Masala Lab: The Science of Indian Cooking

A fascinating book that’s definitely worth buying and owning.

I am one of those haphazard cooks who will eat a salad than cook for fear of washing dishes with burnt food. This is a life saver . Read it in one go the day it was delivered . Lot of good tips , and smile triggers . My pots are also very grateful

Somewhat detailed, but really interesting

Book Review Finished reading Krish Ashok's sensational book Masala Lab which delves into the Science of Cooking and how it can help us save time, hone our cooking skills, bust some myths and cook that Perfect Biriyani, our most prized invention and the highest ordered item in Indian restaurants. Krish employs a mix of chemistry and equations but also tries to lighten it with his trademark humor and wit and links it with the practicalities of cooking in an Indian kitchen. I was quite relieved to know microwave cooking is perfectly safe and that I can continue to cook rice in a microwave (always wonder why more people dont do it), which is how I have been cooking rice for quite long now. The various chapters in the book deal with the various methods of cooking, why we soak lentils and rice, the wonders of pressure cooking and how to make the perfect idli/dosa batter and even chapatis. I learnt that kneading can actually be done away with when it comes to soft chapatis (wish I knew this years back when I started out!). Why meat requires finesse when it comes to cooking and the ideal temperatures is again something new I learnt as is the importance of BRINING meat, a new revelation. Like this there are several tricks and tips throughout the book. There are illustrative tables of spice combos, diagrams of fleshy onions and dancing molecules and smoking points for oils. Finally Krish introduces us to his algorithm approach to making basic gravies, raitas, rice and even the perfect mouthwatering biriyani. What else can you expect from a guy who is a software engineer and not a chef?! Thoroughly enjoyed the book and while there are no fail proof recipes and neither will you be churning out delicious food just yet, it will surely help you to modify your cooking process for the better and discard some wrong or useless practices. Because as Krish rightly says making the tastiest dish can differ from person to person, house to house, where you sourced your meat or vegetables, the temperature of the city where you are cooking and the temperature when it hits your tongue! I hope Krish will write Part II and cover some more areas: seafood for eg which is not covered much and help answer some more of my queries like why I still struggle to make a decent cup of coffee consistently? But he does answer a lot of viewer queries on his Instagram page which you should definitely follow if you want more food science enlightenment. Apart from the book of course!

Good content, it’s not a reading book, it’s a studying book so the book needs to be much bigger to be practical, double of the size, to make easier to compare and to see better the many charts provided.

The sheer writing style and elegance that Krish Ashok has in conveying food-related topics is fascinating. Great read for evenings after a long work day.

This book has given me much insight into the fundamentals of Indian cooking. I have little experience in cooking, but the information in the book has emboldened me to try some dishes based on the advice given in the book. The book is well-written, and the author is funny.