The Food Lab
The Food Lab by J. Kenji López-Altby J. Kenji López-Alt
The most recommended of 7 cookbooks
People recommend it as an excellent cookbook that teaches the reasoning behind cooking and builds intuition, with recipes at several effort levels. No recurring criticisms were recorded.
People recommend it as an excellent cookbook that teaches the reasoning behind cooking and builds intuition, with recipes at several effort levels. No recurring criticisms were recorded.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Excellent, widely recommended cookbook
“He's got several excellent cookbooks (like the Food Lab and Wok)”
Comment from 1 Aug 2026 in “Kenji/Serious Eats – 30-Min Pressure Cooker Pho Ga” “It's the perfect book for HN Nerds that love to cook”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “Kenji/Serious Eats – 30-Min Pressure Cooker Pho Ga” “Check out Kenji's book, The Food Lab.”
Comment from 1 Aug 2026 in “Kenji/Serious Eats – 30-Min Pressure Cooker Pho Ga” Builds cooking intuition and fundamentals
“Kenji goes through great lengths to build intuition.”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode” “The Food Lab is a great introduction to cooking.”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “Kenji/Serious Eats – 30-Min Pressure Cooker Pho Ga”
Other cookbooks people recommend
The four most recommended other cookbooks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Food Labby J. Kenji López-AltThis page | 7 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| On Food and Cookingby Harold McGee | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Modernist Cuisineby Nathan Myhrvold | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| The Sourdough Frameworkby Hendricius Ruppel | 3 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| The Flavor Bibleby Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg | 3 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The Food Lab is a great introduction to cooking.”
“It's the perfect book for HN Nerds that love to cook”
“very often Kenji would write several versions of a recipe at different effort levels”
“Check out Kenji's book, The Food Lab.”
“He's got several excellent cookbooks (like the Food Lab and Wok)”
“Kenji goes through great lengths to build intuition.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.