1. The Seven Drives

Do you Cook? Are you good at it? I like to think I am, and sometimes the things I cook turn out great; other times not so wonderful.

I learned to cook from watching my mom cook, following recipes, and experimenting on my own. Recently I got a book about the science of cooking. Now I’m learning why some recipes work and others don’t, or why some of my substitutions are not a good idea.

Instead of having to follow a recipe slavishly, or experimenting on my own and wondering what’s going to happen, I now can apply what I know about the science of cooking—about what chemicals in food react with others to make food flavorful or tender. I can still give it my own flair, but given a particular situation with a particular set of ingredients, ...

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