The SFist test kitchen staff has a tiny list of essential food books. At the top you'll find Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking. Our copy's tattered cover and stained pages broadcast our love for this accessible bible of kitchen science. When we use the bright red tome to answer our culinary questions, we say we're "Reading From the Book of Harold." Alton Brown uses this book as a reference.

Why should you click the above link and buy your own copy? Because the book gives you the tools to understand cooking and flourish as a chef.

Consider vinaigrettes. You could parrot a food magazine's recipe, or you could learn about them from On Food and Cooking. You'll learn how to make a quick version (combine 3 parts oil, 1 part vinegar, and flavorings; shake vigorously at the last minute and dress the greens). Read a little further and you'll learn about emulsions, and why this type of vinaigrette covers greens more effectively than the whisk-oil-into-vinegar type. You'll get some practical advice to make sure the dish doesn't go awry (dry your greens well, since water and oil are "antagonists"). Read still further and you'll realize that the basic vinaigrette method applies to any number of fats and liquids, and you'll learn how other modern chefs have created their own variants, no doubt using the principles they learned from the first edition.

Photo courtesy Harold McGee

Harold McGee, who lives here in the Bay Area, agreed to meet with us for lunch so that we could chat about the book and the latest trends in food science.

On Food and Cooking came about when McGee, looking to science writing as a way to unite two of his passions, wandered into the food science section of the library. He was looking for the answer to a friend's question about beans and "embarrassing discomfort." Along with research into oligosaccharides, he discovered a whole universe of food science that immediately hooked him. He sold a book idea, and was on his way.

Sort of. We were surprised to learn that the first edition of the book wasn't a runaway bestseller when it came out in 1984. It was the first book to bring the world of food science to the public, but traditional chefs discounted the topic, saying it wouldn't teach you to be a better cook. The book caught hold with self-taught and young cooks who didn't like "because I say so" as an answer to their questions about the whys of cooking.

Twenty years later, the second edition emerged to fanfare and exaltation, and McGee is a household name among curious cooks. His text had found its way into restaurants and homes across the country, riding a surge of interest in food and cooking, coupled with the rise of "geekmanship" as McGee phrased it. He often gets notes from chefs who say, "I never had the confidence to make X until I read your book."

Creative chefs had gone beyond appreciating the role of science in cooking. They had created a whoe new cuisine, often called "molecular gastronomy," that used scientific knowledge to create new and intriguing dishes. (The term, he says, came from the first conference on the subject, when the group needed a serious-sounding name for the science center that hosted the event.)

McGee told us he prefers the term "experimental cooking" because chefs still measure teaspoons and weights and not the movement of molecules. Under either name, he enjoys seeing the results as cooks and researchers share ideas and push each other to learn more. The two groups have spun food into new dimensions. In our one taste of experimental cooking, we had powdered olive oil, a sunny-side-up egg made from coconut and carrot, and a cold foie gras terrine that somehow encased a warm beet consommé. This new cuisine creates food that chefs couldn't have imagined twenty years ago. (McGee offered us some advice on adapting these modern techniques to our test kitchen, which we hope to experiment with and pass along to you.)

We were curious to hear about the research being done now. McGee still visits the library to stay on top of the latest findings. He told us that researchers are focusing on phytochemicals, complex molecules in plants that often have surprising medicinal qualities. This research underlies the headlines screaming that red wine cures cancer, repels HIV, and does the dishes. But McGee is more intrigued by new research about how flavor works. We're just beginning to understand the physiology of human flavor-sensing, he says, and chefs are experimenting with how flavors separate and interact.

We couldn't help but wonder if he can't cook anymore without conducting experiments and analyzing results. We were relieved to hear that when he makes dinner, he's more focused on just getting the food to the table.

But he does keep a voice recorder handy so that he can keep track of thoughts he has while working. He uses it regularly to note questions and comments. We just hope we don't have to wait another twenty years to learn what he's found out.

Note: This SFist is happy to announce that he'll be teaching a class through UC Berkeley Extension's Wine Studies program. Read about Wines of Germany and Eastern Europe, and then enroll.