka for flaky pie crusts.
April 5, 2007
I reference this book all the time for all kinds of reasons. It explains everything you've ever wondered about cooking; has lots of good tricks, tips and alternatives too.
It also has fun charts with the same recipe using different sorts of the same ingredient (like butter, shortening, oil, lard) so you can play lab at home for the sole purpose of inspecting the different ways the recipe turns out (and not at all as an excuse to make lots of chocolate chip cookies).
It also has fun charts with the same recipe using different sorts of the same ingredient (like butter, shortening, oil, lard) so you can play lab at home for the sole purpose of inspecting the different ways the recipe turns out (and not at all as an excuse to make lots of chocolate chip cookies).
May 30, 2007
This is an awesome book - She breaks down the mysteries of why one person can get a recipe to work fabulously, and for another it flops. Cooking is a science, and she reveals the basics in this textbook for working with what you have, and knowing why something turned out the way it did. Also full of recipes that illustrate her points, and choices in ingredients to affect the outcome. Big thumbs up.
July 11, 2019
Great information on food science for the non-food scientist. It explains how it all works and why recipes are put together the way they are. I found this helpful as I improvise and modify different recipes. There is a recipe or two to illustrate each point. I found the recipes not to my taste. I like to know how things work, but I cook rather simply and I am not a foodie that the recipes seem to cater to.
July 16, 2019
Not the kind of book you just sit down and read cover to cover - it is a cookbook, after all - and lacking the adorable, elementary school science teacher vibe she brings to her spots on Alton Brown's Good Eats, but still a pretty amazing book. As someone who would rather learn underlying principles and then be shooed out the door than master recipes by rote, this dense volume is right up my alley. You can see why Alton hero-worships her so fervently.
March 11, 2010
This book is absolutely fantastic! It engages all foodies ranging from the most expert cook to true beginner. The awesome chemistry of cooking is revealed and gives great insight into those meals that went wrong somewhere. A Mr. fix-it among recipe books as well as a good guide to cooking everything from the perfect pie to a standing rib roast.
March 25, 2013
Food Nerds Unite!
Corriher's seminal book of food science is not to be missed. Knowing why things work the way they do frees a cook to experiment more and gives one great things to talk about at cocktail parties when the topic of polygamy is exhausted (ok that's unique to me). One of my favorite all-time books on food.
Corriher's seminal book of food science is not to be missed. Knowing why things work the way they do frees a cook to experiment more and gives one great things to talk about at cocktail parties when the topic of polygamy is exhausted (ok that's unique to me). One of my favorite all-time books on food.
November 23, 2014
An excellent resource. Too bad I have to take it back to the library.
April 30, 2019
An excellect scientific perspective on how to cook.
March 2, 2019
I just dipped into this, to get a little bread science down.
Corriher was always a treat to see in her bits on "Good Eats," a real scientist in a few words.
This book, on the other hand, is way more comprehensive than what I'm looking for (and it's due back at the library tomorrow).
Published more than 20 years ago, it's showing its age, too. The bread recipes are all in volume measurements when everything nowadays is by weight.
Corriher was always a treat to see in her bits on "Good Eats," a real scientist in a few words.
This book, on the other hand, is way more comprehensive than what I'm looking for (and it's due back at the library tomorrow).
Published more than 20 years ago, it's showing its age, too. The bread recipes are all in volume measurements when everything nowadays is by weight.
July 19, 2020
I feel a bit ambivalent about this one. It has lots of good information in it about the "why" of cooking, but it just didn't keep my attention. Maybe my interest in cooking only extends to mastering techniques and flavor combinations and not to the molecular structure of the ingredients.
July 25, 2020
Referenced in "How to Taste," Becky Selengut.
December 19, 2022
Great for reference. I love "BakeWise", so had to get this. Haven't made any recipes yet, maybe after the holidays.
February 13, 2023
NPR introduced me to this book and its brilliant author. Gets to the “whys� of cooking and baking outcomes.
August 10, 2009
I think I've been too spoiled by and his show. Shirley Corriher tells you what the different cuts of meat are on a cow, Alton gives pictures.
Overall, interesting descriptions on the science of cooking and looking at what makes food at a molecular level. There seemed to be a lack of quality control - some pages would detail measured amounts, others would skip it.
The organization was a bit curious to me - the book clearly opens with bread recipes, then dances around all kinds of random recipes, then ends with rich recipes. I found it odd.
Love the concept, the science was interesting, but overall I didn't want to start cooking.
Overall, interesting descriptions on the science of cooking and looking at what makes food at a molecular level. There seemed to be a lack of quality control - some pages would detail measured amounts, others would skip it.
The organization was a bit curious to me - the book clearly opens with bread recipes, then dances around all kinds of random recipes, then ends with rich recipes. I found it odd.
Love the concept, the science was interesting, but overall I didn't want to start cooking.
April 18, 2010
This is the first time I've ever read a cookbook all the way through. The value of this book is that Corriher explains what happens chemistry-wise to your food when you cook it. I feel like I've come away with a better understanding of cooking in general and WHY recipes have you do certain things. However, I don't know how much of this knowledge I'll retain (there is a lot of information in this book, which isn't a bad thing). I also don't know how many of the recipes I'll use. Many of them are pretty complex or call for specialty ingredients I can't get at the grocery store. I did try the Salmon Fillet with Sweet, Grainy Mustard Crust (page 187) and we (especially my 2 year old) LOVED it. I also used her advice when hard boiling eggs for Easter egg dying.
March 25, 2009
Great information on food science for the non-food scientist. It explains how it all works and why recipes are put together the way they are. I found this helpful as I improvise and modify different recipes. There is a recipe or two to illustrate each point. I found the recipes not to my taste. I like to know how things work, but I cook rather simply and I am not a foodie that the recipes seem to cater to.
May 10, 2010
Outstanding cooking book. Sure, it's a recipe book, but that's beside the point. Shirley tells you the ins and out of making everything from perfect pie dough to wonderfully prepared meats and veggies.
It's a kitchen companion and up there with "On Food and Cooking". If you've ever wondered how cakes from scratch go together or what part egg whites and yolks play in a dish, this book is for you.
It's a kitchen companion and up there with "On Food and Cooking". If you've ever wondered how cakes from scratch go together or what part egg whites and yolks play in a dish, this book is for you.
July 23, 2016
Not the kind of book you just sit down and read cover to cover - it is a cookbook, after all - and lacking the adorable, elementary school science teacher vibe she brings to her spots on Alton Brown's Good Eats, but still a pretty amazing book. As someone who would rather learn underlying principles and then be shooed out the door than master recipes by rote, this dense volume is right up my alley. You can see why Alton hero-worships her so fervently.
February 6, 2016
A very good mix of recipes ("how") and detailed explanations of *why* things need to be done a certain way, as well as how ingredients and techniques interact (which let's you apply the lessons to other recipes/cookbooks, and fix the ones that look like good ideas but don't actually work in practice). The only drawback for me was the section on breads; there are techniques recommended by others (Peter Reinhart and Jeffrey Hammelman) that produce better results.
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April 8, 2013As seen in David Leite's from the 9 July 2008 NYTimes.
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Also as seen in : scrub to ~15:00.
April 3, 2009
A fantastic reference I'll, no doubt, keep returning to when I forget the details. A book every serious home cook should have handy so they know why their hard work might run awry in the cooking process. I loved the in depth chemical explanations in particular.
I did feel like some of the recipes she listed detracted from the material, however.
I did feel like some of the recipes she listed detracted from the material, however.
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