Modernist Cuisine: By The Numbers

[Photograph: Ryan Matthew Smith] How heat escapes a pot. Click for a larger view.

The awesome wok shot was made by cutting a wok completely in half and cooking in it. The shot above, on the other hand, was an even simpler one: only the lid was cut in half in order to demonstrate inefficiencies when a pot gets heated. The main caption reads:

The road to hot food is full of wrong turns, and heat takes them all. The sources of heat loss on any given stove top are legion. Heat streams from below, beside, and above the food being heated. It leaks from the burner to the frame. It wafts from the sides of the pot. It radiates from the lid. The exact sources of heat loss vary from one kind of burner and cookware to another, but the leaks noted here are ubiquitous.

A few quick stats about the upcoming book Modernist Cuisine:

Total number of pages in Modernist Cuisine: 2,438
Total word count: ~1.1 million
Number of photographs: 3,216
Number of images shot for the book: 147,000
Total size of image file library: 2.8 terabytes
Number of annotated cutaway illustrations: 36
Total number of recipes: 1,522
Example recipes: 379
Recipes in parametric tables: 814
Component recipes in the 49 plated-dish recipes: 239
Total weight: 43 pounds
Total weight of ink: 4 pounds
Cost: $625

More Modernist Cuisine

• The Wok Shot »
• Popcorn Popping at 6,200 FPS »
• 30-Course Dinner at the Modernist Cuisine's Cooking Lab »
• Why 'Modernist Cuisine' Is the Ultimate Cookbook »
• Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Burger »
• Menu: The Modernist Cuisine Cooking Lab »

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