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"Modernist Cuisine" by Myhrvold, Young & Bilet (Part 2)


nathanm

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FWIW... STEVEN RAICHLEN has an article in the NY Times today "Ribs Without Smoke" in which, after building him up, takes a bit of a pot shot at Dr. Myhrvold and his "preferred method of cooking ribs" (end of the article).

Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/dining/06ribs.html?pagewanted=all

The Big Cheese

BlackMesaRanch.com

My Blog: "The Kitchen Chronicles"

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"The Flavor of the White Mountains"

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My copy has just arrived and I have had time merely to glance at a few pages and found things to learn no matter where I happened to open the book. So much information hard to find elsewhere makes me grateful to the entire Cooking Lab team!

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So Kerry sent me the tracking information and I am checking for updates every 3 minutes - more often than I checked contractions for my three kids! Are we all totally insane? We are even discussing chasing the UPS truck around Burlington tomorrow. WE need an INTERVENTION.

Edited to fix verb tense. I am NOT pregnant.

Edited again - can't even think straight - too excited.

So we really did chase the UPS truck in Burlington but to no avail. The books were not on board. We are both crestfallen but surely tomorrow............................... :sad:

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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I have been looking through it for the last hour or so and I have to say I am pretty overwhelmed. Of course the first chapter I opened was the infusion and juicing one and I fell down a rabbit hole after that.

At this point I was looking to find something to maybe quickly make for dinner from it, but I wouldn't even know how to start without getting distracted.

John Deragon

foodblog 1 / 2

--

I feel sorry for people that don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day -- Dean Martin

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I keep saying this, but you really should not pay much attention to Amazon shipping predictions. It's not like they know something special or secret. Typically they will set expectations low until the point when suddenly it ships - that pattern has occurred many times in this thread.

Nathan, I know this, but it's just I, and others, can't wait to get our hands on the book.

I presume it's still in transit, but since it's Amazon there is a risk that I may not be one of those who gets a first edition if they are over subscribed in the UK as I do not know how they allocate.

While I know there is nothing you can do except for any shipping info you may have, but having a place where we can just share our frustration and eagerness to get hold of the book makes the wait and worry a bit easier. in no way was I expecting a response just sharing my angst. Considering on amazon.com the last time a looked a copy was going for $2000, not that I'm planning to sell mine, you'd have to drag it from my cold dead hands, but it shows the demand for a copy.

Not sure about kissing the delivery person when it arrives as it could be taken the wrong way :unsure: but may have to give them a bunch of flowers or something :biggrin:

Edited by ermintrude (log)

Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.

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Jesus, calm down.

What fun is that? :raz:

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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I swear my UPS driver is hiding somewhere down hill until he knows I'm cooking dinner and won't have time to even open the box! It's out for delivery and I must have looked down the driveway a million times today! 5pm now, that's unusually late for UPS to arrive, hopefully it'll still get here today :-)

And to the one above that arrived damaged, contact Amazon about a replacement. You may have to wait for the next print run to arrive (as far as I know that would still be the 1st edition, maybe Nathan can chime in here and clarify when an official 2nd edition will be printed? I don't think a 2nd print run of the exact same book qualifies as 2nd edition.), but at the very least you can get a good discount. I'll sure not accept anything but a pristine copy with no bumps, scratches, smudges, and particularly no damaged pages. Not at this price, but I never do with expensive books. I've exchanged many books with Amazon, sometimes their packaging is terrible (though it's gotten a lot better) and sometimes it seems I got the last book on the shelf. I accept shelf wear with a used book, not with a new one. All my expensive art, music, movie, and cooking books look brand new.

"And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!"

- Thomas Keller

Diablo Kitchen, my food blog

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I agree with Anna; where's the fun in being calm? Although 25-odd kilos of book may well keep me quiet for quite some time.

Mine has got as far as LA, according to the tracking information. Next step should be the big leap (back) across the Pacific - anybody want to run a sweepstake on whether I get a delivery on Monday/Tuesday/... ?

Leslie Craven, aka "lesliec"
Host, eG Forumslcraven@egstaff.org

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relatives ~ Oscar Wilde

My eG Foodblog

eGullet Ethics Code signatory

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I don't think Amazon will give me a discount and I don't want to ship the entire book back to them and be without it for months while they get more.

Basically I got boned but there's no way to "fix" it without being even worse off so I'll deal. Like I said I'm sure I'll crease a page or something eventually. It's a book not a museum piece.

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contact Amazon, I've gotten discounts on several books that were damaged but not currently available to replace. One book has a list price of $250 and I ended up getting it for $75 (I think Amazon price was around 125 or so).

Asking is free, just go to their contact page and send them an e-mail that this very expensive set of books was damaged, see what they say. Note that you'd prefer a replacement, but would be willing to accept a good discount offer. If they think they can get a replacement to you, returning the damaged book is free, you just have to put it back in it's packaging (or the boxes of the replacement, if you already discarded the box). Return window is 30 days, which can be extended via communication if a replacement takes longer. You just print a return label form a provided link and bring the box to any UPS store. Pretty easy and painless. Just go to your orders listing and click on the "return an item" option, it'll walk you through the rest. Or go the contact us way, where I'd suggest an e-mail instead of a call. They are really good at handling problems like this.

And yes, it is a museum piece :-)

Edited by OliverB (log)

"And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!"

- Thomas Keller

Diablo Kitchen, my food blog

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Folded corners usually happen during manufacture of the book rather than being caused by shipping but I feel your pain starting with a 'bruised' copy of any book, let alone one that is this dear to our hearts.

Llyn

Llyn Strelau

Calgary, Alberta

Canada

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My first post --books arrived today! Almost 3 weeks before Amazon said they would be here (NYC). They are truly 'works of art' in almost every sense. But as I 'scanned' through them, I was struck by something else. These books are amazingly easy to read. The writing is so clear, and so well organized, that each sentence carries you on to the next without effort. And (sorry to sound a bit 'sappy,') light and clarity seems to fall on every topic undertaken. Incredible!

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Not only is my copy in transit but thanks to the strength of the Canadian dollar I just got an email telling me that I saved money:

Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

Price on order date: CDN$ 395.29

Price charged at shipping: CDN$ 390.17

Lowest price before release date: CDN$ 390.17

Quantity: 1

Total Savings: CDN$ 5.12

That 5 bucks should buy me some transglutimate or some other ingredient that I can't live without once I get to delve into MC!!

Llyn Strelau

Calgary, Alberta

Canada

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FWIW... STEVEN RAICHLEN has an article in the NY Times today "Ribs Without Smoke" in which, after building him up, takes a bit of a pot shot at Dr. Myhrvold and his "preferred method of cooking ribs" (end of the article).

Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/dining/06ribs.html?pagewanted=all

I'm not sure it's that much of a pot shot. Interesting article, I discovered the magic of foil wrapped ribs in the oven many years ago when I was too lazy to fire up my grill in the middle of winter. Now, my preferred methodology for ribs is apply rub--quick grill for smoke--foil wrap and cook low in oven--unwrap to add sauce -- finish under broiler. I've never had less than awesomely succulent ribs since doing it this way. I'm surprised that the article describes this as some new trend, I think Alton Brown had an episode on Good Eats about oven ribs years ago.

Back on topic, my copy of MC arrives today!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited by Brown Hornet (log)
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yeah, it arrived! After 7:30pm, latest UPS deliver I've ever gotten, usually they get here before lunch, but it made it!

I was almost too tired to open it, but around 10pm I just had to take a peek, make sure everything is ok, and it is! Insane packaging, which I'll keep around for a while. Did not have time to read more than the introduction and page around in book 1 for a bit, but this afteroon I'll be diving right in :-)

It's as gorgeous as I expected, truly a milestone in culinary books, it's fun to have been following it's creation! Well done, thank you Nathan and friends!

"And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!"

- Thomas Keller

Diablo Kitchen, my food blog

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FWIW... STEVEN RAICHLEN has an article in the NY Times today "Ribs Without Smoke" in which, after building him up, takes a bit of a pot shot at Dr. Myhrvold and his "preferred method of cooking ribs" (end of the article).

Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/dining/06ribs.html?pagewanted=all

I'm not sure it's that much of a pot shot. Interesting article, I discovered the magic of foil wrapped ribs in the oven many years ago when I was too lazy to fire up my grill in the middle of winter. Now, my preferred methodology for ribs is apply rub--quick grill for smoke--foil wrap and cook low in oven--unwrap to add sauce -- finish under broiler. I've never had less than awesomely succulent ribs since doing it this way. I'm surprised that the article describes this as some new trend, I think Alton Brown had an episode on Good Eats about oven ribs years ago.

Back on topic, my copy of MC arrives today!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, he was going for the funny closing comment. The first time I ever used foil for ribs was from an Alton Brown recipe/show (baby back ribs one). That was maybe about 9 or 10 years ago. So nothing new there.

Now, my prefered mehtod is similar but much simpler to the MC one. Well, similar in that it uses SV I suppose based on the temp from Douglas Baldwin's book. Before they are CSV, they get a good spice rub. When they are CSV until cooked, they get grilled with lots of smoke, then brushed with my bbq sauce (last time I used a reduced red wine/thyme/honey glaze) and grilled quickly again. Best ribs ever.

E. Nassar
Houston, TX

My Blog
contact: enassar(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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Well, I received a notice from Amazon.ca 2 days ago, saying that my book shipped. I was so happy to see the DHL courier walking from his van to my house, until I saw that he was carrying a small box under his arm. The box had only Vol 6, the Kitchen Manual in it. No Vols 1-5! Arghh!

I called Amazon.ca and they surmised that the two parts ship separately. I haven't gotten that sense from reading previous posts. Anyone else have this problem?

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