There are references to wine dotted throughout - how Chardonnay contains the same flavour compounds as smoked fish and bell peppers the same compound 2-methoxy-3-isobutylpyrazine which is found in Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. Obviously the book couldn’t cover all conceivable ingredients so Segnit picked 99 of the ones she found most interesting, excluding carbohydrates except potatoes and common condiments such as salt and pepper on the grounds that they went with pretty well everything. “It’s an approach that seems to appeal to men” said Segnit wryly. Eventually it was spotted by Heston Blumenthal’s editor at Bloomsbury. It might sound like the book all amateur cooks have been waiting for but surprisingly Segnit struggled to get it published. “Forming an understanding of how flavours work together, on the other hand, is like learning the language.” “Following the instructions in a recipe is like parroting pre-formed sentences from a phrase book” she writes. “I remember having a goats cheese salad with raspberries and thinking it was the most sophisticated dish ever.” Curious about food to the point of geekiness she found there was nothing that taught you how to cook rather than to follow a recipe. She was inspired to cook by the dishes she ate at expense account lunches. It took 44 year old Segnit, who used to be in advertising, three years to complete. The book catalogues nearly 1000 flavour combinations which are described in an endearingly quirky way. The surprise publishing hit among food books last year was not the record selling Jamie’s 30-minute meals or even the new Nigella but an unillustrated book called The Flavour Thesaurus by an unknown author, Niki Segnit.
There are 980 entries in all, with 200 recipes and suggestions embedded in the text.It covers classic pairings such as pork & apple, lamb &apricot, and cucumber & dill contemporary favourites likechocolate & chilli, and goat's cheese &beetroot and interesting but unlikely-sounding couples including blackpudding & chocolate, lemon & beef, blueberry & mushroom,and watermelon & oyster.Beautifully packaged, The Flavour Thesaurus is not only a highlyuseful, and covetable, reference book that will immeasurably improveyour cooking - it's the sort of book that might keep you up at nightreading.Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on Jat 09:19 The front section contains anentry for every flavour match listed in the back section and isorganised into 16 flavour themes such a Bramble & Hedge, Green& Grassy, and Earthy. The back section lists,alphabetically, 99 popular ingredients, and suggests classic and lesswell known flavour matches for each.
"Ever wondered why one flavour works with another? Or lacked inspirationfor what to do with a bundle of beetroot? The Flavour Thesaurus is thefirst book to examine what goes with what, pair by pair.The book follows the form of Roget's Thesaurus.
0 kommentar(er)
