Cooking: Is it art or is it science? As the great chefs around the world tell their students, it is both.

We all know people who seem to have been born with unique culinary talent—who seem to have a preternatural understanding of flavor, texture, and aroma. And now you can join their ranks. With science and practice, you, too, can become a culinary magician, astonishing your friends and family with your newfound knowledge and skill, creating dishes that nourish the body and feed the soul.

Enter the secret world of great culinarians with two experts, Chef Sean Kahlenberg, Assistant Professor of Culinary Arts at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and his friend and co-teacher, Professor Ted Russin, Acting Dean of the CIA’s School of Culinary Science and Nutrition. Let their joint expertise initiate and guide you through the world of better cooking through science.

Classic Napoli Pizza, a Perfect Chicken Dinner, Paella Mixta, and Three Classic Egg Dishes Follow your expert chef into the kitchen to make the perfect pizza, and your food science expert into the lab to discover the science behind the crust—the magic of gluten, yeast, time, and heat. Garnished with the colors of the Italian flag, pizza Napoletana is the most essential and quintessential of pizzas. Topped only with simple tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and basil leaves, it has captured hearts and imaginations across Italy and around the world for generations.

Elegant enough for company, but inexpensive enough for every day, the humble chicken seems to do it all—if you know how it’s done. Learn to prepare your bird, from tying and seasoning to carving and serving. Explore several side dishes to round out your meal, including carrot purée, broccoli, pan gravy, and sherry gastrique. After creating an unparalleled chicken dinner, turn your attention to the science that underlies the magic. See how we transform cold, raw chicken into a culinary delight of golden skin and warm, juicy meat, bursting with flavor and aroma.

Our third meal, a recipe originally cooked and served in a wide, shallow pan called a paella, the paella mixta traces its roots to the Spanish city of Valencia on the Mediterranean coast. A combination of short-grain rice, meat, seafood, sausage, and vegetables, it is colored by vibrant yellow saffron. After learning to make the dish, enter the lab to understand the science of starch and vegetables, two critical components of the paella. This is Spanish comfort food at its best, and you will get to know the pleasure of the dish and the joy of cooking with science.

Eggs are simple, but their presence in cooking is pervasive and vital. Learn to make the divine and rustic tortilla española, a light and savory Gruyère and Parmesan cheese soufflé, and a world-class salmon benedict with a creamy béarnaise sauce. In the lab, witness experiments that will expand your understanding of egg texture and viscosity and how they are affected by the pH of the egg and the presence of both potatoes and oil, in our simple and delicious tortilla española. Keep your soufflé from collapsing and your béarnaise sauce from breaking by understanding the nature of eggs.

Take It Home—Easy Recipes from World-Class Experts Whether this is your first cooking course or your one hundred and first, you will be charmed and inspired by the deft instruction of your culinary experts, Chef Sean Kahlenberg, Assistant Professor of Culinary Arts at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York, and Ted Russin, Acting Dean of the CIA’s School of Culinary Science and Nutrition. This collection provides new and intriguing opportunities for cooks to cultivate and advance a diversity of skills and interests. Join the expert chefs in Cooking Better with Science as they introduce extraordinary recipes and the foundational science that makes each recipe possible.