J. Kenji López-Alt

The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science is On Sale Now!

J. Kenji López-Alt is the Managing Culinary Director of Serious Eats, author of the James Beard Award-nominated column The Food Lab, and a columnist for Cooking Light. He lives in San Francisco. A New York native, Kenji cut his cooking chops the old-fashioned way by working his way up through the ranks of some of Boston's finest restaurants. With an education in science and engineering and as a former Senior Editor at Cook's Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen, Kenji is fascinated by the ways in which understanding the science of every day cooking can help improve even simple foods. His first book, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science will be released this September, followed by a second volume in September of 2017.

Hi, I’m Kenji López-Alt. I’m a cookbook author, children’s book author, and a New York Times columnist. You can keep up with what I’m doing a few ways:

Watch Kenji’s Cooking Show on my YouTube Channel. (Updated at least once a week, please subscribe!)

Follow me on Instagram. (Updated daily.)

Follow my second YouTube channel for dining-out videos. (Updated when I feel like it.)

Follow my Tik Tok for whatever people use Tik Tok for. (Can someone tell me?)

You can also read more about me here.


The Wok: Recipes and Techniques

2023 JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION AWARD-WINNER

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLER

#1 WASHINGTON POST BEST-SELLER

WINNER: WASHINGTON STATE BOOK AWARD FOR GENERAL NONFICTION/BIOGRAPHY

THOUSANDS OF 5-STAR CUSTOMER REVIEWS ON AMAZON

From J. Kenji López-Alt, the author of the best-selling cookbook The Food Lab: the definitive guide to the science and technique of cooking in a wok.

J. Kenji López-Alt’s debut cookbook, The Food Lab, revolutionized home cooking, selling more than half a million copies with its science-based approach to everyday foods. And for fast, fresh cooking for his family, there’s one pan López-Alt reaches for more than any other: the wok.

Whether stir-frying, deep frying, steaming, simmering, or braising, the wok is the most versatile pan in the kitchen. Once you master the basics―the mechanics of a stir-fry, and how to get smoky wok hei at home―you’re ready to cook home-style and restaurant-style dishes from across Asia and the United States, including Kung Pao Chicken, Pad Thai, and San Francisco–Style Garlic Noodles. López-Alt also breaks down the science behind beloved Beef Chow Fun, fried rice, dumplings, tempura vegetables or seafood, and dashi-simmered dishes.

Featuring more than 200 recipes―including simple no-cook sides―explanations of knife skills and how to stock a pantry, and more than 1,000 color photographs, The Wok provides endless ideas for brightening up dinner.

Full color photographs throughout


Every Night is Pizza Night

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLER

THOUSANDS OF 5-STAR CUSTOMER REVIEWS ON AMAZON

Best-selling author J. Kenji López-Alt introduces Pipo, a girl on a quest to prove that pizza is the best food in the world.

Pipo thinks that pizza is the best. No, Pipo knows that pizza is the best. It is scientific fact. But when she sets out on a neighborhood-spanning quest to prove it, she discovers that "best" might not mean what she thought it means.

Join Pipo as she cooks new foods with her friends Eugene, Farah, Dakota, and Ronnie and Donnie. Each eating experiment delights and stuns her taste buds. Is a family recipe for bibimbap better than pizza? What about a Moroccan tagine that reminds you of home? Or is the best food in the world the kind of food you share with the people you love?

Warm and funny, with bright, whimsical illustrations by Gianna Ruggiero, Every Night Is Pizza Night is a story about open-mindedness, community, and family. With a bonus pizza recipe for young readers to cook with their parents, Every Night Is Pizza Night will make even the pickiest eaters hungry for something new.




The Food Lab

WINNER: JAMES BEARD AWARD, GENERAL COOKING

WINNER: INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CULINARY PROFESSIONALS, COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR

THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF 5-STAR CUSTOMER REVIEWS ON AMAZON

WINNER: TASTE TALKS COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLER

AN AMAZON COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR

A LIBRARY JOURNAL COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR

A grand tour of the science of cooking explored through popular American dishes, illustrated in full color.

Wildly popular from its inception in 2009, the Food Lab column on SeriousEats.com has explored the science of home cooking with recipes and experiments every week. Now it's coming to you in a gorgeous new book form with all-new material and recipes lavishly photographed in over 900 full-color pages.

Ever wondered how to pan-fry a steak with a charred crust and an interior that's perfectly medium-rare from edge to edge when you cut into it? How to make homemade mac & cheese that is as satisfyingly gooey and velvety-smooth as the blue box stuff, but far tastier? How to roast a succulent, moist turkey (forget about brining!)―and use a foolproof method that works every time?

As Serious Eats's culinary nerd-in-residence, J. Kenji López-Alt has pondered all these questions and more. In The Food Lab, Kenji focuses on the science behind beloved American dishes, delving into the interactions between heat, energy, and molecules that create great food. Kenji shows that often, conventional methods don’t work that well, and home cooks can achieve far better results using new―but simple―techniques. In hundreds of easy-to-follow recipes with over 1,000 full-color images, you will find out how to make foolproof Hollandaise sauce in just two minutes, how to transform one simple tomato sauce into a half dozen dishes, how to make the crispiest, creamiest potato casserole ever conceived, and much more.

With a foreword by Jeffrey Steingarten