The Flavour Thesaurus

This book has had stunning reviews in the national newspapers, and I decided to buy it as a present for my husband, the chef in our household. On the tube home, I had a quick flick through it out of curiosity...and I haven't been able to part with it since.The concept of `The Flavour Thesaurus' is utterly, utterly genius. Segnit has taken 99 basic flavours (mint, coriander, basil, strawberry etc) and researched 980 pairings of them. The result is part recipe-book, part food memoir, part flavour compendium. (The English Language geek in me feels compelled to point out that `thesaurus' is a misnomer - even similar flavours are NOT synonyms, jeez, though the book retains Roget's format).Some of these pairings are familiar, such as Bacon & Egg, whilst others (Avocado & Mango, anyone?) are not. Now and then, Segnit provides a recipe; many of these sound incredible, and despite being the most amateur of cooks, I reckon even I could manage many of them. Under Melon & Rose, for example, she merely tells you to drown a cantaloupe melon in rosewater syrup, so that it tastes like "a fruity take on gulab jamun". Can you even read that sentence without wanting to dash to the supermarket for the ingredients?Segnit also peppers the book with restaurant and dish recommendations - not in an insufferable shiny London lifestyle way, but in an enthusiastic, unpretentious, eating-out-with-your-mates "you really have to try this" way. If only she had supplied phone numbers so we could immediately make reservations.The real revelation, though, is Segnit's language. It is, quite simply, superb. Modern cookery writing seems to fall into three distinct camps: venomous snob, obsessed with tablecloths and ambience rather than the food itself; faux-geezer dahn the faux-pub; and flirty girl breathlessly enthusing over cake. With `The Flavour Thesaurus', Segnit may well have ended the careers of many of these over-hyped morons.For a start, her prose is endlessly entertaining. Breezy erudition sits alongside hilarious similes. She is a whizz with description: when she tells you that cloves on their own taste the same as sucking on a rusty nail, you half suspect she conducted a comparative taste test just to be sure. She incorporates references so wide-ranging that both Sybil Kapoor and Velma from Scooby Doo rate a mention. Then there are her unmissable riffs: p 148 instructs us on that "essentially unitary quantity, fishandchips", and insists they must be served in "newsless newspaper" (never polystyrene boxes) and always eaten at a bus stop or "on the wall outside the petrol station". Read about Instinctos and you will be snorting with laughter (and visiting Pizza Hut at the first excuse). I have now read `The Flavour Thesaurus' from cover to cover, and still I have not finished.I must temper my enthusiasm with a few tiny criticisms just to prove this is a genuine review. At nigh on £20 full price, it's expensive for a book without illustrations or photographs (though note Amazon has since discounted it). It assumes a certain level of prior culinary knowledge, which was sometimes frustrating to a novice like me, though it won't bother those with lots of cookbooks and greater competence in the kitchen. The integration of the recipes into the text - Elizabeth David and Simon Hopkinson style - can be irksome until you've got busy with post-it notes. The index needs further sub-division: `crab', for example, offers 11 entries in the index, but the recipe for crab cakes is easily missed under Butternut Squash & Bacon.But these are such minor complaints given the enormous appeal of this book. My husband hovers over it constantly, anxious for his promised present. My brother and my best friend have already asked to borrow it. `The Flavour Thesaurus' is truly a classic in the making, and no foodie's bookshelf is going to be complete without it.EDITED TO ADD, the husband (Latin geek) points out that 'thesaurus' means treasury. Well, whatever language you're using, this book is ACE.UPDATE - JANUARY 2011 Recently, the aforementioned husband, brother and I went to a "book dinner" organised by a local restaurant with recipes inspired by 'The Flavour Thesaurus', at which the author read from her book. Niki Segnit was lovely and exactly as she comes across in the text - funny, clever, and passionate about food in a very down-to-earth way. There was much discussion and disagreement about which flavour combinations worked, but most options on the menu were utterly delicious. If you get the chance to do this, I highly recommend the experience.UPDATE - FEBRUARY 2011 In response to comments below, my husband and I were both wrong - 'thesaurus' is Greek! Also, a fellow customer reviewer has expressed scepticism about the number of positive votes I've had for this review. I don't know why I've had so many votes (though I'm very grateful for the ones I've received), but I haven't been voting for myself, and I don't have 200 friends to vote on my behalf. In response to his/her insinuations, I also want to make clear I'm not related to this or any other author, nor paid by anyone - including Amazon - to submit reviews (more's the pity). Please also click on the link which leads to my other reviews so you can see that I regularly leave critical reviews as well as "effusive" ones. Of course other readers may disagree with my opinion of this book; but it has been a bestseller, and the author now writes for The Times, so I'm definitely not her only fan. As always, your mileage may vary.

This is easily one of favourite books. Full stop, end of. I had thought that a book like this surely already existed, but the closest that I knew of was Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. However, The Flavour Thesaurus is just in a totally different league.Niki Segnit has really done her homework--for anyone interested in flavours, food, chemistry, gastronomy, history, international cuisine...this book really encompasses that many areas.It's a great reference book for experimental cooks--look up one of the 99 ingredients (which are also categorised in a beautiful chart grouping similar flavours together) and you'll find a little chapter wherein you'll be given flavours/ingredients it pairs well with, sometimes with an example from history or international cuisine, sometimes with an explanation based on chemical compounds, sometimes just with an anecdote, sometimes with a recipe suggestion. Don't let the words 'chemical compounds' put you off--nothing about this is dull or dry in the slightest.It is the sort of book that keeps you awake for hours longer than you intended, as you fall down the rabbit hole and follow links from one ingredient to another, often forgetting where you started completely...As I write, British asparagus season is peaking, so let me give you an example. Looking up asparagus (categorised as 'sulphurous'), I can see one of the pairings is asparagus and lemon, which is filed under lemon, and so takes me to the lemon chapter ('citrussy', of course). Talking about lemon and asparagus leads her to mention risi e bisi, an Italian dish of rice and peas--you're directed to the pea and hard cheese entry for details. While you're there you might notice that there is also a pea and asparagus entry...asparagus goes with lemon, which goes with peas, which go with hard cheese, which goes with asparagus...which all may inspire you to make a pea and asparagus risotto, perhaps finished with some grated parmesan and a flutter of lemon zest. Want to add a herb? You could look up lemon or peas or asparagus and see which herbs go with those ingredients. You can use this book to build your own recipes, as simple or complex and innovative as you want. I'm making myself hungry.That's an example of one of the more conventional pairings, but trust me there are plenty that are likely to be new to you and make you consider options that you otherwise wouldn't have. Anise and pineapple, perhaps, or watermelon and cinnamon?The writing is lighthearted while being incredibly informative, the anecdotes interesting, the recipes intriguing. If you really love food, you need this book. So brilliant that I have both the hardback and the Kindle versions, so that I always have it with me to browse during an idle moment.

A must to know the flavours

Totally reccomend

Pensaba que vendría más detalle de combinación de sabores. Aunque son breves las descripciones si aprendes. Para crear recetas sin duda consultaré este libro.

とても参考になる本だと思います。日本人にも常識的な知識もあれば、想像もつかなかった味の組み合わせも沢山掲載されています。興味のあるものから試していくつもりです。洋書では一般的ですが、全て文字での解説で、ダイアグラムはあっても図解や写真などはありません。

Ce n'est pas un livre de recettes. L'auteure suggère des combinaisons de flaveurs et de textures très intéressantes, voire inédites. Segnit évoque aussi les propriété chimiques des ingrédients pour appuyer ses mélanges souvent surprenants. Un excellent livre pour les cuisiniers "amateurs" et un vrai plaisir à lire.