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Winner of the 2009 James Beard Book Award for Best Book: Reference and Scholarship
Great cooking goes beyond following a recipe—it's knowing how to season ingredients to coax the greatest possible flavor from them. Drawing on dozens of leading chefs' combined experience in top restaurants across the country, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg present the definitive guide to creating "deliciousness" in any dish. Thousands of ingredient entries, organized alphabetically and cross-referenced, provide a treasure trove of spectacular flavor combinations. Readers will learn to work more intuitively and effectively with ingredients; experiment with temperature and texture; excite the nose and palate with herbs, spices, and other seasonings; and balance the sensual, emotional, and spiritual elements of an extraordinary meal.Seasoned with tips, anecdotes, and signature dishes from America's most imaginative chefs, THE FLAVOR BIBLE is an essentialreference for every kitchen.
Award-winning culinary writers Page and Dornenburg believe cooking has undergone a revolution from being based on geography (e.g., French, Japanese, etc.) to being based on flavor. After writing about classic flavor matchups in Culinary Artistry and about how to combine food with drink in What To Drink with What You Eat, the authors here return to their idea of creating dishes based on flavor and taste. The authors first discuss the four basic tastes and the roles played by weather, the season of the year, and other environmental factors in cooking. The rest of the book is an extensive alphabetic guide to different culinary ingredients. Each entry includes information on the ingredient's taste and the best cooking techniques as well as a list of other foods that work well with it. In addition, a range of award-winning American chefs contribute their valuable insights on using selected ingredients and ideas for different dishes. Rather than just another collection of recipes, this is a unique resource that both beginning cooks and serious chefs will find wonderfully inspiring and immensely useful. Highly recommended for all public library collections.
—John Charles
Anonymous
Posted September 2, 2008
Meant as a sort of companion piece to their IACP award-winning WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT, [Karen] Page and [Andrew] Dornenburg's follow-up [THE FLAVOR BIBLE] works just as well on its own. Like its predecessor, the book is a reference material rather than a traditional cookbook. Ingredients and cuisines are listed alphabetically, enabling cooks to find complimentary flavors. Virtually all the key ingredients/flavors have at least a dozen other items/dishes that go well with them, but some such as pasta, chicken, duck and peaches, have entries that span one or more pages with expanded text to accompany their listing. In many cases the authors include commentary from well-known chefs like Emily Luchetti, Mario Batali, and Michael Lomonaco, among others, expounding on their favorite uses for key ingredients or flavors. This isn't a cookbook in the traditional sense ¿ you won't find any recipes here. What you will find, though, are thousands of flavor combinations as well as new ideas for pairings that will enable you to add depth to your cooking as well as to create new riffs on personal favorites. New cooks may be frustrated initially, but virtually everyone who's serious about cooking as well as finding new uses for items they have on hand will find themselves referring to it again and again. Look for this to make a lot of year-end top 10 lists as well as garner an award or two.
14 out of 14 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 19, 2009
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First things first, this is NOT a cookbook. You won't find recipes or very much in the way of cooking instruction. If you can't boil water, this is not the book for you.
What it is, is a wonderful reference book that lists food items, gives their basic flavor qualities, the most common preparation method, and then gives a list of other ingredients that have compatible flavors. This makes building new dishes or trying new spice combinations much less of a shot in the dark. It's a must have for anyone trying to break out of recipe prison.
7 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted March 13, 2010
I like to wing it when cooking and this book provides me with complimentary ingredients to the items I have on hand. It's fast and easy to find relevant information and inspiration. I plan to use this reference book for many years to come.
4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.wannabe_cook
Posted May 19, 2010
I bought this book a few weeks ago and finally got a chance to look through it. It will now be my favorite kitchen resource book. I love the flavor associations for all the different foods and even types of cuisine. What makes a dish French? Well, simply turn to that entry and you see the typical flavors associated with french cuisine. I am looking to expand on my culinary abilities and having all sorts of flavor combinations at the tip of my fingers will help me tremendously in my journey. I am interested in trying different foods that I didn't have growing up (or simply refused to eat) and I love to know the suggested methods of preparation, sample dish names and the most common flavors that complement most any ingredient.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 22, 2010
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I love this book!!! As a chef this book is something you want at your fingertips when you are coming up with new ideas.
When I saw that it was available as an ebook (and cheaper than another hardcover) I downloaded a sample and then waited until my NOOK arrived so that I could purchase it.
When I went to purchase it,suddenly it was unavailable with no reason given.
I hope that someone makes a decision to bring it back in the digital version.
For cooks of all levels this is the one book you need to have in your library.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 14, 2009
I used to have to flip through all my cookbooks for ideas of what goes with what, looking for inspiration on how to use up whatever was in the fridge. Now, I just turn to The Flavor Bible for all the ideas I could ever want. I use this book almost every single day, and I am giving it to my hardcore foodie friends for Christmas.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.When I don't know where to go with a dish, I always turn to the Flavor Bible. Also just fun to read through. But when I'm cooking somewhere else, and don't have the Flavor Bible with me, it's as if I'm trying to do long division without a calculator. I still come around, but it's not as easy.
pros:
-Lots of combinations of ingredients I wouldn't necessarily think of on my own, and all the classic combinations (e.g. Manchego and quince paste) for beginner cooks (and a reminder for me).
-Extremely inspiring. So many ways to take a dish.
-Beautiful pictures, informative and interesting insets
-Almost every ingredient you can imagine. separate flavor profiles for different varieties. For example there are 12 categories for beans, not to mention lentils and peas, and 20 categories for beef.
cons:
-Doesn't cover many ethnic foods in depth. For example, the category "Ethiopian" lists "spices", not specific spices.
-In general focused more on European cuisines.
-The photos aren't captioned. The food in them looks delicious, so I'd like to know a little more about it, at least the name of a dish.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This heavy, almost 400-page tome is a great idea for someone who is already a good cook, but who would like to become a gourmet. It's divided into three sections: Learning the Language of Food, Communicating Via the Language of Food, and The Charts, which focuses on the matchmaking of flavors. It's quite detailed. Why there's ten pages on cheese! It's a culinary reference book for the chef at heart.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 6, 2011
Very helpful in coming up with new ways to combine ingredients for dinner. Yummy
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.DaveMt
Posted April 8, 2009
If you are like me, you're creative in the kitchen. Sometimes its because the creative muse takes over and you just want to have fun. Other times, it's because you've discovered at the last minute that you are missing an ingredient and need to try to salvage a dish. No matter why you're being creative in the kitchen, "The Flavor Bible" is an indispensable reference.
The bulk of the cookbook is a compendium of compatible flavor combinations. The book is organized by food item and in some cases cuisine (Ethiopian for example.) Each entry consists of a list of items that have demonstrated an affinity with the title entry. For example, let's say you are looking for inspiration for what to pair with plums. To utilize the book, you'd lookup the entry for plums, where you'd find approximately 50 compatible items listed. Each item is coded to indicate the strength of the affinity. There are also sections giving recommended groupings (for example plums+arugula+prosciutto), dish title (plum and bay leaf soup with vanilla yogurt sorbet) and other suggestions (for example, recommendations from professional chefs.)
"The Flavor Bible" has inspired me to explore new flavor profiles I'd never dreamed of, it has confirmed combinations I'd already recognized and has significantly improved my results when I'm being creative in the kitchen. A result my family really enjoys.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted January 2, 2009
I Also Recommend:
I'm loving this book, especially for the seasonality charts. In winter time it's hard to be creative with just squash and root vegetables and slower cooking meats to choose from. This book inspires you to make the most of all of them. My current favorite is acorn squash which I roast with a little maple syrup, which is much healthier than brown sugar and butter. And I'm already looking forward to more choices to come in spring and summer by scanning the charts of ingredients that are in season then, and what herbs and spices go best with them. This book is much more comprehensive than Culinary Artistry which I still recommend highly for the tips on creating new dishes and planning a menu.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 30, 2012
I really enjoyed the content of the book - I give that a 5/5. The authors explain the different types of tastes and flavors and then provide a great reference for just about every ingredient you can think of.
I love my Nook, but this book was limited by the Nook - I wish I had bought the printed version instead. I give format a 3/5, for an overall rating of 4/5. The bulk of the book is a reference of different ingredients that you don't read & absorb all in one setting. It's a reference that you'll refer to when using those ingredients. However, it's difficult to "flip through" and easily find the ingredient you're looking for. They're not broken out in the Contents tab, and there's no Index. I've resorted to highlighting ingredients I wanted to reference later so they would show up in the Highlights section.
Overall, I recommend the book; however, buy the print version.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 23, 2012
This book was a little difficult to navigate at first glance but once you learn the layout the information is invaluable! My wife and I reference it constantly when trying to piece together ingredients in our fridge and have come across some AMAZING combinations. Truly a must have for any foodista.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 20, 2011
A must have for those who have a hard bound copy at home but love to cook when away on vacation!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted August 31, 2009
Need inspriration for a new dish. Here it is all in one place. You look up lemon or just about any other food or flavor and it tells you all the other flavors that it will go well with. Well worth the investment. Very simple to use and understand
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted July 20, 2009
A wealth of information on food pairings, more spice pairings. But I find I don't refer to it often. Didn't find anything 'new' to draw me to try. Maybe more for the novice who has a real interest in experimenting with foods.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 4, 2009
I love this book, it could be my favorite in a long time. So glad I found it. it is full of all kinds of helpful info.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 11, 2008
I've always loved to try experimenting with different flavors but more often than not I end up over doing something. What I needed was a guide that could help point me in the right direction and give me a better understanding of the ingredients I'm mixing. This book does all that! I couldn't put it down last night after I bought it. This will be a book I buy friends and relatives for birthday's and Christmas presents. If you are a novice at-home chef like me, this book is amazing. I'm sure for those who are more skilled that this book would be a great reference to own.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 23, 2013
This is a decint book
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.lovebooks17
Posted August 8, 2009
did not like it returned it
0 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
Winner of the 2009 James Beard Book Award for Best Book: Reference and Scholarship
Great cooking goes beyond following a recipe—it's knowing how to season ingredients to coax the greatest possible flavor from them. Drawing on dozens of leading chefs' combined experience in top restaurants across the country, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg present the definitive guide to creating "deliciousness" in any dish. Thousands of ingredient entries, organized alphabetically and ...