Customer Reviews

The Flavor Thesaurus: A Compendium of Pairings, Recipes and Ideas for the Creative Cook

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is on my Hannukah Hot List this year. I bought it for my brother in law who is an adventurous cook and ended up buying one for myself and a few others on my list. Love this book for a few reasons - 1) it's an immensely practical source of kitchen inspiration - it's organized around the flavor wheel by simple food pairings. Start by whatever food you have in the house and you will be connected to a range of unexpected flavor partners for it and often some great starting recipes 2) Important to the time-starved and culinarily challenged like myself - many of these ideas are not complicated recipes or even cooked, just food/spice combinations. It gets you back to the intensity and simplicity of good quality ingredients and flavors (if only we had the intensity the basic ingredients like tomatoes and basil that the author must experience in Europe, but Wholefoods or farmers markets are a good start). Some of these flavor pairings will push you out of your palate's comfort zone and are worth trying out of curiosity - eg Juniper and Hard Cheese, Watermelon and Oysters, Lobster in Vanilla Butter etc. You can see why Heston Blumenthal the experimental chef behind egg and bacon ice cream gave this book a rave review. Lastly, it's full of interesting food history and food trivia (eg rhubarb leaves are poisonous, artichokes contain a chemical that inhibits the palate from tasting sweet flavors etc) and I love these kind of books - my other faves include 'Salt' and 'Cod' by Mark Kurlansky and 'Wicked Plants' by Amy Stewart). It doesn't have any pretty pictures or photos, but I think it will be a kitchen staple. Mine's already covered in stains which is a good sign..

The Flavor Thesaurus is just excellent. There's a reason it was nominated alongside Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, Nigel Slater et al for the prestigious Galaxy National Book Awards in the UK: it is classy, original, entertaining and extremely useful.
To be honest, I'm not much of a cook - but my wife is very much so. I read the book and merely find it extremely funny, engaging and entertaining.
For my wife, a trained chef no less, it is a godsend. Open the refrigerator. A couple of leftover ingredients with no time to shop... in minutes we've got something delicious on the table, or at least on the way... or we're out at the local restaurant without the guilt that we could have done something with what we had at home (the book tells you when flavors don't go well together as well as when they do.)
I bought a copy back from the UK after a trip this summer and now have the US version too. I've given it as a gift several times and the recipients love it.

I have been trying to get away from recipes and just cook naturally but often don't know what 'goes' with what. The Flavor Thesaurus is a great tool for this, and what saves it from being a dry, boring, endless read is the author's little witticisms.

Well written, fun to read and very inspiring for those who love to cook and above all to experiment. There are suggestions of very unexpected association of elements, a clever use of spices for those who love a pinch of originality in what they eat themselves and present to other. Specially good for cooks who above all like to cook for others and intrigue them. It is an excellent idea to keep in mind if in need to make a "different" present. Well worth the price.

This is not a comprehensive reference work, nor a cookbook. It is a witty compendium of anecdotes and food trivia interspersed with the occasional recipe. The font is small, so it may not be the best choice for older readers. I love it. Read it straight through for sheer pleasure, now I'm going back and annotating my copy in order to incorporate some of these ideas into my cooking.

It's not a matter of age; the print is unreadable. Were I the author, I would raise hell. As we all know, this sort of illegible type has been favored by certain publishers for several years. I say we stop buying until they stop the practice of not only small, but ultra-light print. Books of yore often had tiny print - but ink was used, as well as a legible font.

It's a shame that so much work goes into a work, only to have it treated as though it should, in fact, vanish. (And why, pray tell, have photograph of the author that quite reminds one of someone soliciting in a singles chat room? -- Love the ribbon bookmark, however).

The book description says clearly: "A Compendium of Pairings(...)". I expected something else, and got frustrated. Not because the book is bad, because i set a wrong expectation.

I expected something like Harold McGee's books, or Cooking for Geeks, with more insights on flavor and how each food behaves, and then let it open to the reader to find out matches. The book is limited to address the pre defined combinations among 99 different flavors, which is a lot, but not that inspiring.

It is true that I am only an amateur cook, however, I did not appreciate this book that much this book. The author seems to speak most of the time about herself. The book is a collection of pairings without a unifying theory. I would probably go for the flavor bible which is a reference in this area.

This book is a kitchen essential for anyone who likes to make or eat food! Well written, accessible and entertaining. The author delightfully opened my eyes to why I am drawn to certain flavor combinations and introduced me to so many more. I can't wait to start exploring these ideas. This book will definitely be on my list of gifts for friends and family!

An excellent addition to the cookbook collection! Interesting and innovative to focus on pairings rather than on recipes. Really got me thinking and stimulated my appetite and creativity. The generally superb writing and wry asides put me in mind of Pellegrino Artusi--highly enjoyable as well as informative. brava!