According to the few people I've spoken to about really great cooking, understanding the science behind food is really important. Molecular Gastronomy by Hervé This covers the chemistry and physics behind not just cooking, but eating food.
I'm a not a chemist, so the concept of even attempting to figure out how it all works on a molecular level is daunting. But this book is written for people like me, who took rocks-for-jocks to cover their science credits.
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