The Laws of Cooking

Starred review from August 3, 2015
Viewers may remember Warner on The Next Food Network Star as a culinary mad scientist, employing a wide variety of appliances and ingredients to create unusual concoctions, but his approach here is smart and down to earth. He takes a handful of familiar pairings, such as lemonade (sweet and sour), coffee with cream and sugar (bitter meets fat and sweet) and General Tso’s chicken (spicy and sweet) to show readers how to apply those basic concepts to other dishes in order to create something that’s as unique as it is toothsome. Smoked oysters stand in for the standard anchovies in the classic Caesar salad, and Warner piles on accessible and enticing riffs such as Mini Reuben Wellingtons; pepperoni-crusted cod with pineapple; blue cheesecake with Frank’s RedHot sauce; and Howitzer Habanero Chocolate Cake, a dense, rich caked topped with a fiery habanero cream cheese frosting. There are also occasional showy dishes such as Sardines, Their Skeletons, and Sumac; foie gras–filled doughnuts; and lox prepared in a DIY cold smoker that bears the influence of Warner’s mentor, Alton Brown. Warner’s focus
is on the food, and encouraging readers to stretch their palates and skills to create something truly unique. This is a refreshingly new take from an author to watch.