"The Curious Cook"
Texts of my columns in the New York Times, from 2006 to 2011.
Times Topics: Harold McGee
My page at the New York Times website, with links to my columns.
The Curious Cook: More Kitchen and Science Lore
A book I published in 1990, currently out of print.
Modern Cooking and the Erice Workshops on Molecular and Physical Gastronomy
I've put together these pages to provide the raw materials for an accurate history of the Erice workshop, and to help anyone who's interested in modern cooking evaluate the significance of "molecular gastronomy" in its development.
Articles
"The Curious Cook." Occasional column in the New York Times Wednesday food section, 2006-2011 .
"Ricotta in the Monti Sicani of Sicily."
The Art of Eating, 62, 2002.
"The Virtual Cook: Modeling Heat Transfer in the Kitchen."
Physics Today, November 1999.
"Taking Stock of New Flavours."Nature (London) 400:17-18, 1999.A report on the 1999 International Workshop on Molecular Gastronomy.
"The Buoyant, Slippery Lipids of the Snake Mackerels and Orange Roughy."
Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 1997: Proceedings.
Totnes: Prospect Books, 1998.
"In Victu Veritas."
Nature (London) 392: 649-50, 1998.
Do we cook with herbs and spices because they prevent food poisoning?
"Why the Rubber Chicken Leg Can Bounce Across the Road."
New York Times, 29 April 1998.
"Shock in the Refrigerator."
New York Times, 18 March 1998.
"Oiling the Pasta Water Does the Trick After All."
New York Times, 11 February 1998.
"That First-Flapjack Slip-Up: Case Solved."
New York Times, 15 October 1997.
"Why Does Fish Spoil Faster Than Chicken?"
New York Times, 1 October 1997.
"Can You Overcook Water?"
New York Times, 17 September 1997.
"From Raw to Cooked: The Transformation of Flavor."
Journal of Gastronomy, Autumn 1990.
"Recipe for Safer Sauces."
Nature (London) 347: 717, 1990.
"Osmazome, the Maillard Reaction, and the Triumph of the Cooked."Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 1987: Proceedings.London: Prospect Books, 1988.
A Pigment of the Imagination: USDA and the Discovery of Phytochrome.Albany, California: 1987.
"Science and the Study of Food."
Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 1984 & 1985: Proceedings.
London: Prospect Books, 1986.
"Matching Pots and Pans to Your Cooking Needs."
Science Year 1987. Chicago: World Book, 1986.
"Heat: A Primer for the Culinary Alchemist."
Journal of Gastronomy, Summer 1985.
"Why Whip Egg Whites in Copper Bowls?"
Nature (London) 308: 667–68, 1984.
With Sharon R. Long and Winslow R. Briggs.
"Ripeness is All."
Horticulture, August 1980.
