Gather up your kitchen, minus all pantry items, and take a journey back in time; the further back we go the less food choices we have and soon we find ourselves cooking solely from our region. Not a bad thing but oh so different from that which we are accustomed.

Back to today and our ever growing global market, we now have before us limitless possibility. For, a world renowned chef, this may not be daunting but for most it can make our head spin. Enter, The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imagintive Chefs by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg.

I hesitate to call this a cookbook, as it is much more a book for cooks!

This tome, yes tome as it is very mighty, defines, references, cross-references and most importantly teaches us to balance flavor. Flavor is so much more than the “salty”, “sweet”, “sour”, “bitter” and now “umami” that our tongues register; it is also perception, aroma, mouth feel and emotion. Perhaps, intuitively or just through repeated use we understand these elements in our everyday staples but with the world of ingredients at our disposal now, the walls of uncertainty may block our path. The Flavor Bible tears down these walls and gives an unobstructed view into culinary endeavor and delight.

Now, if you are looking for cover-to-cover recipes or step by detailed step recipes, this may not be your first choice in books. If, however, you are of the adventurous sort and are not afraid to cook like “grandma” - a bit of this, some of that and a healthy pinch of some other - but with a whole new world of ingredients then this is a must have addition to your kitchen collection.

Peppered throughout with photographs of some delectable looking dishes accompanied by sides notes more akin to a synopsis than a recipe; it is almost as if the authors are saying, “this is what it could be but read further and you can make it so much more!”

To quote a quote from the book…”Magical dishes, magical words: A great cook is, when all is said and done, a great poet…”-Marcel E. Grancher. And now, thanks to Page and Dornenburg, in The Flavor Bible, we have within our grasp a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia and most importantly a muse, which we can use daily to create our own culinary epic!!

This review is brought to you by John of SleepingBearin the Kitchen.