control over our holiday menus, but I’d like to apologize for monopolizing the kitchen year after year in pursuit of everbetter roast turkey and stuffing Next year, you all get a onetime pass Aya, you can put as many cranberries as you’d like in the stuffing Pico, you can make your mashed potatoes lumpy Fred, you can poke and pick at any pot or bowl in the kitchen you’d like (and I’ll even let you interrupt my carefully regimented cooking schedule to mix yourself a martini or two, so long as you make one for me as well) Koji, you can continue to entertain us all with your magic tricks and Keiko, well I’m sorry, but the turkey is still mine I think we can both agree it’ll all be better that way It’s true that this book started out as a blog post about eggs, but none of this—the blog post, the book, the online column—would have existed without Ed Levine, who has been by far the most generous and supportive boss I’ve ever had It was at his suggestion that I started writing a food science column He was the one who came up with “The Food Lab” as the title He gave me the boost I needed to get off my butt and start working on this book Yes, he offered me a job, but what I’ve got at Serious Eats is more than just a job It was an open platform, a playground for food nerds, and Ed and I are still figuring out what it’s transforming into as we enter our fifth year of what has been an extraordinarily and mutually fruitful relationship Heck, even his wife, Vicky, is my agent Speaking of which, you couldn’t ask for a better agent or advocate than Vicky Bijur She’s not only represented me and my interests with great vigor and zeal, she’s also been the first to edit my words, the first to offer opinions on layout and design, and the first to tell me when I’m about to make yet another bad business decision With the exception of someone tricking Adri into loving me, taking a job at Serious Eats was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life and in no small part due to the people Robyn Lee, Carey Jones, Erin Zimmer, Adam Kuban, and the rest of the original crew made work into an amusement park every day I couldn’t produce the work I without the generous criticism (constructive or otherwise) of everyone who’s worked there, past and present Thanks to Christine Kim and to Carly Gilfoil, for all the help they lent in researching, prepping, shopping, and cleaning during research and photo shoots, and thanks to Conor Murray for pointing out exactly how poorly I planned my charts and graphs before his editing made them legitimately useful I’ve had many mentors in the restaurant world over the years and all of them have helped me grow my interest in food Barbara Lynch, Jason Bond, and Dave Bazirgan were my first real chefs The ones who took me in and gave me a job despite the fact that I was an overeducated and underskilled smartass who barely knew how to hold a knife They’d be my first picks for Drill Sergeants at culinary boot camp It was under Ken Oringer’s mentorship that I honed my knife skills, became a perfectionist at the stove, and developed my palate to the point where I could finally begin to think about calling myself a cook I’d like to thank Chris Kimball, Jack Bishop, Keith Dresser, Erin McMurrer, and the other editors and cooks at ... produce the work I without the generous criticism (constructive or otherwise) of everyone who’s worked there, past and present Thanks to Christine Kim and to Carly Gilfoil, for all the help they.. .the first to edit my words, the first to offer opinions on layout and design, and the first to tell me when I’m about to make yet another bad business decision With the exception of someone tricking Adri into loving me,... graphs before his editing made them legitimately useful I’ve had many mentors in the restaurant world over the years and all of them have helped me grow my interest in food Barbara Lynch, Jason Bond, and Dave Bazirgan were