Cocinar / Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

by Michael Pollan

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Book cover for Cocinar / Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

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Una magnífica investigación para comprender el poder mágico de transformación de la cocina.

¿Qué entendemos hoy por cocinar, cuando según los sondeos no dedicamos a esta actividad más de 27 minutos al día (y gran parte de ellos estamos frente al microondas)? Pollan hace un recorrido histórico a partir de los cuatro elementos que relaciona con cuatro formas generales de cocción, con ciertos platos y con distintas formas de concebir la vida:

1) Fuego: la cocción directa con el fuego, las brasas, una forma de comunidad, una actitud épica, masculina, exterior y sacerdotal;

2) Agua: la elaboración de los alimentos interponiendo un líquido entre ellos y el fuego, una forma de cocina interior, larga, mágica y femenina;

3) Tierra: es decir, la cocción por fermentación, por la acción de las bacterias, como el queso o la cerveza, la espera en sótanos húmedos;

4) Aire: que el autor sobre todo identifica con hacer pan, con la espera, la mezcla de la masa y el inflamiento;

Para escribir este libro, Pollan trabaja con cocineros muy reputados en USA, como Ed Mitchell que hace cerdos enteros a la brasa, con panaderos tradicionales, con una amiga suya que le enseña las variantes del sofrito en las diferentes culturas, o con maestros cerveceros. Incorpora cuatro recetas básicas: carne a la brasa, estofado con pasta, pan y cerveza, cuatro platos fundacionales en la forma de comer del ser humano, y nos explica cuál es la importancia de recuperar una actividad que nos permite entrar en contacto con la naturaleza, con nuestras raíces, y con nuestro propio cuerpo.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

**Now a docu-series streaming on Netflix, starring Pollan as he explores how cooking transforms food and shapes our world. Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney executive produces the four-part series based on Pollan's book, and each episode will focus on a different natural element: fire, water, air, and earth. **

In Cooked, Michael Pollan explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen. Here, he discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements—fire, water, air, and earth—to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink. Apprenticing himself to a succession of culinary masters, Pollan learns how to grill with fire, cook with liquid, bake bread, and ferment everything from cheese to beer.

Each section of Cooked tracks Pollan's effort to master a single classic recipe using one of the four elements. A North Carolina barbecue pit master tutors him in the primal magic of fire; a Chez Panisse–trained cook schools him in the art of braising; a celebrated baker teaches him how air transforms grain and water into a fragrant loaf of bread; and finally, several mad-genius "fermentos" (a tribe that includes brewers, cheese makers, and all kinds of picklers) reveal how fungi and bacteria can perform the most amazing alchemies of all. The reader learns alongside Pollan, but the lessons move beyond the practical to become an investigation of how cooking involves us in a web of social and ecological relationships. Cooking, above all, connects us.

The effects of not cooking are similarly far reaching. Relying upon corporations to process our food means we consume large quantities of fat, sugar, and salt; disrupt an essential link to the natural world; and weaken our relationships with family and friends. In fact, Cooked argues, taking back control of cooking may be the single most important step anyone can take to help make the American food system healthier and more sustainable. Reclaiming cooking as an act of enjoyment and self-reliance, learning to perform the magic of these everyday transformations, opens the door to a more nourishing life.
  • ISBN10 8499923658
  • ISBN13 9788499923659
  • Publish Date 30 August 2016
  • Publish Status Out of Stock
  • Publish Country ES
  • Imprint Debate