The Flavour Thesaurus

Product Information

Flavor combinations are then listed in short paragraph form which could either contain a simple recipe (more guidance, than literal – see below), a witty anecdote, or an amusing aside. i love that it’s not just description of flavours, it’s examples, it’s recipes, it’s ideas, it’s tips, tricks, books and restaurants to hit up if you travel. When the attempt at writing such a thing as a flavor thesaurus failed, a reworking of the concept might have saved it. Ok, all my food industry friends would just hate me for saying this but I didn't like this book at all. One of the delights of Segnit's book is the way it combines an air of empirical exactitude with something more loose-limbed and poetic.

This book is more of what I hoped the Flavor Bible would be: providing the "why" and "how" to creating unique flavor combinations in addition to the "what". I say I have finished this book because I have read every page but I think It will be awhile before I am ready to put it on the cookbook shelf. In a spare moment I pick it up and look through it or wonder if this flavor and that will go together and I check this book. There are nearly a thousand entries in all, with 200 recipes and suggestions embedded throughout the text.This book almost by guarantee makes me want to cook food, just open the book on a random page and start reading, or browsing the pairing sections with some starting point (I have loads of cauliflower and don't know where to take it, or I'm hit by a sudden craving for anchovis and bread and wonder what might go well as a side). Fungal fraud aside, there’s nothing wrong with synthetic truffle oil, which can work wonders pepping up mashed potato, cauliflower, cabbage or macaroni and cheese, and will certainly give you an idea of what truffle tastes like if you’ve never had the real thing. The Flavor Thesaurus…” Hmm, sounds like a wonderful reference guide for explorations in the culinary frontier… and pretty too? I’m only halfway into the second of sixteen sections and I already have so much to say (and the colorful post-its are taking over! Recommend to those who enjoy experimenting in the kitchen and looking behind the scenes of cookery, along with fans who are looking for the next installment of flavor pairings.

Niki’s columns and reviews have appeared in the Times, the Guardian and the TLS, and she broadcasts regularly for BBC Radio 4.But I had a nice time using this as kind of a meditative tool to reflect on flavors and I loved her use of descriptors for each ingredient.