Salt, Fat, Heat, Acid: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking, by Samin Nosrat. Foreword by Michael Pollan

A visionary new master class in cooking that distills decades of professional experience into just four simple elements, from the woman declared Americas next great cooking teacher by Alice Waters.

In the tradition ofThe Joy of CookingandHow to Cook EverythingcomesSalt, Fat, Acid, Heat, an ambitious new approach to cooking by a major new culinary voice. Chef and writer Samin Nosrat has taught everyone from professional chefs to middle school kids to author Michael Pollan to cook using her revolutionary, yet simple, philosophy. Master the use of just four elementsSalt, which enhances flavor; Fat, which delivers flavor and generates texture; Acid, which balances flavor; and Heat, which ultimately determines the texture of foodand anything you cook will be delicious. By explaining the hows and whys of good cooking,Salt, Fat, Acid, Heatwill teach and inspire a new generation of cooks how to confidently make better decisions in the kitchen and cook delicious meals with any ingredients, anywhere, at any time.

Echoing Samins own journey from culinary novice to award-winning chef,Salt, Fat Acid, Heatimmediately bridges the gap between home and professional kitchens. With charming narrative, illustrated walkthroughs, and a lighthearted approach to kitchen science, Samin demystifies the four elements of good cooking for everyone. Refer to the canon of 100 essential recipesand dozens of variationsto put the lessons into practice and make bright, balanced vinaigrettes, perfectly caramelized roast vegetables, tender braised meats, and light, flaky pastry doughs.

Featuring 150 illustrations and infographics that reveal an atlas to the world of flavor by renowned illustrator Wendy MacNaughton,Salt, Fat, Acid, Heatwill be your compass in the kitchen. Destined to be a classic, it just might be the last cookbook youll ever need.

With a foreword by Michael Pollan.

“Just readingSalt, Fat, Acid, Heatwill make you a better cook, adept at seasoning, balancing, understanding what it really is youre doing and why… Make room on the bedside tableand the countertop.” – Bon Appetit

“I talk about Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat the way people talk about beloved pets or newborn babies; like I was a different person before I read it and I was. I liked to eat, but hated to cook. I was a huge proponent of what I called “snack dinner,” basically whatever I had that didn’t require a cooking implement. Samin Nosrat (and illustrator Wendy MacNaughton) set me straight. Together they debunk the concept of recipes, instead teaching you how to build food (and flavor) from scratch and by instinct. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat uses its eponymous guiding principles to chart a very delicious course toward never eating snack dinner again.” –NPR.org

“My favorite metacookbook…[Nosrat] offers a beautifully simple checklist for ensuring a dish ends up in a good place…This is the book of cooking grammar that so many novices would benefit from…Salt, Fat, Acid, Heatis written smoothly and casually, and kept breezy via charming watercolors by the perceptive Bay Area artist Wendy MacNaughton…Nosrats book would be of value both to people who dont consider themselves cooks and to people actively striving to become better ones.” – Atlantic

“Inventively illustrated…ambitious…[Nosrat is] a talented explainer.” – Wall Street Journal

“A cookbook that will make you a better cook…with helpful, charming illustrations from artist Wendy MacNaughton.” – Boston Globe

Samin Nosrat is a writer, teacher, and chef. Called a go-to resource for matching the correct techniques with the best ingredients byThe New YorkTimes, and the next Julia Child by NPRsAll Things Considered, shes been cooking professionally since 2000, when she first stumbled into the kitchen at Chez Panisse restaurant. She lives, cooks, surfs, and gardens in Berkeley, California.Salt, Fat, Acid, Heatis her first book.

Wendy MacNaughtonis aNew York Timesbestselling illustrator and graphic journalist whose books includeMeanwhile in San Francisco(Chronicle),Pen & Ink(Bloomsbury).TheGutsy Girl(Bloomsbury), andThe Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Her work appears in publications likeThe New York Times, Lucky Peach,Bon Apptit, AFAR Magazine,and elsewhere. She is the back page columnist forTheCaliforniaSundayMagazine.

April 25, 2017.