The Flavor Bible

[JAZ]

I may be alone in this, but I find the organization and layout of this book sadly confusing. I looked up "Corn" (and found nothing I didn't already know, but that's beside the point -- it's corn, after all. But how odd it is that "corn" was listed under, well, "Corn") and was flipping through the surrounding pages and came upon "cooling," which was something about which foods have a cooling aspect, I guess. "Appetizers" comes after "Anise, Star" and "Korean Cuisine" comes after "Kohlrabi."

I wonder why they didn't arrange the information into sections that make some sense, instead of just jumbling everything together. I can tell there's some very useful information there, but I'm unlikely to refer to it often. I certainly won't read through it or pick it up to browse for fun, which is what I expected to want to do. I'm very disappointed.

[E.S.James]

The book is very good and informative - with the usual "never would've thought of that one!" peppered throughout. I was given a CIA Boot Camp class as a gift last fall, and chose "food pairings" as the afternoon lecture. Just when I thought I couldn't eat yet another bite, the games began, with that book cited throughout.

[Chris Amirault]

I may be alone in this, but I find the organization and layout of this book sadly confusing.

... I wonder why they didn't arrange the information into sections that make some sense, instead of just jumbling everything together.

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Sorry you're so disappointed, Janet. I think that they did a straight-up alphabetical listing (just as they did with "What to Drink") as an overarching structure precisely because they included a variety of categories in the book. Of course, you can just use it like an encyclopedia-style reference and look stuff up by initial letter.

I have been using it a lot in a number of ways lately. One is that I will pick it up when staring at a few stalks of celery or a bag of pine nuts, just to jog ideas or learn new ones. Another is that I have looked up specific cheeses before going shopping to find something to go with some bread I have. Most enjoyably, when I have time I grab the book for pleasure reading. From the "Flavor Matchmaking" section, I think that they had hoped the variety would be fun and surprising; I'm a list person and like hitting the variety that you find a jumble. Diff'rent strokes....

[gingerfreak]

I think that they had hoped the variety would be fun and surprising;

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That's exactly what I'm finding so far. I just received my copy yesterday and in flipping through it I come across so many items that I just wasn't thinking of at that moment. Then I run off on another tangent and am amazed at where I ended up from the original search.

One thing I find though is the pointing out of what to avoid makes me want to try those combinations to see for myself! (the contrarian in me I suppose...)

[rubyred]

I'm looking forward to buying the Flavor Bible. It'll be a while because I only recently got a copy oh Culinary Artistry - I know! I know! It's one of those books that have been on my horizon FOREVER, but somehow every time I went to buy a cookbook something else beat it out! Better late than never, I guess...

I'm obviously amazed by the lists! But can anyone tell me what the italicized ingredients symbolize? Really, it doesn't make a difference in the long-run; I'm just a special kind of anal! The book says that bolded ingredients are considered classics, but it says nothing about italics. If anyone knows, it'll surely put my mind at rest!

[violetfox]

I think that they had hoped the variety would be fun and surprising;

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That's exactly what I'm finding so far. I just received my copy yesterday and in flipping through it I come across so many items that I just wasn't thinking of at that moment. Then I run off on another tangent and am amazed at where I ended up from the original search.

One thing I find though is the pointing out of what to avoid makes me want to try those combinations to see for myself! (the contrarian in me I suppose...)

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Well, as was pointed out further upthread, some things are considered very differently by some of the chefs consulted in the book, highlighting the fascinating fact that we experience taste VERY differently! Yeah, trying combinations that it says to avoid could be interesting (in a good way, even). Some of the recommended combinations sound unlikely to me, but yeah, I'll probably try at least some of them out of curiosity. Good fun, anyway!

[JAZ]

Now that I've had this book for a few months and have looked through it several times, I find it even more disappointing than I did at first.

I find their categorizations for ingredients really confusing -- I mean, allspice is "sweet" but ginger is "sour"? Huh?

I'm most disappointed in the regional/national listings -- they're inconsistent and often wrong. Are these supposed to be lists of ingredients, or iconic dishes? They list both, in no particular order, with no indication of what is what. For instance, here's the listing for "Cajun":

cayenne

celery

chiles

crayfish

gumbo

jambalaya

onions

peppers

rice

seafood

tomatoes

Aside from the fact that gumbo and jambalaya are dishes, not ingredients, tomatoes are not a typical Cajun ingredient (Creole, yes -- although the authors don't list tomatoes under the Creole section). And chiles aren't particularly common in Cajun food either, unless you count dried ground ones -- oh, yeah, that'd be cayenne.

Most frustrating is that they don't talk about flavor and ingredient combinations -- just individual ingredients, which is next to useless if you're really trying to understand regional cooking. Listing celery, onions and "peppers" (I assume they mean bell peppers) teaches me nothing, but an explanation of "trinity" would have given me some useful knowledge.

Why didn't they just leave the entries on regional or national cuisines out if they couldn't take the time to get them right?

[Rob Babcock]

I realize this is an old thread, just wanted to mention that while I'm a big fan of the book, I'd really love a Droid app or computer program that presented a searcheable version of the book. As it goes the layout is kind of frustrating to me. It would be great to be able to type your ingredient into a window and get all the matches.

[Anna N]

I realize this is an old thread, just wanted to mention that while I'm a big fan of the book, I'd really love a Droid app or computer program that presented a searcheable version of the book. As it goes the layout is kind of frustrating to me. It would be great to be able to type your ingredient into a window and get all the matches.

It is now available in a Kindle edition which makes it somewhat searchable.

[andrestorrubia]

I'd too would love an iPhone app or webpage with searchable ingredients.

There's a similar concept (albeit pairings are found via analyzing volatile molecules of ingredients rather than talking to chefs) at www.foodpairing.com, although the susbscription price 129 EUR + VAT/yr may be a bit steep.