Book Review: The Flavor Bible

You may have heard of The Flavor Bible. Sara Moulton called it one of the best cookbooks of 2008 on Good Morning America. It hit the #1 best-selling spot in Amazon's cooking category. It has gotten a good bit of recognition.
There's a good reason for this book's reputation. It contains incredibly useful information that I've never seen stated explicitly in a cookbook before. Unfortunately, The Flavor Bible is also hard to describe. I'll begin by explaining what it isn't:

• The Flavor Bible is not a conventional cookbook. It contains no recipes. It contains little in the way of actual, practical cooking advice.
• The Flavor Bible is not for most beginners. It assumes you know what you are doing.
• The Flavor Bible is not a quick read. It isn't the sort of book that you curl up with and read from cover to cover. There's no narrative, and most of it isn't even in paragraph form.
• The Flavor Bible is not food porn. It has some photos, but they are sparingly-used accents rather than the focus.

So what is The Flavor Bible, then?

• The Flavor Bible is a cookbook. It contains a list of hundreds of ingredients. The authors polled dozens of top chefs for advice on using these ingredients, focusing upon their flavor and flavors they match well with. Along with the lists that make up the bulk of the book, there are asides and essays talking about individual ingredients and flavor in general.
• The Flavor Bible is a great reference. It may be the best idea-generator for the kitchen that I've come across. I suspect that it could be an excellent part of a beginning cook's education, but that educational process would look different from what we're used to seeing.
• The Flavor Bible is a fascinating read. The essays are great. The asides are insightful. While I didn't read the book from cover to cover, I did keep picking it up and reading a random page.
• The Flavor Bible is food erotica. The pictures aren't the focus. The focus is on flavor. Reading the list of flavor combinations, it is hard not to start imagining what some of the more unusual ones taste like.

So, what do these lists that make the book up actually look like?
They begin with the name of the ingredient and some general information about its flavor profile: whether it is sweet, salty, sour, or bitter and the weight and volume of its flavor. It might mention a few techniques or tips for using the ingredient, but these are short and not always useful. Then there is a list of ingredients, usually numbering in the dozens, that the flavor pairs well with. This is based on a survey of experts, and those that were mentioned more often are noted. After this is, usually, a short list of flavor affinities – a few ingredients all of which go well together. There may be an aside in which a chef talks about the ingredient or a short list of dishes at some of the restaurants surveyed that feature it.
This all may not sound like much. I have to admit, when I first picked up the book, I read the essays and put it down, vaguely disappointed at the rest of it. Then I decided to give the lists another look and picked it up again. and again. and again.
That said, the book isn't perfect. The authors clearly have some biases toward seasonal foods and firmly believe the mantra that food that grows together goes together. While these aren't bad opinions, they are somewhat limiting in a book that focuses on flavor (rather than seasonal or local food). I also have an issue with their methodology. They highlight flavor combinations that are mentioned more often. These tend to be the common combinations that I already know about. I know that avocados go well with salt, onions, lime, and vinegar. The interesting bits are that it pairs with crème fraȋche or dashi or tarragon. That information is in there, but the common is more emphasized.
The book also begs to be made into a database. There are a few cross-references, but not very many. I feel like fully cross-referencing all the ingredient pairings could lead take the information that's in the book to a new level and lead to some exciting new combinations.