What I Learned from "The Flavor Bible"

Everyone's been raving about "The Flavor Bible," the new book by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg. I love books about combining flavors-I've learned so much more from these types of books than from conventional cookbooks-so I had to get a copy.

I have to say, though, that I found the lists a bit daunting, and I'm not usually intimidated by that sort of thing. There was just too much information, too many options, and not enough groupings to indicate combinations of three and four ingredients that work together. Still, I'll keep it on my shelf and I'm sure I'll find it useful from time to time.

But I had a great time reading through the introductory material. The authors articulated an idea that I'd intuited but never actually expressed: the reason you can't really count on recipes when you're cooking is that ingredients vary so widely. All apples don't taste the same; neither do all tomatoes. Since I read this I've been paying closer attention to it when I cook, and I do feel that it's changed my approach. I'm more curious, and I taste more as I go along.