Reddit reviews Flavour Thesaurus

Also not a chef but here are some good theory and technique books:

Larousse Gastranomique -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Larousse-Gastronomique-Hamlyn/dp/0600620425

The focus is obv iously french cooking techniques and application etc.


Leith's cooking Bible -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leiths-Cookery-Bible-3rd-ed/dp/074756602X

Prue Leith is highly respected in the U.K for her culinary school...this book gets used a lot in my house

The flavour thesaurus -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flavour-Thesaurus-Niki-Segnit/dp/0747599777

Once you have techniques you can look to build on them creatively so theory of what flavours work together is pretty crucial.

What we call ‘taste’ is mostly smell. What we actually taste with our tongue is just sweet, salty, sour, bitter, unami. We can also sense cooling, numbing and hot. The rest of the distinguishing elements of food are sensed by the nose. So there is logic in your intuitive ‘smelling’ method. However there are a few issues:

• You are going to be adding the spices altogether in a combination of multiple aromas so I would definitely suggest smelling them mixed together not just separately
  
• Many spices undergo chemical changes with heat and interact with the compounds in the foods they are added to so a basic recipe based on a traditional use of spice is helpful
  
• In my experience, going too wacky on the spices can turn out badly. Do some research on the type of cuisine you are cooking and what combinations of spices are used in that cuisine. This will taste best imo. Also I recommend the flavour thesaurus book that is about what tastes/ aromas go together.

I have a load of dishes that I love to cook, but I found it got a lot simpler once I knew the basics. This isn't a list of recipes but hopefully will get you excited to get into the kitchen, and at the bottom is a few extra links:

Basics

• cutting, dicing, slicing - once you get your knife skills down everything becomes a lot easier.
  
  
• Temperatures - you don't need to blast meat in the oven for it to be cooked. Get a food thermometer to be safe, and means you can get that rare bit of meat if you want.
  
  Flavours and seasonings
  
  
• onions, carrots and celery tend to be my "base" vegetables (one onion, few sticks of celery and carrots). They help bring out the flavours.
  
  
• When making a soup, add the various herbs your using to the onions and garlic when you're frying them off in the beginning. Adds to the oil flavours and helps season it better.
  
  
• basic seasoning (salt and pepper) - remember to season!!
  
  
• spice combinations - my go to are oregano/garlic/basil for something light, cumin/corriander/tumeric for something more curry-like and then ginger/lemon grass for Thai flavourings.
  
  Tricks
  
  
• It's said the difference between home cooking and restaurant cooking is shallots, salt and cream. Just sayin'
  
  
• Slow cooking was my fail safe when I started cooking, wack everything in, low temperature, 8 hours, boom.
  
  
• Foil dinners! Get some meat, veg, seasoning, wack in some foil, dump in oven. Voila.
  
  Chefs to check out
  
  
• Michel Roux
  
  
• Jamie Oliver - check out his website, really good for simple recipes.
  
  
• Marco Pierre White
  
  Books
  
  
• Flavour Thesaurus this is my baby, so useful to find out little tricks.
  
  There was also an /r/AskReddit post a few months back, I saved this post from it as it was quite useful in showing fail safe recipes to show off.
  
  Anyway! Food is my thing. Happy to PM you more stuff!

This one has helped me a lot. It isn't too expensive at Chapters.

This one seems pretty legitimate as well, but I haven't personally read it

Two that I haven't seen mentioned:

The Flavor Thesaurus by Niki Segnit: This is a bit more of what I was hoping the Flavor Bible would be. It focuses a bit more on unconventional pairings and the "why" of how they work. While the ingredients involved are limited, it's a book that like SFAH, can be applied everywhere.

The Drunken Botanist by Amy Steward: I really appreciate the breadth of knowledge that this book provides. While it's cocktail oriented, it really gets into the history and process of creating each alcohol. This book really is a delight.

Other than that, I really adored Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, and Thug Kitchen (for a more traditional cookbook).

You might like The Flavour Thesaurus too. I rather prefer it over the Flavor Bible.

I don’t know what the availability of ingredients will be like where you live, but Yotam Ottolenghis books are beautiful and a real lesson in new flavours and textures. I have this at home and feel inspired to cook every time I flick through it https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jerusalem-Yotam-Ottolenghi/dp/0091943744

Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking is wonderful and covers lots of basics and classics, although it doesn’t have photographs so could be a bit dry for him https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Art-French-Cooking-Boxed/dp/0307593525

If you’re raising the next Heston Blumenthal, this book will really help him understand how to combine flavours. It’s not a recipe book though, more of a guide on how to think of your own flavour combinations https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flavour-Thesaurus-Niki-Segnit/dp/0747599777

And finally, how about a personalised recipe book for him to make his own - something like this https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/473998816/free-personalized-recipe-book-wooden?ref=shop_home_feat_1

Hope he has a great birthday!

I'ma big fan of The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit.

I would also recommend the Flavour Thesaurus. It splits foods out into Sweet, Spicy, Fruity...etc flavours and tells you what ingredients works well with what. Eg Cardamon is listed under fruity and works with Chocolate, which I think is listed under Nutty or Earthy.

I bought this book a few years back after asking myself this very question. It lists all the different major types of flavors then talks about what you get when you combine them.

It's an interesting read and kick starts some fun recipes from the different combinations.

The Flavour Thesaurus https://www.amazon.com/dp/0747599777/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_udYdBbMV7T5SA

Interestingly, the US site seems to offer a "look inside" preview not included on the Canadian one you linked.

A book called the flavour thesaurus - gives you ideas about flavours and ingredients that you would never think would work. Great book.

Amazon links:

UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0747599777?cache=491187175f09a05db83b12da483baf58&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1406286051&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1


US. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/160819874X?cache=04994d44197dcca0cb588b9bb14ac61b&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1406286098&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1

I'm all for an open mind. But for me, there is quite enough of a world of flavour in coffee to explore without adding other stuff, whether milk or whisky residue...

But I'm all for others exploring the boundaries of the tasty and acceptable. The astonishingly great Flavour Thesaurus lists a bunch of great coffee combinations that might be worth exploring idc (although not all perhaps in a cup).

Here's the extract relating to coffee - its really worth a read.

It lists some combinations that I've never tried, but probably should, including coffee and goats cheese. I wonder whether I should make that my next kickstarter...goats cheese flavour beans...mmmmmm ;-)

And then, of course, there is the classic pairing of coffee and garlic http://blog.khymos.org/2007/04/22/coffee-espuma-with-garlic-and-chocolate-tgrwt-1/ This isn't crazy stuff: Heston Blumenthal was one of the original proponents of this pairing. But others have followed, like this guy, who captures it very well

>Next to matching food by common flavour components or a range of flavour components in common, you can also use foodpairing to pair food that doesn't match. Like chocolate and garlic. The trick then is to search for a third food product that has something in common with chocolate and with garlic. An example is coffee. Coffee has flavour components in common with garlic: Dimethyl disulfide and with chocolate: Methyl pyrazine.

As I'm a Brit I am going to dazzle you with Amazon UK's most spectacular offerings:

Giant Inflatable Unicorn 6-Person Party Island

Personalised Lifesize Cardboard Cut-out

BBQ Shack

As for me, I'd be happy with a copy of The Flavour Thesaurus

I'd get him The flavour thesaurus and let him go nuts.