CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A set of "Modernist Cuisine" cookbooks weighs 40 pounds. It takes 15 minutes to unpack if you are ruthless. I had to wrestle it out on the floor with a butcher knife and scared the baby.

You should wear steel-toe shoes.

You couldn't get it until August and you must preorder. Right now, you can preorder from Barnes & Noble for $473.12.

The second shipment of the first edition is not available yet, and the few that remain from the first shipment are selling for $800 to $1,900 on eBay, Abe Books and other collectors' sites.

Don't be fooled into desiring only a first edition.

People who are paying a premium for "Modernist Cuisine" want it right now, says Nach Waxman, the owner of Kitchen Arts & Letters in New York City, a book dealer for 30 years. "A handful of people want first editions, but people buying "Modernist Cuisine" intend to use it, not possess it as a collectible object itself."

There is, however, an entire section of the blog dedicated to how people intend to display it in their homes and kitchens because it is a truly remarkable object in and of itself.

Waxman has a waiting list with new people being added each day, and he is selling the sets as they become available for $525.

"People are frantic to have it now," he adds, "which is why they are paying above the necessary price."

To give the price context, let's paraphrase "Modernist Cuisine" co-creator Nathan Myhrvold's remarks: If you have ever eaten in a fine restaurant, you already know you are looking at $800 for two people -- before wine.

So the set, if you get it, not only entertains and educates you, but also gives you the power to have the kind of food it talks about at home for which you will pay through the nose at the world's finest restaurants.

That sort of brings the price of "Modernist Cuisine" into some perspective.

"Given the scope and magnitude of the books," Waxman says, "it's not a bad price at all. It's worth every penny."

Never overcook another egg

There are entire sections of "Modernist Cuisine" devoted to how heat transfers and how cooking occurs, and even how political shenanigans and fear-mongering influence the foods you are served in American restaurants -- and even irrationally dictate the kind of food that is available to you in this country.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules regarding pork are in a particularly overcooked and irrational state of affairs.

That said, we can't solve the problems created by the FDA, but a perfect egg, while different for everyone, is achievable for all.

In our house an egg can be removed from the water bath, in most cases, when it reaches 68 degrees Celsius (154 Fahrenheit) as its internal temperature, which takes 35 minutes in the sous vide cooker.

You can pasteurize raw eggs in the shell to make mayonnaise and meringue, which takes 2 hours at 55 Celsius/131 Fahrenheit.

The problem with eggs is that if you go by time, not temperature, the outcome is never consistent. This is a core principle for all foods and a basic problem that "Modernist Cuisine" sets out to correct.

Here are some tips and temperatures for cooking eggs exactly to your liking, sous vide style. Cooking time for these outcomes range from 35 to 40 minutes, depending on how many eggs you use and how cold they are.

Note: Onsen eggs are Japanese-style whole eggs cooked at low temperatures. Higher temperatures for shorter periods can produce this kind of egg. Food writer Aki Kamozawa prefers 75C/167F for 13 minutes.

Past these points, you begin to get greening around the yolks. "Modernist Cuisine" explains how a perfectly cooked egg is brought to "thermal equilibrium," meaning that the temperature is the same throughout -- a tricky business since the white and the yolk cook at different rates.

Once you have perfected textures, you can begin experimenting with flavors and ingredients.

For further reading

Getting started

If you want to experience fine dining at home, you can do it for far less than we spent for the $399 Sous Vide Water Oven. Volume 2 of "Modernist Cuisine" has an exhaustive list of equipment you could acquire -- including a meat band saw for butchering whole animals, if you care to go, um, whole hog.

The idea of abruptly announcing that I may require a meat band saw for home use ($800 to $3,000) has led to a lot of naughty giggles around the house.

However, most of us will never need the equipment required to butcher an animal at home, or even surgical forceps, which were listed as possible mystery tools.

But you never know what the future holds!

What we used and a few basic tools to get you going are listed here:

Tracy Herz lives in Milton.