The Zagats helped kick-off a cookbook that might just revolutionize the culinary world as we know it. NY1's Shazia Khan filed the following report.

Jean-Georges is calling it the new "Escoffier," or sacred text for chefs. Tim Zagat says it's the Wikipedia of cooking, and 2,438 pages in six volumes later, Nathan Myhrvold's whopping 40-pound "Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking" is complete and catching the attention of foodies everywhere. While the author is perhaps best known for his former role as Microsoft's first Chief Technology Officer, this physics Ph.D. happens to have another passion.

"I've always been interested in food. When I was nine years old, I told my mother I was going to cook Thanksgiving dinner and she let me do it. I went to the library and got all these cookbooks," Myhrvold said.

That lifelong interest has culminated in what just might be the most comprehensive food book ever.

"By its nature, it was a big project because we wanted to have something that covered the science of cooking and food safety as well as the techniques and also recipes," Myhrvold said.

And although he features 1,500 "laboratory-inspired" dishes from across the globe, Myhrvold's collection also has history, equipment, ingredients and preparation packing the pages.

"It's the whole process of cooking, all the implements used, all of the heat and every element looked at through the eyes of a scientist," said Nina Zagat of Zagat Guides. "It's looking with an open, inventive eye, at all possibilities, all of the ways food can be prepared."

Culinary connoisseurs of all kinds gathered at Jean Georges for a special four-course breakfast hosted by the Zagats to sample some of what Myhrvold's high-tech series has to offer, from cornbread with bacon jam and a striped mushroom omelet to pastrami and hash that took over 72 hours to make, and flavor-infused pot de cremes for dessert.

"I ate everything on my plate," said Entrepreneur Martha Stewart.

"It's a blessing to have Nathan Myhrvold in our field," said Chef Daniel Boulud.

The set retails at $625. If you're interested in more information and your bookshelf and wallet can handle it, visit ModernistCuisine.com.