Modernist Cuisine: A Photo Tour

By Food & Wine
Updated June 15, 2016
Photo © Ryan Matthew Smith / The Cooking Lab LLC
Nathan Myhrvold's culinary team used state-of-the-art photography equipment to document the science of food and cooking for his six-volume cookbook, Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking. Here, some of his book's striking images.
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Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

Credit: Photo © The Cooking Lab, LLC

"I outdid myself," says Nathan Myhrvold, the author of Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, his exhaustive 2,438-page, six-volume cookbook. That's quite a statement coming from Microsoft's former chief technology officer, who researched cosmology with Stephen Hawking and writes scholarly paleontology articles almost as a hobby. $377; amazon.com

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Pad Thai

Credit: Photo © Ryan Matthew Smith / The Cooking Lab LLC

Myhrvold's team bisected a wok to examine what happens to pad thai as it cooks.

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Sous Vide Egg Yolks

Credit: Photo © Ryan Matthew Smith / The Cooking Lab LLC

Egg yolks cooked sous vide to different temperatures result in a range of textures.

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Golden Enoki Mushrooms

Credit: Photo © Ryan Matthew Smith / The Cooking Lab LLC

Golden enoki mushrooms are one of many ingredients pictured in their natural state.

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Beef Short Rib with Crispy Beef Salad

Credit: Photo © Ryan Matthew Smith / The Cooking Lab LLC

Sous vide beef short rib pairs with crispy beef salad and a sweet-pungent glaze.

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The Perfect Hamburger

Credit: Photo © Ryan Matthew Smith / The Cooking Lab LLC

Myhrvold considered every component to come up with his modernist version:

  • Tender hamburgerbun, made from scratch and toasted in beef suet.
  • Hamburgerglaze of suet, pureed tomato confit, beef stock and smoked salt.
  • Maitakemushroom, sautéed in beef suet.
  • Romainelettuce infused sous vide with liquid hickory smoke.
  • Vacuum-compressed heirloomtomato.
  • Cheese slice made from aged Emmental, Comté and wheat ale.
  • Short ribpatty ground to vertically align the grain.
  • Cremini mushroomketchup with honey, horseradish, fish sauce, ginger and allspice.
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