Basic Principles of Cooking and Food Science

Appears in
Professional Cooking
Professional Cooking

By Wayne Gisslen

Published 2014

  • About
No written recipe can be 100 percent accurate. No matter how carefully a recipe is written, the judgment of the cook is still the most important factor in a preparation turning out well. A cook’s judgment is based on experience, on an understanding of the raw materials available, and on knowledge of basic cooking principles and food science.

Ever since Carême began to define the principles and methods that lie behind the recipes we use, professional cooking has been based on procedures and methods rather than only on recipes. In the twenty-first century, chefs have improved their knowledge not just of cooking theory but also of the science behind it.