Reading order#
| # |
Title |
Published |
Author |
Buy on Amazon |
| 1 |
The Food Lab |
2015 |
J. Kenji López-Alt |
Buy |
| 2 |
The Wok |
2022 |
J. Kenji López-Alt |
Buy |
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s cookbook catalog consists of two major works. The Food Lab (2015) is his landmark first book, a comprehensive guide to home cooking that uses scientific experimentation to determine the best techniques for everything from burgers to bolognese. It won a James Beard Award and became a standard reference for serious home cooks.
The Wok (2022) focuses specifically on wok-based cooking, covering stir-fries, deep-frying, steaming, and more. Like The Food Lab, it goes deep into the science of why certain techniques produce better results, with particular attention to the high-heat cooking that woks enable.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books are in the J. Kenji López-Alt Cookbooks series?
There are two books in the J. Kenji López-Alt Cookbooks series, published between 2015 and 2022.
What is the first book in the J. Kenji López-Alt Cookbooks series?
The first book in the J. Kenji López-Alt Cookbooks series is The Food Lab, published in 2015.
What is The Food Lab about?
The Food Lab (2015) is a 960-page cookbook that applies scientific testing to everyday recipes. Lopez-Alt experimented with hundreds of variables (temperatures, cooking times, ingredient ratios) to find the optimal technique for each dish. The book covers everything from scrambled eggs to Thanksgiving turkey and explains not just how to cook but why certain methods work better than others.