When I first sank my teeth into reading this book I was very confused by the books organization and overall goal, just seemed overly complex for no reason. To the testament of the book I picked it up at 3am, I was a little sleep deprived so my brain was not functioning at full capacity. After reading Ch.1 I decided I absolutely hate the book to the point I decided to return it. In my 10+ years of purchasing things from Amazon I never returned anything. I just made the best out of my less than satisfied purchases. I hated this book so much that returning it seemed like the most vindictive way to get back at the authors for writing it and Amazon for selling it.
A few days later I said let me go ahead in initiate this return process which I had no clue how to do. It had nothing to do with the getting a refund as I order so much I just did an account credit. I just didn't want the book in my home any longer. I am in the midst of developing a spice line so when I'm working and I reach for my other resources and I see the Flavor Bible it puts me in an immediate annoyed mood. Trust me on this guys I never had any product affect me to this degree. It was as if the book was giving off bad mojo. Quickly I learned of Amazon's brilliant and convenient return policy and retrieved my return code.
I'm the type of person who does my due diligence on anything I spend my money on so I had to second guess why I purchased the book in the first place. I had reviewed and read samples of so many spice books before my purchase and Flavor Bible kept making the cut. It was not adding up. I decided with return code and book in hand about to head out to UPS, let me crack it open and give it another go. It's when I fell in love. It was as if everything in the book represented perfect harmony and balance. It immediately clicked for me that this is a spice dictionary and that's all it is, with examples of how to use and pair the spices just like a word dictionary. From that moment I was able to explore it and test it properly. Anything I thought of in that 5-minute span to want to get insight about I was able to find in the book due to it's alphabetical arrangement.
So why 4-stars and not 5? Technically I wanted to give it 3 1/2 but we all know its not possible. The book is awkwardly arranged. Even when you find what you are looking for you have to take care to make sure what you are reading is not referring to something else across the page. The list format is pretty much annoying because it's like okay you have this list, no what? I'm a pretty creative mind and decent cook so the list suggestions is really all I need to get my wheels spinning. However for less experienced cooks and creative minds, its useless. Content arrangement on the pages does not naturally flow. My biggest pet peeve, NO INDEX. For a book of this size 380 pages, it's weird not to have an index. Only a dictionary is this vast with no index. Had it been called a "Dictionary," I would have understood from the beginning how to navigate it.
I decided to keep the "Flavor Dictionary," thinking of it in this form will keep me from wanting to slap the authors for calling it a Bible, a bible has an index. I would recommend this book to those persons with some culinary background and very creative mind. Others, you will receive NO guidance on how to use the items mentioned in the book whatsoever.
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Customer reviews
The book is well made the binding is stitched instead of the more common glued. It is made of good quality paper. It has lots of useful information and seems to be extensive but is lacking. On the surface it seems like useful information but It doesn't really say much. No explanation as to what things are such as, it is a type of spice, herb, grain, fruit, fish and such. No information on substitutions. And most importantly for a book about FLAVOR no explanation as to what things tastes like.I am not a fan of the organization. It's one long list of everything in alphabetical order instead of being categorized. It does not cross reference it self. For anyone that has this book try and put together a dry rub with spices you're not familiar with using only thing book as reference. See if you can differentiate a protein you've never heard of from a grain you've never heard of using only this book.The format is basically the ingredient's name, the season (harvest), taste, (one, possibly two words, such as sweet, nothing else more descriptive), weight ( i think this has something to do with how you feel after eating, but their explanation is some pretentious crap about wine, mind you not what type of wine goes with the ingredient but some other convoluted BS), volume (again some pretentious BS, instead of saying this thing has a delicate or say bold flavor profile they write it is soft or loud.). This is followed by a long list of other ingredients that it goes with. No explanation as to why things go together just that they do. So instead of say, listing things that go together because they have similar flavors then say a sublist of things that contrast each other and still work when paired. It's one long list with no explanation.Not really sure who this book is written for. It is useful because it is extensive but it lacks basic information about ingredients that you may not be familiar with. If the ingredient is something you're familiar with then you know what it taste like and what it goes with, and if not this doesn't really say much out side of what it goes with, minus why they go together.I think this book is intended for the types of cooks that spends more time polishing their pots and knives and admiring how pretty they are then using them. I was looking for a quick reference guide about ingredients and seasonings that I am not familiar including explanations of flavor profiles. I don't know, maybe to include the information that should be part of "The FLAVOR Bible" it would have to be a multi volume set.I mean if I have to go online to find out that oregano has a slightly bitter, pungent flavor. This pungent flavor is composed of earthy/musty, green, hay and minty notes. The spice imparts a slightly astringent mouthfeel. As apposed to what is listed in the this book, weight (medium to heavy) volume (moderate to loud). That is the actual listing for oregano from the book. that is the entire entry, well that and about a page of thing it goes with as a list.
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Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 30, 2020
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 5, 2022
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 14, 2018
I am not a fan of the organization. It's one long list of everything in alphabetical order instead of being categorized. It does not cross reference it self. For anyone that has this book try and put together a dry rub with spices you're not familiar with using only thing book as reference. See if you can differentiate a protein you've never heard of from a grain you've never heard of using only this book.
The format is basically the ingredient's name, the season (harvest), taste, (one, possibly two words, such as sweet, nothing else more descriptive), weight ( i think this has something to do with how you feel after eating, but their explanation is some pretentious crap about wine, mind you not what type of wine goes with the ingredient but some other convoluted BS), volume (again some pretentious BS, instead of saying this thing has a delicate or say bold flavor profile they write it is soft or loud.). This is followed by a long list of other ingredients that it goes with. No explanation as to why things go together just that they do. So instead of say, listing things that go together because they have similar flavors then say a sublist of things that contrast each other and still work when paired. It's one long list with no explanation.
Not really sure who this book is written for. It is useful because it is extensive but it lacks basic information about ingredients that you may not be familiar with. If the ingredient is something you're familiar with then you know what it taste like and what it goes with, and if not this doesn't really say much out side of what it goes with, minus why they go together.
I think this book is intended for the types of cooks that spends more time polishing their pots and knives and admiring how pretty they are then using them. I was looking for a quick reference guide about ingredients and seasonings that I am not familiar including explanations of flavor profiles. I don't know, maybe to include the information that should be part of "The FLAVOR Bible" it would have to be a multi volume set.
I mean if I have to go online to find out that oregano has a slightly bitter, pungent flavor. This pungent flavor is composed of earthy/musty, green, hay and minty notes. The spice imparts a slightly astringent mouthfeel. As apposed to what is listed in the this book, weight (medium to heavy) volume (moderate to loud). That is the actual listing for oregano from the book. that is the entire entry, well that and about a page of thing it goes with as a list.
Extreamly pretentious.
By jerry d on December 14, 2018
The book is well made the binding is stitched instead of the more common glued. It is made of good quality paper. It has lots of useful information and seems to be extensive but is lacking. On the surface it seems like useful information but It doesn't really say much. No explanation as to what things are such as, it is a type of spice, herb, grain, fruit, fish and such. No information on substitutions. And most importantly for a book about FLAVOR no explanation as to what things tastes like.By jerry d on December 14, 2018
I am not a fan of the organization. It's one long list of everything in alphabetical order instead of being categorized. It does not cross reference it self. For anyone that has this book try and put together a dry rub with spices you're not familiar with using only thing book as reference. See if you can differentiate a protein you've never heard of from a grain you've never heard of using only this book.
The format is basically the ingredient's name, the season (harvest), taste, (one, possibly two words, such as sweet, nothing else more descriptive), weight ( i think this has something to do with how you feel after eating, but their explanation is some pretentious crap about wine, mind you not what type of wine goes with the ingredient but some other convoluted BS), volume (again some pretentious BS, instead of saying this thing has a delicate or say bold flavor profile they write it is soft or loud.). This is followed by a long list of other ingredients that it goes with. No explanation as to why things go together just that they do. So instead of say, listing things that go together because they have similar flavors then say a sublist of things that contrast each other and still work when paired. It's one long list with no explanation.
Not really sure who this book is written for. It is useful because it is extensive but it lacks basic information about ingredients that you may not be familiar with. If the ingredient is something you're familiar with then you know what it taste like and what it goes with, and if not this doesn't really say much out side of what it goes with, minus why they go together.
I think this book is intended for the types of cooks that spends more time polishing their pots and knives and admiring how pretty they are then using them. I was looking for a quick reference guide about ingredients and seasonings that I am not familiar including explanations of flavor profiles. I don't know, maybe to include the information that should be part of "The FLAVOR Bible" it would have to be a multi volume set.
I mean if I have to go online to find out that oregano has a slightly bitter, pungent flavor. This pungent flavor is composed of earthy/musty, green, hay and minty notes. The spice imparts a slightly astringent mouthfeel. As apposed to what is listed in the this book, weight (medium to heavy) volume (moderate to loud). That is the actual listing for oregano from the book. that is the entire entry, well that and about a page of thing it goes with as a list.
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Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Customer
It's a great book insofar as it goes and there is loads ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 16, 2017F. Duffy
Great resource if you don't mind how American it is
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 6, 2016Mairead O'Shea
Inspires one to be more creative with food
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 1, 2019Zara Mayo
THIS BOOK IS A MASTERPIECE
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 13, 2019
Georgi
If you wanna be good have to buy it !
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 13, 2020
