Book Review: Salt Fat Acid Heat

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is practical, educational, and provides the essential principles you need to know to be a successful cook. The author’s passion and wisdom are evident. In part one, Samin Nosrat dedicates individual chapters to cover the four elements: salt, fat, acid, and heat. In part two, the focus is on kitchen basics and recipes. She also has a helpful index of the cooking lessons presented throughout the book, suggested menus, and tips for further reading.

The author is a natural teacher. She presents concepts with stories, easy how-to steps, examples, and inspiration to try and apply what you have learned. The chapters on the four elements of good cooking—salt, fat, acid, heat—are comprehensive and replete with useful information. The illustrations are amazing and perfectly demonstrate the concepts and information the author is conveying.

If you are not interested in how the author connects to ingredients, techniques, or recipes, you can skim over the stories. Additionally, there are explanations of the science behind reactions, methods, and tricks that may or may not be of interest. While the book covers a lot, it does not include information or recipes using air frying, pressure cooking, or slow cooking.

Overall, I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone that cooks.

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Nosrat, S. (2017). Salt Fat Acid Heat. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Book Review: Metabolical

Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine by Robert H. Lustig
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book's central message is to eat unprocessed food to protect your liver and feed your gut. The author, Dr. Lustig, tackles the issues of modern medicine, chronic diseases, Big Pharma, Big Food, and Big Government—proposing that by changing the way we eat, we can improve our health, the health care system, the economy, and the environment.

There are five parts to the book: debunking “modern medicine,” debunking “chronic disease,” notes from the nutritional battlefield, (processed) food fight, and where are the food police when you need them? There are 28 chapters. At the end of the book is a helpful glossary.

This book is overflowing with information. I found the most insightful and interesting chapters were in part IV, (Processed) Food Fight, on food adulterations, food subtractions, food additions, food addictions, and food fraud.

This was not an easy book to get through—it is long, and the explanations can become detailed and complicated for the average reader. I should read it through a second time (or at least the parts that I found most interesting). Some may take offense to the political overtones and statements.

Great takeaway: "If any form of sugar is one of the first three ingredients, it's a dessert (p. 373).

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