The Flavour Thesaurus

Description

In this lively and exceptionally enjoyable book, Niki Segnit takes 160 popular ingredients and explores all the ways they might be combined in the kitchen. She has scoured thousands of recipes in countless recipe books, talked to dozens of food technologists and chefs, and visited hundreds of restaurants - all in her quest for flavour pairings. The result is a unique book that is full of quirky observations, practical information (hundreds of recipes are embedded in the narrative) and good jokes. Here are a couple of randomly chosen entries: Celery and Dill: Like a couple of spry septuagenarians who still bother to find the right necklace for their frock, wear silver shoes to the theatre and are more than capable of a waspish, flirty conversation if given the attention they deserve. Come alive in the red-blooded company of beef, or more workaday tinned tuna, but left to their own devices can make a thrifty but classy soup. Coriander Leaf and Peanut: Substitute coriander and peanut for basil and pine nuts and you have a delicious Vietnamese-style take on pesto. Process a large bunch of coriander leaf with a tbsp ground nut oil, a tsp fish sauce, maybe a few mint leaves if you have them, some chilli and a squeeze of lime. Add half a handful of ground peanuts. Toss through warm noodles - egg or rice - and serve with more peanuts scattered on top. Beautifully packaged, THE FLAVOUR THESAURUS is not only a highly useful, and covetable, reference book that will immeasurably improve your cooking - it's the sort of book that might keep you up at night reading.

Niki Segnit was inspired to write The Flavour Thesaurus when she noticed how dependent she was on recipes. Her background is in marketing, specialising in food and drink, and she has worked with many famous brands of confectionery, snacks, baby foods, condiments, dairy products, hard liquors and soft drinks. She is a writes a column for The Times and lives in central London with her husband.

Delightful and informative ... I love Niki's style of writing - packed with knowledge and information, but conveyed with such a lightness of touch. This is full of ideas for those who don't want a prescriptive approach to recipes * Yotam Ottolenghi * An eclectic combination of dictionary, recipe book, travelogue and memoir ... Erudite and inspiring, practical and fun, it will make you salivate, laugh, take issue and feel vindicated ... Segnit does for flavour what Lucca Turin achieved for scent in Perfumes: The A-Z Guide. A deceptively simple little masterpiece, set to take its place by McGee on Food and Cooking as a household Bible * Sunday Times * I'm a huge fan of cookery recipes, and I heartily recommend The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit. It lists more than 4,000 possible combinations of 99 flavours, with lots of recipes to inspire you * Kate Winslet, Harper's Bazaar * An exquisite guide to combining flavours * Observer * Every time I return to it, which is often, it makes me tingle with happy greed * Bee Wilson * Segnit cleared the path for me to break free of the hackneyed old classics and develop interesting pairings of my own' * Ruby Tandoh * An original and inspiring resource * Heston Blumenthal * It has intrigued, inspired, amused and occasionally infuriated me all year, and will for years to come * Nigel Slater, Observer Books of the Year * Every cook should own a copy ... [it] will revolutionise your cooking * John Torode * Follow this book and you will impress your guests like never before * Atul Kochhar, The Times * A forensic yet fun exploration of flavour combinations and why they work * Guardian * A bible for anyone who cooks by grabbing ingredients from the fridge * Independent * The Flavour Thesaurus is a fascinating book for culinary geeks who like to know the origin and science behind ingredient combinations * Caterer * Inspiration for figuring out what to do with the random tins left in my cupboard * Evening Standard * A fun and often eyebrow-raising read * Fuchsia Dunlop * This imaginative and beautiful little book deserves a place on the shelves of every serious home cook * Spectator *