The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs
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The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs

4.29 of 5 stars 4.29  ·  rating details  ·  662 ratings  ·  100 reviews
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...more
Hardcover, 392 pages
Published September 16th 2008 by Little, Brown and Company (first published September 13th 2008)
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Matthew Gatheringwater
This is not a cookbook, and that's a good thing.

There are no recipes, only lists and descriptions of compatible flavors, along with reflections from a handful of well-known and trendy chefs. Apparently geared to the professional cook (unless sous-vide has become a home cooking technique), it can still offer inspiration to the adventurous home cook. It has, in any case, inspired me to put fresh thyme and honey on my grapefruit.

The lists are not consistent. What is listed as a...more
Erica
Erica rated it 1 of 5 stars
I don't understand why so many people like this book. I found it to be both confusing and unnecessary. Anyone with a nose and a set of tastebuds can figure out that asparagus tastes nice with butter or that maple syrup goes with French toast or that LETTUCE works well with BACON, BREAD, and TOMATOES (this is blatantly obvious to anyone who has ever eaten a SALAD). And any person who has encountered horseradish can tell you that its flavor is quite strong (or, as the Flavor Bible calls it, "...more
Jessica
In these days of high food and gas prices, I do not part with my dollars easily. Every time I pull out my wallet, it is only after much thought and some time spent foraging for cheaper alternatives, or else a realization that the coveted item is just that -a want instead of a need.

Books are high on that list on 'wants'. It took me many years to come to this conclusion, but after re-discovering the joys of my public library, I have now firmly placed owned books on my luxury list.
...more
Bryn
Bryn rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: cookbooks
I usually don't do cookbooks, even for baking--I learn the rules and go with the flow. When I first started out, this resulted in an equal amount of kitchen disasters ("Huh, I didn't know this was supposed to catch on fire") and kitchen masterpieces ("OHGOD, DID I WRITE THIS DOWN?! PLEASE TELL ME I WROTE THIS DOWN!") As soon as I saw The Flavor Bible, I knew it had to be mine. A cookbook that doesn't have any recipes, just information about food and what goes well with what? ...more
Crystie
I spend a lot of time with this book. A lot of basic things, like soup or quiche, don't require a recipe. But knowledge of which herbs go with which vegetables, meats, and other herbs is always important.

"The Flavor Bible" alphabetically lists most ingredients with any sort of flavor (vegetables, meats, vinegars, herbs, spices). Under each ingredient is a list of everything that tastes good with that particular item, according to creative chefs across America. Complemen...more
Keith
Keith rated it 5 of 5 stars
I have longed for just this book for years! You wouldn't believe how excited I was when I saw it. If I could only keep one book it my kitchen, this would be the one.

This is not a cookbook. Not really. It's more like a flavor encyclopedia: Look up a spice, herb, vegetable, or even season or type of ethnic cuisine, and you will find a list of complimentary flavors, plus a few cooking techniques. Look up black beans, and it will suggest a lengthy list of pairings, with emphasis on ...more
Wendi
Wendi rated it 5 of 5 stars
Perfect for : Personal Use, Gift for someone who loves to cook

In a nutshell: This is an awesome book! It is full of such a wealth of information to aid in the kitchen. I can't tell you the number of times that I wanted to take plain chicken and use the herbs and spices that I had at my fingertips to create a mouth-watering meal. . . but no matter what I did, it didn't turn out as planned. With this book, I can do that. It doesn't tell me to put precise ingredients together to create the perfect ...more
penny
penny rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommended to penny by: caseyf
Shelves: cooking, library-nypl
It started with a tweet from casey and off I went. A hold request was placed and it came into my local library branch a short time later. I've been pouring over this book since and stressing over where I'll put it when I buy a copy for myself (We really do not have the space right now. It's a major problem we're working to solve.) Over the twenty or so years I've been cooking, I've learned to grow and use my spice collection to enhance what I'm making, but I am still learning how best to use and...more
Samantha
One of the most useful books in my kitchen!

A book for the culinary tinkerer: Perfect for anyone who loves to cook and experiment in the kitchen without having to rely on recipes or cookbooks.

The flavor bible is organized so you can look up any ingredients, say, for example "asparagus" and find complimentary ingredients, cooking techniques, and flavor combinations. This is both great for cooking seasonally such as when you have a turnip from your farm box and yo...more
Emelia Hawk
Since I received this book for Christmas last year I have rarely resorted to actual recipes in cookbooks. Instead I go to my pantry and/or freezer and find ingredients that go together or compliment each other. It would be the "cookbook" It is one of two cookbooks I would have to choose between if I was told I could only have one. (The other one is a very old out of print basic cookbook,seen over Meryl Streep's shoulder in the movie THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, that gives you the bas...more
Matthew
I knew before I got into this that it was a reference book (it won the James Beard award in "Reference" for 2009) so there's not a lot of prose/investigation analysis to read. The first part does talk about this book's place in the compendium of books by the authors. In addition, there is a set of interview snippets from a number of chefs that serve to illustrate the points about "flavor" that the authors are promoting/making.

The best part of the book, however, is...more
Angela
I was a little disappointed by this book. It seems like a great idea, and I enjoyed flipping through it, but I've had it checked out for 9 days now from the library, and every time I thought of an ingredient and went to look it up, I was underwhelmed with the results. Perhaps if I had a bigger grocery budget or could get a wider variety of grocery items locally (I live in a small town), I would have more use for this, but so much seemed obvious (celery goes with cream; cream of celery soup, yo...more
Saille
If you're like me, and you like to experiment with food and flavors, this is the Must-Have book for you. Not truly a cookbook, but your kitchen should not be without this one. The book is nothing more than lists of ingredients that are known or suggested by top chefs to work well together. Got a something in the fridge and not sure what to throw with it? Look it up and get some ideas.

I specifically used this this past summer during jam season to create new (to me) flavor pairings with ...more
Jason
Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: cooking, non-fiction
Another permanent addition to my collection. Rather than a cookbook, this is a "food dictionary" organized by ingredient, with well-known chefs weighing in on complimentary food pairings. With little discussion of cooking techniques or recipes, this book will most inspire those who have some comfort in the kitchen. It is a great inspiration when trying to highlight a specific ingredient, or simply finding something new to do with your over-abundance of garden-fresh fresh. (Have you ...more
Kendra
Kendra rated it 4 of 5 stars
Got this book for the chef in the family. It's an interesting concept. Not a cookbook with recipes, but a cookbook with flavor ideas. Look up a food and it suggests other foods or spices, etc, that go well with it. i.e. under "rum" you'll find banana, brown sugar, caribbean cuisine, etc. The list includes whole foods, spices, sweeteners, cuisines, even seasons. I think it will be used often in our household because we like to buy foods we've never heard of and this will help us figure ...more
kirk
If I only had four reference books in my kitchen, they'd be:

1. Timing Is Everything
2. The Food Substitutions Bible
3. Some kind of exhaustive field guide to the grocery store which I haven't yet identified.

and

4. The Flavor Bible. A good Sunday afternoon involves a lot of sunshine and a long stretch of time on the sofa leafing through this book. In short, it collects lists of flavors that go well together.

Chef Michael Laiskonis says, "...more
Heather B.
Here, authors Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg of The Flavor Bible consulted over 25 renowned chefs to guide readers in creating flavorful dishes with almost any ingredient based on characteristics such as taste, function, weight and more. Not a cookbook, this is a guide to creating delicious, signature dishes of your own by educating your mind and palette.

An example? Recommended flavor pairings for something as random as maple syrup include but are not limited to bananas, blueberri...more
Evanston Public  Library
Karen Page, along with her fellow chef and husband, Andrew Dornenburg, have gathered the collective experiences of dozens of professional food people to produce a wonderful book. Their main objective is to describe an ingredient and its complementary flavors; likewise, disastrous combinations receive a heads-up!

Much more information is added through the use of sidebars, photos, and anecdotes.Anyone with a passing interest in cooking or food could enjoy The Flavor Bible, but it has en...more
Stephanie Marie
Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg are the coolest foodies and this tome is a crucial, must-have addition to any aspiring culinary artist. According to the couple, The Flavor Bible was inspired by an early meal Andrew cooked for Karen when he was a young chef. When they dug into their polenta with goat cheese and cilantro, they were completely disgusted. Who would know that those ingredients were horribly matched? Thanks to eight years of research by this duo, no chef will ever make this mistake a...more
Erin
Erin rated it 5 of 5 stars
I ADORE this book. no more being stumped by an ingredient, or looking for a whole recipe. If you use recipes as more of a jumping-off point, this will get you confidantly out in deeper waters.
It's as if someone cross referenced a bunch of recommendations and recipes to tell you what works with what. Or like a good cook giving you a hint when your'e stuck. I can take stock of the fridge, pick something, and scan it's entry for another ingredient i have and then stride into the kitchen to co...more
Liz
Liz rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: anyone who loves to cook
I love this book! I'm terrible at planning meals in advance and then making a shopping list based on that. This book is perfect for someone like me who likes to find or create recipes based on what you have on hand.

Since I joined a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm, I now get a plethora of produce based on what is in season. I use this book to look up veggies I'm not used to cooking with, such as bok choy or swiss chard, and then based on what other foods go well with tha...more
Mindy
Mindy rated it 5 of 5 stars
So I didn't read this word for word because the last half is like a reference tool, but it's an awesome resource for figuring out what flavors go well together. I love the interviews with the chefs in the beginning - gives a little insight to the methods behind their genius dishes. The affinities part of the book is going to be really helpful, especially for using up those random ingredients that you only had one recipe for... I'm looking forward to actually BUYING this one and adding it to my...more
Darby
A description from Barnes & Noble's website:

"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 treasur
...more
Wrighty
Wrighty rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: everyone
When I first heard of this book I thought it would be filled with recipes but this is all about flavor and how to enhance it. Until recently, dishes were based on geography and what was available near you. Now that ingredients are available all over the world they are based on flavor. This book was eight years in the making and is meant to inspire greater, more innovative creations. This guide to hundreds of different ingredients along with different seasonings, herbs and spices will allow you t...more
Bobbie  Crawford-McCoy
Bobbie Crawford-McCoy rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: Anyone who cooks...this is a reference guide, not a cookbook.
The Flavor Bible
Written By: Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg
Photographs By: Barry Salzman
Published By: Little, Brown and Company an Imprint of Hachette Book Group, 2008, First Edition, 392 pages, hardcover
ISBN 978-0316118408

This reverence guide is versatile, detailed and it has been exhaustively researched. With many basic ingredients, basic cooking ideas and simple dishes listed alphabetically, this guide is a wonderful resource for anyone who wants to cook r...more
Marian
Marian rated it 5 of 5 stars
Excellent book for all my friends who say they "cook from the hip" and don't use recipes. This is a book that explores flavor affinities. For example, If you had some pork sausages, you could make them taste like many different cuisines. They could be Spanish or German or Italian or Korean based on the accompanying flavor notes. I really enjoyed how you could look up an ingredient and be inspired by all the flavors suggested. Not a cook book more of a chef's book. Got to buy it for mys...more
Rachel
Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars
This book is one of the most helpful tools in my kitchen. It lists food alphabetically and each entry has a number of flavor suggestions. For instance: FRENCH TOAST. Maple syrup. Bananas. Sausage. Some flavor combinations are so out-there that I'd never have thought of trying them, while others are obvious. There are also little sidebars full of advice, descriptions of chef's dishes, and more. I love this book and I recommend it to any cook who likes to create recipes from scratch!
Nekouken
Nekouken rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: cookbooks
The charts of matching flavors in this book have already proven exceptionally useful to me. The opening, describing the philosophy behind the book -- aside from its insistence that food requires wine to taste any good -- speaks to me as an amateur food scientist and as a lifelong foodie. It's got the same love for the craft as the movie Ratattouille, and because of that it will be on my "currently reading" shelf indefinitely.
Chrissy
I read the first couple of chapters, which explain so much about how food can taste beyond the initial sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. It's so much more than flavor... Anyway, this is a good read if you like cooking but aren't into collecting recipes. It's basically a bunch of guidelines of how different ingredients complement each other. I tried it for beets this weekend that I picked up at the farmer's market and I liked the result.
Victoria
Victoria added it
Shelves: cookbooks
Like the book, though I think the Flavor Thesaurus is better. Made the mistake of purchasing this in e-book format where it simply does not work. Yes, I can search for terms. But, really I just want the entry on Sage, or Cheese, Goat, not every single mention of the term where I can't immediately see what heading it's under. See folks - hardcopy still has its merits and advantages in a digital world.
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Flavor Bible (ebook)
The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs (Kindle Edition)
The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of Americas Most Imaginative Chefs

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Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg have been called the brightest young author team on the culinary scene today's on NPR. Their previous books Becoming a Chef, Dining Out, and The New American Chef have all been finalists for or winners of James Beard and/or IACP Book Awards.

Their landmark book Culinary Artistry, the first- known reference on culinary composition and flavor compatibility...more
More about Karen Page...
The Food Lover's Guide to Wine What to Drink with What You Eat: The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea - Even Water - Based on Expert Advice from America's Best Sommeliers Culinary Artistry Becoming a Chef Dining Out: Secrets from America's Leading Critics, Chefs, and Restaurateurs

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