Modernist Cuisine

The comprehensive six-volume cookbook was authored by Nathan Myhrvold, a former Chief Technology Officer for Microsoft, along with Chris Young and Maxime Bilet. Myhrvold assembled a massive team of chefs, scientists, and photographers in his Intellectual Ventures laboratory to create the book. The project took several years and millions of dollars to complete before its 2011 publication.

The original six-volume set, *Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking*, initially retailed for $625. It comprises over 2,400 pages and weighs nearly 40 pounds, featuring incredibly detailed cutaway photographs of cooking processes. While there are smaller, cheaper follow-up books like *Modernist Cuisine at Home*, the flagship set remains a massive premium investment.

The book focuses heavily on the intersection of food science and avant-garde culinary techniques, popularly known as molecular gastronomy. It explains the chemistry and physics behind cooking, detailing how to use tools like centrifuges, liquid nitrogen, and sous vide water baths. Myhrvold applies rigorous scientific testing to traditional cooking methods to explain exactly why they work.

The original set is generally considered more of an academic reference text than a practical daily cookbook for most home kitchens. Many of the recipes require highly specialized, expensive equipment like homogenizers or vacuum sealers that are typically found in professional laboratories. However, Myhrvold later released *Modernist Cuisine at Home*, which adapts many of the scientific techniques for standard kitchen equipment.