Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes

　　經典鉅著《食物與廚藝》作者最新力作
　　細數並食材特性、烹調技法與變化應用，解開成就佳餚的美味關鍵

　　再怎麼有創意的廚師，想做出美味餐點，還是得依照食物天性來發揮，並以堅實的科學為後盾，了解食材的各種特質，這是廚藝創作變化的基本法則。《食物與廚藝》作者哈洛德．馬基，從數十年來對食物和廚藝的精研中，擷取出日常烹飪烘焙的實用知識，並親身試驗，修正結果。本書讓我們從根本了解食材該如何挑選、處理、保存和烹調，破除廚房中的一知半解，當然也是解答各式疑難雜症的下廚指引。

　　市面上的食譜多不勝數，作者為何撰寫這本書？食譜雖多，卻很少說明食物、烹飪用具的基本特性，以及該怎麼挑選、保存各項食材？烹調時該留意哪些食物安全及營養問題？遇到意外時該怎麼辦？甚至如何判斷哪個版本的食譜較佳？是否會誤判食譜的指示？或是如何依據手邊的材料來調整食譜？……這些都是一般食譜無法提供，卻是烹飪時的必備知識。《廚藝之鑰》正是為了回應上述問題而寫，不僅告訴你廚房中會發生的事實，並提供符合科學又實用的建議

本書特色

　　1. 提供關於料理食物的正確知識
　　2. 以簡馭繁，掌握核心概念即可隨心所欲變化
　　3. 小地方，大關鍵，提醒關鍵烹調細節
　　4. 挑戰並改良既定的傳統烹調技巧
　　5. 精準掌握食材特性和處理原則，教你食譜沒有教的事

　　★本書中譯版《廚藝之鑰：完全掌握廚房，完美料理食材（廚具、蔬果、奶蛋、肉魚）》由大家出版社出版。

The answers to many kitchen conundrums in one easy-to-use volume, from the author of the acclaimed culinary bible On Food and Cooking.

From our foremost expert on the science of cooking, Harold McGee, Keys to Good Cooking is a concise and authoritative guide designed to help home cooks navigate the ever-expanding universe of ingredients, recipes, food safety, and appliances, and arrive at the promised land of a satisfying dish.

A work of astounding scholarship and originality, Keys to Good Cooking directly addresses the cook at work in the kitchen and in need of quick and reliable guidance. Cookbooks past and present frequently contradict one another about the best ways to prepare foods, and many contain erroneous information and advice.

Keys to Good Cooking distills the modern scientific understanding of cooking and translates it into immediately useful information. Looking at ingredients from the mundane to the exotic, McGee takes you from market to table, teaching, for example, how to spot the most delectable asparagus (choose thick spears); how to best prepare the vegetable (peel, don't snap, the fibrous ends; broiling is one effective cooking method for asparagus and other flat-lying vegetables); and how to present it (coat with butter or oil after cooking to avoid a wrinkled surface). This book will be a requisite countertop resource for all home chefs, as McGee's insights on kitchen safety in particular-reboil refrigerated meat or fish stocks every few days. (They're so perishable that they can spoil even in the refrigerator.); Don't put ice cubes or frozen gel packs on a burn. (Extreme cold can cause additional skin damage)-will save even the most knowledgeable home chefs from culinary disaster.

A companion volume to recipe books, a touchstone that helps cooks spot flawed recipes and make the best of them, Keys to Good Cooking will be of use to cooks of all kinds: to beginners who want to learn the basics, to weekend cooks who want a quick refresher in the basics, and to accomplished cooks who want to rethink a dish from the bottom up. With Keys to Good Cooking McGee has created an essential guide for food lovers everywhere.

作者簡介

哈洛德．馬基　Harold McGee

　　★2005年美國美食雜誌Bon Appetit年度美食作家
　　★《時代雜誌》2008年全球百大影響人物
　　★代表作《食物與廚藝》獲得國際專業廚師學會（IACP）評選為經典烹飪用書、美國餐飲界最高榮譽詹姆士．畢爾德基金會評選為最佳食物類參考用書，以及英國《衛報》評選近十年最佳食物類用書。

　　哈洛德．馬基，世界知名的食物和烹飪科學作家，先後在加州理工學院和耶魯大學攻讀物理學和英國文學，因《食物與廚藝》一書奠定權威地位。他也為《科學》期刊、《世界百科全書》、《紐約時報》撰文，在美國餐飲學院、加拿大廚師聯合會等職業專業學校授課，也在美國科學促進會、丹佛自然史博物館、費米研究室等學術專業研討會演講，並常受邀至各大新聞媒體廣播節目。

　　新作《廚藝之鑰》可視為《食物與廚藝》之前篇，乃廚房實作及烹飪科學入門必讀之作。

Harold McGee writes about the science of food and cooking. He’s the author of the award-winning classic On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, and writes a monthly column, ＂The Curious Cook,＂ for The New York Times. He has been named food writer of the year by Bon Appétit magazine and to the Time 100, an annual list of the world’s most influential people. He lives in San Francisco.