Cooking for Geeks
cookingforgeeks.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2010
The site for the book Cooking for Geeks, which explains cooking through science and engineering analogies, with posts on the book and ovens.
What HN saysCommenters recommend the book as a good basic cooking guide that explains the science and uses analogies engineers will like.
15HN people shared it
15linked it in comments
1stories submitted
4story points
2 years agolast shared
2010people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Homepage14 people · first shared 2010
- 2Cooking for Geeks Book Tour: Where should I go?1 people · 4 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 3The two things you should do to your oven right now1 people · first shared 2017
What HN people wrote when they linked it
cbsmith · 2022-03-26
Worth mentioning in the same context: https://www.cookingforgeeks.com/
mywacaday · 2022-03-25
This book is also worth a read for basic cooking that can be built upon but also explains the underlying scientific principles https://www.cookingforgeeks.com/
natep · 2012-08-02
The book I'm currently going through (after a year of using the techniques I learned as a kid to successfully follow random recipes) is Cooking for Geeks (http://cookingforgeeks.com). None of its advice is obviously wrong so far, and it's not telling me that I need every single kitchen gadget, which I like. But of course, I don't really know enough to know if it's wrong.
tyisathome · 2011-03-25
Humorous, but I beg to differ: http://www.cookingforgeeks.com/
It's a great book. Tons of analogies that engineers will love.
aequitas · 2018-07-28
I would recommend https://www.cookingforgeeks.com
chuckl · 2024-11-13
that's interesting! Same concept. I initially got the idea from the book Cooking for Geeks https://www.cookingforgeeks.com/
I wonder if they got it from Cooking for Engineers
hkpack · 2024-05-11
A lot of things at play.
1) We actually can sense "coldness" or "hotness" as separate tastes. Think about mint candies or pepper for example.
2) Our receptors have different sensitivity based on the temperature. For example cold sweet drink feels much less sweet. That's why warm cola is disgustingly sweet for example.
And water does contain a lot of dissolved salts which have a taste.
3) More than half of the taste we feel is actually coming from the smell, and warm water contains more vapour, and therefore, more smell.
So our brain takes all these inputs from different sources and synthesises the feeling of taste in our brain.
Source of this knowledge is from: https://www.cookingforgeeks.com
Tepix · 2023-05-23
Instead of sticking to recipes, for many it's a better approach to learn what is going on behind the scenes.
"Cooking for Geeks", published by O'Reilly is a book that focuses on explaining cooking.
https://www.cookingforgeeks.com/
PS No affiliation.
deeg · 2020-06-08
My first introduction to the Maillard reaction was in "Cooking For Geeks", which turned me on to cooking. It was no longer (just) a chore but a science/chemistry experiment that ended up being tasty! I'm including the link here because maybe it'll do the same for others.
https://www.cookingforgeeks.com/
(I am in no way associated with the book or author; just a fan.)
hutattedonmyarm · 2018-07-02
Cooking for Geeks is really good too:
https://www.cookingforgeeks.com/
stinky613 · 2017-08-15
Pizza stones aren't just for cooking pizzas on. They help you maintain your oven temperature[1].
Also, IIRC, Alton Brown does use a pizza stone, but he recommends buying unglazed ceramic floor tiles as an alternative.
[1]https://www.cookingforgeeks.com/blog/posts/the-two-things-you-should-d…
jpp · 2015-02-04
I couldn't agree more. So much so that I wrote the O'Reilly book on the topic: http://www.cookingforgeeks.com
yan · 2011-07-09
I'm currently reading Cooking for Geeks[1] enjoying it a lot. Check it out if you're "analytically minded."
[1] http://www.cookingforgeeks.com/
DannoHung · 2010-12-05
Ditto. I actually asked my parents if they could help me get rid of some stuff as a Christmas gift. I did ask for one book though: http://www.cookingforgeeks.com/ Since it's formatting heavy, I'd rather have a hardcopy of it.