The Food Lab by Kenji López-Alt: Column vs. Book

The Food Lab by Kenji López-Alt: Column vs. Book
Which one is better?

The Food Lab Book on amazon:

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[browncoaster]

No thoughts on the book, but wanted to comment and compliment your review - the rich economical meaning-dense words, the kind clarity of the message, proper balance of humor and seriousness - it was a joy to listen to your review.

[serbanpopescu]

I loved Kenji’s column (and serious eats in general), ever since I stumbled on in several years ago. His logical explanations for why a cooking technique works (the French fries one is seminal) won me over and arguably made me a better cook.

I also have bought his book for one reason: to show my support to his work and brilliance. I seldom use it, but when I do, it’s mostly to relax and enjoy the pretty pictures and good writing, not for the actual information — I can find the information online in a easier to parse form.

The internet age has changed our habits and experiences, that’s for sure.

BTW, your YouTube channel is lovely.

[ramrail]

The more I watch you the more I learn, and I love your presentation! Thank you enormously!!

[tauceti]

Kenji took me from a foodie, to a home cooking addict.
From pans, to knives, and organization I'm a fan.

Kenji made me jump on my first sous vide machines,

really love your enthusiasm and passion though,
I really gravitate towards your every word, and storytelling!

I've treated myself to a 5ply-5qt stainless steel workhorse,
I can't leave the kitchen because I love cooking with it so much

I'm using that pan way more than I did my sous-vide machine
Price/use the 5ply-5qt is champing the sous-vide

[j.a.]

I learned the reverse sear from you.
My girlfriend thought I was crazy when I put the steaks in the oven... until I took them out and seared them... hahaha.
Thank you!

[MegaKemper]

The book works great for pounding chicken breasts flat ;-), Actually I love both the books and the columns. I spent the first year of owning the book mostly reading it, but lately I've been cooking from it a lot. I usually read the recipe, then skim through the "buildup" for ideas why. For some reason its still easier to cook from a book, which I keep in the cookbook area of the kitchen, than from the computer in the other room.

[nbksw]

Love the food lab column....agree with you about the book!

[zlatkes]

#realcomment Helen, I totally agree with what you said in your previous video about deep understanding the process of cooking (temperature, techniques), instead of "listening to your soul" and "following your passion" nonsense, and therefore I had big expectations from Kenji's column. So I followed the link and was pleasantly surprised that the very first recipe is "Great Israeli-Style Hummus", and I am from Israel - such luck! But then the recipe turned out to be rather strange and I literally had an urge to scream at my monitor: "What are you doing? Hot hummus water?! Texture?! Pomegranate molasses?!". That was what is called in Russian - "klyukva". Then I calmed down and started to check other recipes by Kenji and they were brilliant. So sometimes when I see a great job and think "What else can I bring to this world if the best sources of knowledge already exist?", the answer is: "there are always many things that could be improved by other cooks" and I really appreciate your work in this direction. So thank you for this YouTube channel!

[danmoore]

#realcomment
I have the book, I read his column, I follow him on Twitter, I loved him when he was at Americas Test Kitchen, and I ran across him recently on Milk Street TV. Whew, that said, I agree with your analysis completely. Part of the problem is that my eyesight isn't as good as it used to be and I can enlarge the font on my iPad or print it larger from my computer. His ideas and techniques make complete sense to me. I wish I could follow his recipes better to do them justice.

[mesmer]

I have the book and read the column. Like you, I prefer the column. You really have to spend a lot time with the book to get an idea how to use it as a reference. It’s a good book but it’s so much easier to reference his column and the archive of his columns, which generally are better suited to honing techniques. I too am a big fan of Kenji!

[FoodieFindings]

One thing you get with the website not in the books is the discussion comments, where my favorite Serious Eats content lies. Those comments surface the debates, the common misconceptions, how recipes fail for people who try them, competing perspectives on history and science not noted in articles. I also think the younger generation of kids is used to learning from screens more than books, for better for worse. I'd argue for the better.

[lowcomdenom]

I own the book, and have several recipes bookmarked for frequent use. That said, I use more recipes from his column and more frequently.

[Shelsight]

I bought the Kindle version of the book, as the paper version was too heavy for me, and I figured it would likely stay on my shelf, which would be a shame. While the issues you mention in the book are also obviously in the kindle version - I love going to the website first (saved on my iPad home screen) - reading through a few articles & explanations - then, searching a few recipes or steps in the kindle version. I feel like I get the best of both worlds and, like you Helen, get to support an amazing cook and writer who has helped elevate us all... BTW am hoping one day I can do the same with your book, too... :)

[lorincapson]

I have around 100 cook books including the Food Lab. I'm still waiting for osmosis to occur. So much information!

[italianchef]

So agree with you ...i used to love serious eats ..in the days where there was so much rich information and so many great cooks and writers...now..it is so disappointing..one article and lots of selling of product...and kenji is sort of missing. I did not buy the book, as i depended on the columns and copied the ones i loved. I love his sous vide articles years ago..not beer cooler method, but anova..and i have saved them. His book at 1000 pages is not something i ever wanted to invest in!! I agree with you ...cookbooks should be easy and fun to use!

[jackpast]

I don’t have his book...thanks for this critique!

[silviusprince]

#realcomment I used to have his book, but returned it. Like you I was hoping the book to bring together Kenji's current thoughts on all the related topics and columns as he did them over the years (If you go through his history in the website sometimes it's hard to know what came after what and if he considered it better or just another method of doing something). It didn't, as you said, and I found the book confusing me more on what is a clearer view the column gives (Even with the problems I stated). The other reasons I returned the book are the first edition had typos that changed the meaning of the text so greatly that in some cases his typo said the exact opposite of what he was trying to teach, after figuring this out (As at first I wasn't certain if my reading comprehension was just off) I returned the book with thoughts I'd rebuy it once it got reedited as many others complained about the large amount of typos present that had gone further through the book than I had. But, while I was waiting for the first edits I found something out that made me never want to rebuy the book, as much as I wanted to support Kenji and have something physical instead of the website. As I'm sure you know a high percentage of the book is copy and pasting his column articles almost verbatim, this I had no problem with as I saw this book as exactly that his column in book form with additions and thoughts on his current preferences and more information than the column sometimes allowed; so no issue there. But, what I did find out was that Kenji had edited many of his recipes to take out some of the science he purposely put in with his column to begin with, including completely taking out ingredients like "umami bombs" with no citation that there was a change made from the original recipe and method and why. Going through his twitter I found out (Because someone asked) that he made these changes to make the book more simplified to tailor it to the basic home cook's preferences. So Kenji silently took out science to appeal to his biggest audience. I understand why he did this, but I don't agree with the notion that it was necessary or even the thing to do. I feel like if he kept those things in the recipes and explained you could exclude them and what affect that would have people would have more knowledge, choices, and the ability to make food they enjoy knowing the variables which is exactly what I use his column for. So since the book took out science and explanation that I craved and had to go to the website to get the rest of the story, it made no sense for me to rebuy the book when I'd consistently be cross referencing it with the website which would have just given me a headache. So, I just enjoy the column (And yes, I know the website does get more geared towards the average home cook versus science often, including Daniel and Stella's work, as it's something they often talk about; but my trouble with the book is Kenji took it out where it once was and doesn't even say where he took it out so I'm left checking if I have the entire story he's ever written every time).

[lylegorch]

I too am all in favor of "hard" science and empirical methods, SO: How about some love for Alton Brown who's been using that approach forever, and good old ATK? I miss Chris K. on that program, but they're still doing great work over there. Great review, BTW.

[ZacharyDuhamel]

The answer is we need your own cookbook, of course :-)

[AXLee]

Hi Helen. Which method do you think is better or like more when cooking steak? Reverse sear or sous vide? And why?