Paul Adams - Summary of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking

Summary

of

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

Samin Nosrat

Conversation Starters

By Paul Adams

Book Habits

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T ips for Using Conversation Starters:

EVERY GOOD BOOK CONTAINS A WORLD FAR DEEPER THAN the surface of its pages. Questions herein are designed to bring us beneath the surface of the page and invite us into the world that lives on. These questions can be used to:

• Foster a deeper understanding of the book
• Promote an atmosphere of discussion for groups
• Assist in the study of the book, either individually or corporately
• Explore unseen realms of the book as never seen before

Introducing Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

S

alt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking is a debut cookbook written by Samin Nosrat with art illustrations by Wendy Macnaughton.

Chef Nosrat shares what she has learned about cooking in the past 17 years, distilling these into the basic principles of cooking. She tells readers that whether they are experienced in the kitchen or not, they only need to remember the four factors that will determine the food's tastesalt, fat, acid, and heat. She tells readers that the book will help them discover the secrets behind these factors. It will enable them to make improvisations in the kitchen and will liberate them from recipes and shopping lists. It will further give them the confidence to buy the best products in the farmers' market or butcher's shop. "This book will change the way you think about cooking and eating, and help you find your bearings in any kitchen, with any ingredients, while cooking any meal. You'll start using recipes, including the ones in this book as professional cooks do...," she says. If readers learn to master the principles she teaches in the book, they will be able to cook good and delicious food from any tradition or using any style or kind.

In her introduction, Nosrat briefly describes the four elements. The first element, salt, brings out the flavor in food. The second element, fat, "amplifies flavor and makes appealing textures possible. The third element, acid, provides brightness and balance. The fourth element, heat, determines the kind of texture your food will have. Before starting the main body of the book, she puts a section at the start entitled "How To Use This Book." She advises readers to start reading from the first page to the end and to pay attention to the techniques, the science, and the stories. She explains the whys and hows of good cooking throughout the pages using scientific principles and techniques. She includes kitchen experiments that show in practical terms what she means in theory. Recipes listed at the back of the book help the reader have a deeper grasp of the elements of salt, fat, acid, and heat.

The recipe section is organized "by type of dish rather than by the particular course in the meal," in order to emphasize the "patterns that guide all good cooking." She says that she included illustrations in the book "to help convey concepts where words aren't enough." She explains that she deliberately chose to use illustrations rather than photos.

She tells readers that there are many versions of a single dish and they could all be perfect. Readers should not worry about following one perfect version. She encourages improvisation and lets readers trust their own judgment as to what good food should taste like. The book has a part called

"Cooking Lessons" which is created in order to help starting chefs with simpler recipes that focus on particular cooking principle or skill. The author advises readers to check this place if they start to get overwhelmed with the recipes. A section called "Suggested Menus" is included to help readers create a combination of dishes that make up a menu. The final tip that the author gives is for readers to have fun.

The book is divided into two main parts. Part One explains each of the four elements, giving detailed definitions of each, how each element works, and what flavor is associated with it. Part Two includes recipes and recommendations. She dedicates the book to Alice Waters, "who gave me the kitchen," and to her mother, who gave her the world. The epigraph is a quote from Jane Grigson who says " Anyone who likes to eat, can soon learn to cook well." Michael Pollan writes the Foreword, pointing out that reading the book feels like being in a good cooking class and listening to a smart and eloquent chef. He says the book gives more than recipes because "Samin Nosrat has taken the sprawling, daunting, multicultural subject we call cooking and boldly distilled it to four essential elements..." He adds that there is actually a fifth element she teaches in the book, which is the "core principle of tasting." At the end of the book, she includes tips for further reading and a bibliography.

The book is cited by food and media critics as one of the best books written of recent. The New York Times Book Review says Nosrat has done exhaustive research on her subject which is like a treatise. NPR.org lauds Nosrat and MacNaughton for debunking the idea of what recipes should be. Nosrat teaches how to create dishes from instinct. Wired admires the "priceless" illustrations and says the book will make readers rush to the kitchen. The Wall Street Journal also thinks the illustrations are inventive while the whole book is ambitious with Nosrat's talent in explaining. Elle calls the book "so-much-more-than-a-recipe-book" which will make even the culinarily inept into a proficient cook. Chef and cookbook author Alice Waters to whom Nosrat dedicates the book says Nosrat teaches aspiring chefs how it feels to cook. The book is "full of exploration, spontaneity, and joy." She thinks Nosrat is a great teacher with her "irrepressible enthusiasm and curiosity." Bestselling author Yotam Ottolenghi compares Nosrat to Michael Pollan who coined the seven important words about food: