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Aki Kamozawa
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Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook: A Cookbook Kindle Edition

by Aki Kamozawa (Author), Alexander H. Talbot (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 93 ratings
Editors' pick Best Cookbooks, Food & Wine
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Whether you’re interested in molecular gastronomy or just want a perfect chicken recipe for dinner tonight, the authors of Ideas in Food deliver reliable techniques and dishes—no hard-to-find ingredients or break-the-bank equipment required—for real home cooks.
 
On the cutting edge of kitchen science, Kamozawa and Talbot regularly consult for restaurants to help them solve cooking conundrums. And yet they often find it’s the simplest tips that can be the most surprising—and the ones that can help home cooks take their cooking to a new level.
 
With this book, you’ll learn:


   • Why steaming potatoes in the pressure cooker before frying them makes for the crispiest French fries
   • Why, contrary to popular belief, you should flip your burgers often as you cook them for the best results
   • How a simple coating of egg white, baking soda, and salt helps create chicken wings that are moist and juicy on the inside with a thin, crackling exterior
   • How to cook steak consistently and perfectly every time
   • How to make easy egg-free ice creams that are more flavorful than their traditional custard-base cousins
   • How to make no-knead Danish that are even better than the ones at your local bakery
   • How to smoke vegetables to make flavorful vegetarian dishes
   • Why pâte à choux—or cream puff dough—makes foolproof, light-as-air gnocchi
   • How pressure cooking sunflower seeds can transform them into a creamy risotto
   • How to elevate everyday favorites and give them a fresh new spin with small changes—such as adding nori to a classic tomato salad
Sharing expert advice on everything from making gluten-free baking mixes and homemade cheeses and buttermilk to understanding the finer points of fermentation or sous-vide cooking, Kamozawa and Talbot chronicle their quest to bring out the best in every ingredient. With a focus on recipes and techniques that can help anyone make better meals every day and 75 color photographs that show both step-by-step processes and finished dishes, Maximum Flavor will encourage you to experiment, taste, play with your food, and discover again why cooking and eating are so fascinating and fun.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Clarkson Potter
  5. Publication date
    October 8, 2013
  6. File size
    39840 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Featured Recipes from Maximum Flavor

Download the recipe for Korean Style Chicken Wings Download the recipe for French Fries

Review

"Alex and Aki's fantastic new cookbook expands the realm of what you can accomplish in a home kitchen."
--Nathan Myhrvold

“Aki and Alex have packed this cookbook full of ingenious ideas. Your food will look professional but will actually be simple to make because they’ve already done the heavy mental lifting for you.”
--David Chang

“It’s been a long time since I have read a book full of so many new tips and techniques. From fermentation 101 to brilliant new uses for the pressure cooker, Maximum Flavor is guaranteed to make cooking more fun and rewarding.”
--Sean Brock

“In today’s cluttered and often confusing food world, Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot are bright lights I always look to for guidance. Their intelligence and, critically, their curiosity lead them down paths I have never traveled or even thought to. I welcome every new word, recipe, and technique from this talented couple and am thrilled to have Maximum Flavor in my kitchen.”
--Michael Ruhlman

“Who ever says the sequel is the tour de force? It turns out that Maximum Flavor, the follow up to Ideas in Food, is a clever and eloquent fusion of food science tips and techniques that lead you to even better versions of many familiar and appetizing dishes. From a perfected recipe for French fries to caramel sauce with fresh ginger, this book is filled with simple ways to make some of our most beloved foods taste better than ever before.”
--Alex Guarnaschelli

“I have been using Aki and Alex’s blog, Ideas in Food, for years as a source of inspiration. I was excited to see that they bound all of their thoughtfulness, passion, and delicious recipes into a book, so even more people can maximize flavor in their home kitchens.”
--Grant Achatz

“This book is a joy to read, with Alex and Aki at their most approachable and engaging. A must for anyone who loves to cook.”
--Daniel Patterson

“It’s simple: Aki and Alex are some of the smartest cooks around. Their sensible modern approach to making food better is inspiring.”
--Richard Blais

“Maximum Flavor is a book that reminds me why I cook: to make things that simply taste good. This is a book for everyone to cook from—not just to look at the stunning pictures.”
--Michael Voltaggio

“Aki and Alex redefine the pursuit for incredible flavor through their original ideas and techniques. Maximum Flavor will change the way we cook and will inspire curiosity and new possibilities in professional and home kitchens alike.”
--Bryan Voltaggio

"Their new cookbook, Maximum Flavor, is filled with specific recipes for steaks, cakes, breads, pickles, and soups, but the book is exciting if each recipe is used as a jumping-off point for experimentation. There's a technical trick embedded in just about every dish in the book that not only helps improve the recipe itself, but it also can be read as an idea on its own…Whichever path you take, there is still plenty to learn."
--Serious Eats

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00CVS44IS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clarkson Potter (October 8, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 8, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 39840 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 93 ratings

About the author

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Aki Kamozawa

Aki Kamozawa

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
93 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Sarah Sorlien
5.0 out of 5 stars My Maximum Flavor dinner party was a hit
Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2013
Verified Purchase
Full disclosure: I am a huge fan of Alex and Aki. I follow their blog, Ideas in Food, and follow them on Twitter @ideasinfood. I have taken a one day class with Alex where my friend and I were the only ones in the class who had never been to culinary school. We followed along just fine, though, as we have a science background.

Alex and Aki play with their food, but with a truly adventurous and scientific approach. I love the way they think, and the content goes way beyond the recipes just as it did with their first cookbook, Ideas in Food.

Alex writes the way he thinks. It might have been easier to follow a list of instructions than the longish narrative explanations. (For example, I did need to reread the instructions for preparing the pouches for grilling the leeks a few times.). Overall, though, this is the way I like to cook. Not by protocol, but by process.

So I made a few adaptations (like serving the caramel apple pie with a ginger infused whipped cream) but overall cooked an entire dinner party with recipes from the book this weekend. Everything was easy and delicious. I have a sous vide set up, so the sous vide porterhouse was a natural choice. We all agreed it was perfection.

One incredibly simple thing that was a huge hit was the method of roasting nuts. It was a lovely aside in the book that will now be my regular routine for serving/ using nuts.

All in all I made 6 recipes from the book and all were delicious. I learned how to handle foods in new ways that will be permanent addition to my culinary repertoire. This cookbook was worth twice the price for this alone.
26 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Very fun cookbook
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2021
Verified Purchase
This book is great for the experimentalist who is looking for fun new ideas. This book take fun twists on dishes that explores why and how dishes are made. They don’t create “twists” in a gimmicky way. They have thoroughly though about each recipe and things that can do to improve or create new flavors. It’s a great way to allow you mind to open up new doors and explore ideas that you might not have thought or imagined.
Easy to follow and doesn’t include a lot of “specialty” ingredients, hard to master techniques or fancy equipment. It’s a great book for those who like to cook.
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Laura K.
4.0 out of 5 stars this is such a cool cookbook. There are a lot of things in ...
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2016
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While a lot of the recipes are a bit much for the every day kitchen, this is such a cool cookbook. There are a lot of things in here that I would love to make someday, and a few I've made already. I love the ideas for repurposing a whipped cream charger to make individual desserts in the microwave. I definitely recommend it if you feel like your cooking has gotten dull and you want to be insipired!
One person found this helpful
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Chris J. Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring and thoughful. Clever cooking at its best!
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2013
Verified Purchase
Absolutely love this follow up to Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work. Aki and Alex have once again offered an insightful look at the science behind the food they cook and have shared some extremley thoughtful ways to coax the most flavor out the foods you cook. So many of the ideas in Maximim Flavor are an excellent jumping off point for creativity in your own kitchen. The gluten free flour blends are excellent and the results are as advertised. Finally gluten free that is delicious! There is a fantastic sources page and sound advice on small kitchen appliances that really can make the difference in your cooking. If you are a curious cook and love to spend time on your own or with family and friends in your kitchen, this is a must have book for your library. Looking forward to what is next from the folks at Ideas in Food!
2 people found this helpful
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cookie's mom
3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I was expecting
Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2013
Verified Purchase
From the book's description, I expected more kitchen science, less kale and quinoa. There were a few ideas that I might follow up on (steam your eggs for 14 minutes instead of boiling them for deviled eggs, buy a pressure cooker) but the recipes required very specific techniques plus ingredients I would have to search for, and several required overnight refrigeration or lengthy preparation, so I did not find a single one that I wanted to try. To be honest, part of that is my style of cooking--due to food allergies and intolerances in my family, I almost never follow a recipe exactly as written, and I did not see how these recipes could be easily adapted. (I should note that they do include a few gluten-free recipes, including two for gluten-free flour mixtures, but that is not the adaptation that I need.) I would recommend this book for adventurous cooks who have a lot of time, not for those who, like me, simply want to improve their skills at everyday cooking. I cannot go into more detail on the book because I have returned it to its packaging and it will be the first book I have ever returned to Amazon.
21 people found this helpful
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Alex
5.0 out of 5 stars Creative Techniques and Approaches, not a "Cookbook"
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2013
Verified Purchase
If you buy this for only for the recipes, you are missing the point. I find this book pretty inspiring if you like to be creative in the kitchen and already have some level of acumen with basic techniques. I like how the rational and logic behind each dish is explained in an intro, so you can take the "why" and apply to preparations beyond the recipe. There are also deeper explanations of general techniques between chapters. Also some nice lessons on food science without being geeky. If you want an idea if the authors' style, check out their blog that has tons of great content as well as pictures. IMO, it is better than any single book could be, but like the fact I can flip thought this for some inspiration.
17 people found this helpful
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Tara P.
5.0 out of 5 stars Obsessive foodies rejoice!
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2013
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This is another great cookbook for obsessive foodies only. "Maximum Flavor" delivers on its promise to help change the way you cook. They have painstakingly tried out new methods and techniques to perfect dishes that you have probably made a hundred times before in the same old tired way with the same old tired results. I have notes and post it's on so many pages throughout, and can hardly wait to try more. Stay tuned!
4 people found this helpful
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T. Lee
5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2015
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Very interesting book. I've already tried the Korean-style chicken wings for Super Bowl. Due to the amount I was making, I skipped the overnight in the refrigerator to air dry. I doubled the dipping sauce and used it as a marinade, overnight, then cooked in the oven the next day. They were a BIG hit! Next time, I'll make a normal batch and follow their instructions to the tee. There are many VERY interesting recipes, different without being over the top.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Michael O'Neill
5.0 out of 5 stars Great
Reviewed in Canada on June 26, 2014
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As a fan of the site and owner of the first book, this is what I expected and as not disappointed. Detailed explanations and interesting recipes and techniques
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vsg
2.0 out of 5 stars I won't be changing the way I cook
Reviewed in Canada on May 9, 2014
Verified Purchase
I had hoped for a bit of cooking philosophy, or tips on how to improve my cooking, but I didn't find that within. I also didn't find many recipes that piqued my interest - only one, to be exact. This book seems to be intended for aspiring chefs - if you don't have a meat grinder, or 48 hours to prepare a dish, it's likely not for you. Personally I'll stick to the Jamie Oliver books.
2 people found this helpful
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