The inaugural episode of Samin Nosrat's cookbook-based Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is informative (teaching both about the importance of fat in food - using Italian Parmesan cheese, olive oil, pork among the travel-bases examples), engaging (Nosrat speaks mostly Italian with her hosts and hostesses and the viewer needs to pay full attention to the screen to keep up, plus the food prepared and locations visited are exquisitely beautiful), and fun (Nosrat invites the viewer to love the tasting and cooking experiences depicted as much as she does). The viewer doesn't need to know anything about her cookbook to both easily enjoy and begin to binge on the series based on the Fat episode alone. A terrific first outing.
2 Reviews
From an Engineers Perspective
sap-8463815 June 2020
Watching this episode from the perspective of an engineering student made the experience of diving into Italian food culture and small-scale production much more interesting than if I had just come to appreciate the visuals and camaraderie. Starting with the olive farm, their incredible system with the harvester and the netting that covers the hillside was marvelous. It makes me think about all the things human innovation and engineering have to offer to agriculture to make our food system more efficient and sustainable. The slightly bigger than pilot scale olive oil production facility was fun to watch work, with its combination of pre and post industrial equipment that harkened back to how olive oil production must have looked thousands of years ago, and what engineering can do to save human labor. Overall, seeing and learning how the freshness, as well as the locale with its rocky soil and salty air, affects the quality of the oil. We were shown this dichotomy of modern processing and traditional ethics throughout the show, which seems to be a theme in Italian food culture. The central focus on the role of fat, the title ingredient, keeps a food science focus throughout the show. Samin explores fat in many different avenues, oil and pork fat as I discussed already, but also milk fat. She takes us to a parmesan producing facility, where again we see the combination of care and industrial expedition. Samin explains to us the role of fat as a flavor base and intensifier, and how it leads our journey throughout the meal. The different historical, economical, and flavorful values of the fat sources we were exposed to was also very interesting to me, how one part of the pig is more valued than others and what distinguishes A plus parmesan from just A parmesan is incredible.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
