Kitchen Smarts: Questions and Answers to Boost Your Cooking IQ

by Cook's Illustrated (Editor)

In this follow-up to 2014's best-selling Kitchen Hacks, the expert editors at Cook's Illustrated magazine have applied the same creative thinking to a new Q&A-style book. Kitchen Smarts packs together hundreds of definitive, researched, kitchen-tested answers to questions large and small, common and bizarre. There are no dumb questions but there are dumb--and wrong!--answers, we're here to protect you from those and help you become a better, more confident cook.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Food and Drink, Reference, Food and Wine

320 pages, Paperback

Published October 31, 2017

Reviews

[Cyndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

About a hundred years ago I was a new bride. I was probably the worst cook in the world. Seriously. I had to call my mom long distance to learn how to boil eggs. I gave my husband food poisoning. So, yeah. Terrible cook.
Since I'm an avid reader I searched the knowledge in books. Read every cook book I could lay my hands on. But none of them had actually useful tips. Most of the recipes were too fancy for everyday use. I wanted to know the secret to a fried egg, not how to make eggs benedict.
But now there is pinterest and the rest of the internet. Also books like this brilliant book of tips! Even with all the many, many years of cooking research (I have almost a hundred cookbooks) I still learned a few tricks I didn't know. Excellent book!

[Kyenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the questions I could ever have asked answered in one book!

[DRugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading these tips helps me think more like a chef.

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reference book for anyone who cooks!

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative.

[Sarah Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of great tips, for all types of cooking. There is no one specific recipe and this isn't a cookbook. I highly recommend to anyone who cooks new or experienced.

[Luna Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25

I loved this book! It was very digestible and easy to pick up and read a bit at a time without getting lost. I also love that they have thorough evidence and testing to back their claims.
There was quite a bit I already knew, but it was fun to read the science behind why we do some of the things in cooking and there was a decent amount of new information!
This makes me want to get some of their other books and watch the show

[Brianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this book was written in a "here's what's NOT true" way. That style of writing simply doesn't work with my brain. I picked up this book (digitally, through my library) and was pretty disappointed. That said, some of the facts were interesting. It's just done weirdly.

[Mariko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of helpful info, the chapter on swaps was particularly informative!

[MamaBReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great information but not a particularly exciting read.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cook's Illustrated always provide practical, tested cooking advice. I skipped a few of the baking sections that I wasn't interested. It was an easy and quick read.

[Ghost of a Rose]

Own, available at house 2023

[Anna Catherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very long infodump, Kitchen Smarts has some good information but is overall just a tad too overwhelming.