Molecular Gastronomy is a fast-growing part of the culinary world and one I enjoy. The idea is to understand the science of cooking and be able to use commercially available products such as gums and gels that are normally incorporated into food processing in a culinary, restaurant setting. Using these products allows chefs to create food that they would normally be unable to make. One of the most memorable meals I have ever had was at the holiday party that Mont Blanc hosted several years ago, where the chef incorporated molecular-gastronomy techniques into the different dishes using such ingredients as liquid nitrogen to create ice cream tableside in about sixty seconds. One of the highlights of that evening was working with the chef to make the ice cream, pouring the nitrogen on our hands and watching the “smoke” rise from our skin. Check out the pictures and story on my blog.

One of the co-founders of molecular gastronomy is Herve This, who has written a book called “Molecular Gastronomy.” It is a fascinating introduction to thinking about cooking in a scientific fashion. The book is composed of short chapters, each one detailing a new product or dish to be created. The chapters range from appetizers to entrees to desserts and drinks. One of my favorite chapters was on creating Chantilly Chocolate, a foamy chocolate dessert that is light and airy. It is made by combining chocolates and water, something not normally done since chocolate has a tendency to seize up, and whisking the mixture so that the ingredients are incorporated and assume the foamy texture. Reading this book offers a fascinating introduction to molecular gastronomy and will make you think about cooking in a very different way.

“Spiced,” by Dahlia Jurgensen, is the interesting insider account of a successful New York City pastry chef as she struggles to prove herself as both a woman and a pastry chef in the Manhattan restaurant scene. Her account begins with her work at Nobu, the always packed, trendy Japanese restaurant. VIPs were always accorded special treatment, and most often that meant complimentary desserts, which Jurgensen had to create. Fresh from culinary training, she begins her internship and learns the spare, classical aesthetic that is the hallmark of Japanese cuisine.

Once her internship ends, she moves to another restaurant, following her chef, who had opened a place with a partner. As she learns more about pastry and cooking, she decides to focus on pastry. Pastry chefs are a unique commodity in any restaurant because of the exceptionally high skill level and training required to create and reproduce desserts. They are different from regular cooks because of the level of precision required in making pastries. Cooks can be imprecise when making a dish, often measuring and seasoning to taste. Pastry chefs and bakers must be more careful, measuring every ingredient exactly and working the dough, pate, ganache, or crème for just the right amount of time. Otherwise, puff pastry doesn’t rise, ganache doesn’t set up and soufflés fall.

As Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” exposed the world of restaurant kitchens, “Spiced” is a fun read, providing insight into the life and specialized training required of dessert chefs in professional kitchens.

It is hard to believe that a book written in 1825 about cooking and food would continue to be relevant today, but Brillat-Savarin’s masterpiece is as timely now as it was almost two centuries ago when it first appeared. This astute analysis of food, cooking and eating covers every aspect of cuisine, including recipes, discussions of meals, culinary adventures and how different types of food affect people. The book revels in the pleasures of food in all of its forms.

Each section of the book is divided into Meditations, ranging from Gastronomy in General, defined as the intelligent knowledge of whatever concerns man’s nourishment, to Meditations on Food in General. Within each Meditation are more detailed discussions, including some of my favorites on sugar, coffee and chocolate.

One intriguing aspect of what he writes is its historical perspective. In the early 1800s, restaurants were just becoming commonplace, so several Meditations discuss these new establishments, including the novelties of their menus — which for the first time gave people the opportunity to select dishes for their meals from a variety of preparations.

So too, his comments about sugar are interesting, noting how widespread its use had become, albeit in such a relatively short period of time. “The use of sugar has daily become more widespread and more general, and there is not a single article of food which has undergone more changes and more combinations. People eat it in its pure state, mixed with water, made into syrup, sherbets, mixed with wine to make cordials … mixed with flour and eggs for the fairly new art of baking little cakes … mixed with coffee sugar accentuates the aroma. … The uses of sugar do not stop there, however. It can be said that it is the universal flavoring and ruins nothing.”

Brillat-Savarin was fastidious in his study of food, carefully re-creating recipes and processes to determine the best methods of preparation. Coffee received special scrutiny from both a historical perspective in where it originated and then how it was best prepared. “The beverage brewed from raw beans is truly insignificant; but roasting develops in them an aroma and forms an oil which characterizes coffee as we know it today, and which would have remained eternally unsuspected without the intervention of heat.” He relates the difference between grinding coffee with a mortar and pestle and with a coffee mill. Taking a pound of coffee, he separated the beans into two equal portions, grinding one with a mortar and pestle, the other with a coffee mill. “The unanimous opinion was that the beverage made from the pounded beans was obviously superior to that which came from the milled coffee.” I kept thinking how that might make for an interesting morning ritual at home and at coffee shops across the world, were everyone to adopt his advice!

Chocolate was another item that he carefully studied, and, to the delight of connoisseurs everywhere, he pronounced, “With time and experience it has been shown as proof positive that carefully prepared chocolate is as healthful a food as it is pleasant; that it is nourishing and easily digested; that it is above all helpful to people who must do a great deal of mental work. … People who habitually drink chocolate enjoy unvarying health, and are least attacked by a host of little illnesses which can destroy the true joy of living; their physical weight is almost stationary. … Americans make their chocolate without sugar … this appeals neither to our manners nor to our preferences, and here in France we like to have chocolate served to us all prepared.”

Two centuries later, it is refreshing to read Brillat-Savarin’s words and realize how little has changed in many of the foods we eat and the beverages we drink. This book reminds us of the timelessness and universality of the products we enjoy daily and is a necessary addition to the library of anyone interested in gastronomy and food.

Julia Child has become a celebrity again, after her death, with the release of the movie “Julie & Julia.” The movie combines two stories, layering the storyline of Julie, who creates a blog wherein she cooks her way through every recipe in Julia Child’s remarkable “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in one year, and the storyline of Julia Child’s biography and the effort it took to create her masterpiece.

Julia Child’s story is beautifully portrayed in her autobiography, “My Life in France,” and the background of her life with her husband, Paul, is also fascinating. They first met in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) during World War II when both worked for the Office of Strategic Services. They subsequently moved to Paris, where Julia’s passion for cooking was uncovered. Visits to restaurants, bakers, cheese makers, butchers, fish mongers, candy makers and chocolatiers followed as Child followed her passion and learned as much as she could about food and French cooking.

Julia Child is a culinary icon who was a driving force in creating the culinary and gastronomic culture that exists in the United States today. Her impact can’t be overstated. “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” helped spark a love affair with cooking that continues today. Her television show, “The French Chef,” introduced even more people to classical French techniques and helped make cooking accessible to everyone. The cookbook is enormous, more than 700 pages in the first volume, and took eight years to write and publish. One of the things I learned in her autobiography was that she possessed a remarkable dedication to the craft of cooking and a quest for perfection. Recipes were tested dozens and sometimes hundreds of times, with slight variations of ingredients and technique, so that every step was clearly understood and every recipe could be replicated at home.

The movie was fun to watch, but Julia Child’s autobiography is even more interesting to read for its portrayal of life in Paris, a life spent pursuing a passion for food, and how one woman helped transform and change America’s love for cooking.

I was recently invited to visit McDonald’s world headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill. It is a beautiful, verdant campus, where the main buildings are low brick-and-glass edifices reminding me of a Frank Lloyd Wrightdesign. While there, I was given a copy of “Grinding It Out,” Ray Kroc’s autobiography. The book is a fascinating recounting of how and why he was able to build the icon that is the world’s best-known brand.