The Flavor Bible

If you're like me, when you combine flavors you rely on two things: guaranteed combinations-like tomatoes and basil, lamb and rosemary, apples and cinnamon-and educated guessing. That strategy leaves a lot of room for error. Award-winning authors Karen Page & Andrew Dornenburg have taken the guessing out of the equation with their newest book The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs ($35; becomingachef.com). It is the first comprehensive "thesaurus" of modern flavor combinations organized as an easy-to-use alphabetical reference featuring more than 600 popular ingredients (meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, cheeses, etc.) and the herbs, spices, wines and other flavorings that best enhance them.

Here's how it works. Look up an ingredient, like zucchini, and you'll find lists of which herbs, spices and other seasonings best complement it. From there, you can check out what popular chefs would do with the ingredient for some expert inspiration. The authors did not include recipes because they want people to learn to cook more intuitively rather than relying on step-by-step instructions.

Here's what some of the chefs have to say about particular ingredients:

BACON
Bacon goes with so much more than just eggs!, says Traci Des Jardins of Jardiniere in San Francisco. "Bacon can be salt, fat and/or smoke, depending on the bacon you choose. You can also play with its texture depending on whether you are using pork belly or crispy bacon."

CHESTNUTS
Gina DePalma, pastry chef at Babbo in New York City, suggests making Chestnut Spice Cake with Mascarpone Cheese.

ONIONS
Michel Richard, Citronelle, Washington, D.C., roasts onions "a long, long time and use them to add a meaty flavor to soups."

Check out a copy of The Flavor Bible to find out more—it's like sitting down at the kitchen table to talk with some of the best chefs in the country. It will also help you elevate your cooking to new heights. --Denise Shoukas

Denise Shoukas is a regular foodspring.com contributor and is the author of foodspring’s food forager blog.