The Flavor Bible: Page and Dornenburg

By JULIETTE ROSSANT What kind of book can claim to be an industry "bible"? What do we expect inside its cover? What kind of authority does that give its writers? There are more and more books that are called bibles, based, it would seem, solely on the number of recipes they contain, rather than any in depth or comprehensive method they use. Bibles suggest the idea that they are definitive and comprehensive. In The Pie and Pastry Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum's methods and recipes are both definitive and comprehensive, even as they leave room for a baker to create new recipes. Is The Flavor Bible (Little, Brown 2008) different? It claims, in its subtitle to be: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs, as filtered through authors Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. That is a big claim. There are other cookbooks and books about food that discuss flavor combinations. Daniel Patterson's Aroma comes to mind (See Super Chef review), but it is in no way definitive. The Flavor Bible is meant to build on their earlier book, Culinary Artistry, which recorded classic flavor combinations before 1996, and was meant to free cooks from the constraints of recipes that force them to rigidly follow instructions and reclaim their creativity. So what is The Flavor Bible? The Flavor Bible is a comprehensive, easy-to-use single-volume reference of more than six hundred alphabetical entries listing modern-day compatible flavors, chronicling new flavor synergies in the new millennium. (p. x) It is not a cookbook but a reference book about what flavors work together for our contemporary palates. With all the fighting food writers do to report on the latest ingredient, technique, or flavor combination, it is a wonder they choose to publish a book. Wouldn't it have made sense to make this an online resource to keep up with the continuous changes in taste, and the introduction of new, exotic ingredients? The first chapter is titled: Flavor=Taste + Mouthfeel + Aroma + "The X Factor": Learning to Recognize the Language of Food. Taste refers to what our taste buds perceive, Mouthfeel is what the rest of the mouth perceives, and Aroma is smell. The X Factor is what is perceived by the rest of the body (p. 1) Throughout the chapter are sprinkled the names of chefs who work especially well in the different realms. They also include longer quotes from chefs about different aspects, such as Dan Barber exuberantly talking about the physical aspect, the raising of pigs that produce the pork for a dish for Blue Hill at Stone Barns. More quotes follow with chefs discussing strategies for balancing flavor (p. 16). Carrie Nahabedian discusses seasoning dishes from the start, not just at the end of cooking. Carrie describes making a butternut squash soup at Naha from beginning to end, not in terms of measurements, but what different ingredients add to a dish depending on how sweet or savory the butternut squash is. Many of these quotes are remarkable because they give insight into the thought processes and philosophies of chefs. The second chapter covers: Great Cooking= Maximizing Flavor + Pleasure by Tapping Body + Heart + Mind + Spirit: Communicating Via the Language of Food. The chapter covers concepts like seasonality (p. 29) to Volume or the strength of taste of an ingredient (p. 31). The heart of the book is the third chapter: Flavor Matchmaking: The Charts. Glancing through the lists, there are general listings like African Cuisine (West) which includes ingredients like goat, okra and plantains, as well as Flavor Affinities: chile peppers + peanuts + tomatoes. Some of the ingredients, like goat, do not have further listings. Other ingredients, like plantains, have long lists of ingredients that go with them, such as bacon, cumin and pork. The authors include, for some ingredients, boxes with lists of sample dishes from the chefs they have interviewed. There are also extra quotes about how to treat certain ingredients: I like to pair rhubarb, caramelized sugar, and blood orange juice – which has more character than orange juice – because their seasons barely overlap. I am not a fan of rhubarb desserts because they always tend to be one note – either very tart, or very sweet to make up for the tartness. Caramel works well with rhubarb because it makes rhubarb not too sweet – Michael Laiskonis Le Bernardin (New York City) (p. 289) Other boxes include quotes about larger subjects, for instance Spain in the World: How American Chefs are influenced by Spain. (p. 326) The quotes are interesting and point to the promise of the book to look to future flavor combinations. Will The Flavor Bible guide experience cooks into trying new combinations, looking for more exciting recipes, and adjusting old, favorite recipes by adding ingredients from these authoritative lists? It is fun to think of going to the market, seeing a great piece of lamb, and then looking for another ingredient, spice, and herb that might be unfamiliar but that will match it well. Perhaps you will buy some sumac and realize how a long a list of compatible ingredients it goes with, and remember to use it more often. We rely a lot on sumac, which I love because it is a good way to add another layer of tartness and acidity to a dish without having to add liquid. I could not imagine our beet salad with it. Sumac works well with chicken, vegetables, and salads, as well as in a inaigrette or with cheese you might marinate like feta. I avoid it with red meat or steak; I think it is the wrong kind of tartness for them. – Sharon Hage, York Street (Dallas) (p. 335) However, the list under sumac does encourage use with lamb, and other meats. This is a valuable resource on a cook's bookshelf. The quotes from chefs and food authorities bring a depth to the lists of ingredients and expand ideas of how to bring flavors together. Previous articles: [Cookbook reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to Super Chef