Flavorama: A Guide to Unlocking the Art and Science of Flavor

(Hardback)

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An irreverent, accessible, essential guide to the science of flavor and how to use it in your own kitchen, from the food scientist-confidante of some of the worlds best chefs, Arielle Johnson, with more than 75 recipesplus a foreword by Ren Redzepi.

Arielle changed the way that I think about flavor, and in these pages, she will do the same for you (Ren Redzepi, chef of Noma).

Meet Arielle Johnsonshes a flavor scientist (she loves flavor so much, she got a Ph.D. in the subject). She spends most of her time helping chefs better understand whats going on beneath the hood of flavor and make delicious new foods. Now, withFlavorama, she shares this invaluable knowledge with home cooks everywhere. Mixing equal parts fun and braininess, Arielle dives into how chemistry, sensation, and craft unite to create flavor, distilling what flavor really is (molecules!) and how to get it to work for you (spotting patterns, breaking rules) in an easy-to-digest handbook.

You dont need a lab or a professional kitchenor even a background in scienceto get something out of the science of flavor. WithFlavorama, youll be able to easily finesse flavor while cooking to give any dish a little oomph, easily swap out an ingredient for one you have on hand, use a recipe or technique to improvise something new, or boldly replicate a flavor. Out of basil for pesto Pivot and use mint, shiso, or tarragonall are members of the same herbal-aromatic flavor familyfor a new-but-somehow-familiar herb sauce. Or add a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of flaky salt to chocolate ice cream a simple hack for deliciously complex flavor. Included are more than 75 recipes so you can hit the ground running with your new science-of-flavor knowledge:

• An Algorithm for a Minimalist but Excellent Dressing for Lettuce
• Umami-Boosted Cacio e Pepe
• Chilled Soba Noodles with Grapefruit
• The Meatiest Slow-Cooked Meat
• Panela-Coconut Iced Coffee
• Pineapple Caramel Sauce
• Burnt Scallion Butter
• Under-appreciatedSpice Pumpkin Pie

Cook with the creativity, confidence, and flexibility of a world-class chef and learn how to unlock the flavor potential of your ingredients, create your own dishes, make your own bitters, ferment your own miso, and much, much more. Charming illustrations and diagrams drawn by Arielle herself accompany this indispensable guidebook to flavor town.

Reviews

Arielle Johnsons Flavorama is the everymans food science book weve all been waiting for, even if we didnt know we needed it. Dr. Johnson delves into every aspect of flavor, how we sense it, create it, and control it, in a way that will elevate the culinary game of all who read it. Fun, clear, and uber-approachable, Flavorama instantly vaults to the top shelf to take its rightful place at the right hand of Harold McGee. If I didnt love it so much, Id be green with envy. Alton Brown "Ive known and admired Arielle Johnson and her work for more than a decade. Arielle is that rarest of flavor scientists, as experienced in restaurant kitchens as in the lab, and a skilled translator of the chemistry into clear and useful advice for any food lover. I cant recommend Flavorama highly enough: its essential reading for anyone whos serious about understanding deliciousness and how to create it." Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking Count yourself lucky to be alive in the time of Dr. J. She has dedicated her life to understanding the aspects of food that others write off as mystical or inexplicable. And now shes taken the time to explain them, bestowing us with the tools to harness and understand flavor. Its as though an advanced alien civilization has deemed us worthy of faster-than-light technology. Youre lucky Arielles one of us, and youre even luckier to be holding this book. David Chang, founder of Momofuku

Author Bio

Arielle Johnson, Ph.D., is a flavor scientist who consults for some of the top chefs and restaurants in the world. Co-founder of the fermentation lab at Ren Redzepis Noma in Copenhagen and Science Director for Noma Projects, Arielle is a former Directors Fellow at the MIT Media Lab and Science Officer for Alton Browns Food Network show, Good Eats: The Return. She has lectured on food and science at SXSW, Tales of the Cocktail, WIRED, and the Harvard Science and Cooking series, and her writing on the subject has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and Lucky Peach. She lives in New York City. Follow her on Instagram @arielle_johnson.