Read Online The Flavor Bible The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity Based on the Wisdom of America Most Imaginative Chefs Karen Page Andrew Dornenburg 9780316118408 Books
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 treasure trove of spectacular flavor combinations. Readers will learn to work more intuitively and effectively with ingredients; experiment with temperature and texture; excite the nose and palate with herbs, spices, and other seasonings; and balance the sensual, emotional, and spiritual elements of an extraordinary meal. Seasoned with tips, anecdotes, and signature dishes from America's most imaginative chefs, The Flavor Bible is an essential reference for every kitchen.
Winner of the 2009 James Beard Book Award for Best Book Reference and Scholarship
Read Online The Flavor Bible The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity Based on the Wisdom of America Most Imaginative Chefs Karen Page Andrew Dornenburg 9780316118408 Books
"As a dietitian (medically-qualified nutrition expert), I recommend this book to my patients who can afford it. Especially the ones who are trying to cook more at home. A big obstacle to many people not cooking is simply a lack of confidence with ingredients on-hand. This book effectively cures that. Want to eat more asparagus, but don't like the taste of plain? First, join the rest of us. Then, flip to the asparagus listing and match those flavors to what's in your pantry and fridge. There's also a Vegetarian version of this book for those who want to focus on increasing healthful plant foods in their diet."
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Tags : The Flavor Bible The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs [Karen Page, Andrew Dornenburg] on . <div>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, Andrew Dornenburg,The Flavor Bible The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs,Little, Brown and Company,0316118400,Methods - Professional,Specific Ingredients - General,Cookery,Cookery.,Cooking.,Gastronomy,Gastronomy.,Nonfiction,COOKING / Entertaining,COOKING / General,COOKING / Methods / Professional,COOKING / Reference,COOKING / Specific Ingredients / General,COOKING / Specific Ingredients / Herbs, Spices, Condiments,Cooking,Cooking / Wine,Cooking/Regional Ethnic - American - General,Cooking; Food; Recipes; Cookbooks; Gastronomy; james beard award winner; cookbook bestsellers; cookbook beginners; cookbook reference; flavor combinations; spice cookbooks; cooking reference; how to cook; learning to cook; culinary writing,GENERAL,Gastronomy,Gastronomy.,General Adult,Methods - Professional,Non-Fiction,Nonfiction,Oversize Format,Regional Ethnic - American - General,Specific Ingredients - General,Specific Ingredients - Herbs, Spices, Condiments,United States,james beard award winner; cookbook bestsellers; cookbook beginners; cookbook reference; flavor combinations; spice cookbooks; cooking reference; how to cook; learning to cook; culinary writing; Cooking; Food; Recipes; Cookbooks; Gastronomy,COOKING / Entertaining,COOKING / General,COOKING / Methods / Professional,COOKING / Reference,COOKING / Specific Ingredients / General,COOKING / Specific Ingredients / Herbs, Spices, Condiments,Cooking/Regional Ethnic - American - General,Regional Ethnic - American - General,Specific Ingredients - Herbs, Spices, Condiments,Cooking / Wine,Cooking
The Flavor Bible The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity Based on the Wisdom of America Most Imaginative Chefs Karen Page Andrew Dornenburg 9780316118408 Books Reviews :
The Flavor Bible The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity Based on the Wisdom of America Most Imaginative Chefs Karen Page Andrew Dornenburg 9780316118408 Books Reviews
- If you love to cook, love to let your imagination come out to play in the kitchen and love experimenting with new foods, this is the book for you. If on the other hand you feel you must rigidly adhere to recipes, this book is still going to be great but not quite as indispensable.
I enjoy cooking. Friends will tell you that I am a gourmet chef but the fact is that I really am not. I am a foodie who loves to experiment with flavors and also likes the challenge of replicating foods and flavors that I've had in a restaurant. My palate isn't all that sophisticated though. When it comes to cooking I will look online for ideas, I will look at recipes and perhaps start with something I see and then embellish and experiment as I go along. That's where the flavor bible comes in. If I'm in the kitchen the F Bible is never far from my side. I hosted a small plates party recently. I used a couple of mainstay dishes that I always cook but I wanted to branch out... baked egg rolls, hmmmm what vegetables and seasonings would work well together (I didn't want to go for the obvious soy and ginger) -- I ended up with garlic, cumin and soy as a base. It was delish.
My challenge at this small plate feast was that there were people who couldn't handle any level of spice, a person deathly allergic to mushrooms, and a vegetarian. I needed to find substitutions and I did. It was fun figuring out work arounds for everyday flavors and ingredients
There are obvious pairings (garlic and onion) and there are less obvious and more exotic pairings. These folks have so much knowledge. The book is a treasure trove. A great reference for when you want to go with new pairings or if you just have a question about something you'd like to try. You can't imagine the wealth of information packed into this very portable volume. Figs, hmmm what would go well with figs. Crack the book open to page 161 (its arranged alphabetically) and you will find a list of fig info including ways to use it and cook with it.... and then a list of its complementary foods and flavors In this case the fig pairs with; Almonds, anchovies, anise, apples, arugula, bacon, butter, a few cheeses, cherries, chicken, chococate........ All this and I'm only up to the letter C. It goes all the way through to walnuts.
BOTTOM LINE.... Honestly, my review here can't begin to do this book justice. it is well worth double its list price. I've owned my copy almost ten years and I am not sure how I got along without it. You can go online and pretty much find any recipe you desire. But the information in this book just isn't available in any sort of comprehensive way online that I have found. This truly is a flavor bible written by religious food fanatics.... they have left very few stones unturned. Though I see now that they have a vegetarian flavor bible. I might have to check that out as well. If you like to be creative in the kitchen this book is a must. Buy it. Honest. You'll thank me. - 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. - Apparently the edition has been updated since the poor reviews were posted. I decided to take a chance on it and I'm glad I did. In the Table of Contents there is a A-Z index. When you click on that, it opens up an alphabetical list of ingredients. Each one has a link to the page describing the ingredient and things that go well with it. If you're on the fence because if formatting, go ahead and put that out of your mind.
- As a dietitian (medically-qualified nutrition expert), I recommend this book to my patients who can afford it. Especially the ones who are trying to cook more at home. A big obstacle to many people not cooking is simply a lack of confidence with ingredients on-hand. This book effectively cures that. Want to eat more asparagus, but don't like the taste of plain? First, join the rest of us. Then, flip to the asparagus listing and match those flavors to what's in your pantry and fridge. There's also a Vegetarian version of this book for those who want to focus on increasing healthful plant foods in their diet.
- This book does not have recipes. It offers wonderful suggestions for what goes with what. Have you ever been staring at a chicken, tired of the same-ol-same-ol, wondering what to do for something different? This book has hundreds of suggestions. You have to be willing to try new combinations,but you wont regret it. Over the years we both have learned so much about flavors, what goes with what. My confidence in preparing meals for my family has grown steadily. If I could only keep 5 books this would be one of them.
My husband and I have given this as housewarming gift three times. It has always been well received.