The Flavor Equation

Every time you cook, you’re trying to hit just six notes: richness, brightness, depth, heat, saltiness, and sweetness. These are the flavours that make our food sing.

When you cook – and eat – you rely on a variety of senses and feelings – taste, sight, aroma, sound, mouthfeel, and emotion – to perceive these sensations.

In this groundbreaking cookbook from Nik Sharma, author of the acclaimed cookbook Season and the award-winning A Brown Table blog, we learn the simplest ways to play up any and all of these sensations for the most flavourful food.

The compounds that cause these unique sensations are found in the simplest ingredients: lemons and limes, salt and pepper, pickles, cream, olive oil, and butter. These are the flavour-boosting building blocks on hand for splendid, simple cooking. Once home cooks learn how to evoke these sensations, they’ll be able to make nearly anything delicious.

The Flavour Equation presents an in-depth exploration of the science of taste, with more than 100 illustrations for visual learners. Here, too, are 125 go-to recipes for favourite dishes – curries, one-pot vegetarian mains, soups – for cooks of all skill levels, with a photo of almost every recipe, in Nik’s trademark evocative and moody style.

This is a hefty, must-own cookbook – the next Food Lab or Flavor Bible – perfect for curious cooks of all levels who are learning the basics, need best-of-their-class recipes, and want to take their cooking to the next level.