Today's cookbook review is not only a good source for great recipes, it's a fantastic reference book you can return to again and again and learn something new each time. The title should give you a good indication of the book's direction, but don't underestimate it.
Most of us know the four basic elements of taste - sweet, salty, sour and bitter. The more eager students are jumping up and down in their seats saying "umami! umami!", referring to the more ambiguous concept that there is a sensation of taste that broadly recognizes that something is "tasty" - it is closely related to salt (while remaining distinct) and is what gives MSG its amazing power. Well, Grasshopper, you have a bit to learn. Gray Kunz and Peter Kaminsky will introduce you to fourteen elements of taste - fourteen! And this is because they felt the original twenty-two they came up with might be a bit much for us to handle. Sit down, hush up, and get ready to learn something.
Reading this book, you will learn to use language such as "pushing", "pulling", "punctuating", and "platform" as the new categories from which this multitude of taste sensations come from. You will come away with a greater understanding of why certain foods and flavours are such good friends. Even if you try to open the book and simply cook a recipe, inevitably you will end up reading a short passage about why the flavours work together, or how certain cooking techniques affect how flavours blend and come together. This book will help you develop the kind of understanding you need to create memorable dishes. Most people can follow a recipe, but much fewer have the ability to come up with something new, original, and hit the mark or very close to it on the first try. Read this book, understand it, and apply it. CHECK IT OUT HERE.
P.S. This book is a great companion to the Flavour Bible.
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