[.ca] Seasoning Savvy: How to Cook with Herbs, Spices, and ... (ISBN 1560220317)

From Amazon.com:
Seasoning Savvy is the reference book every cook needs--a comprehensive and clearly written compendium of everything worth knowing about ingredients for flavoring food. Packed into a mere 265 pages (18 of which are black-and-white photos), Alice Arndt, a food historian, teacher, and writer, presents 87 individual items, 36 seasoning blends, plus other flavorings, like vinegars, salt, and sugar. Each entry--from Ajowan, an Indian spice with pungent, thyme-like flavor that is also known as bishop's weed, omam, or netch azmud (botanical name Trachyspermum ammi), to Woodruff, the herb that gives German May wine its grassy and vanilla notes, and from Advieh, an Iranian spice mix, to Quatre Épices, the variable combination used to spice French pâtés--is ample without being esoteric. These entries describe how an herb or spice looks and tastes (Winter Savory is like a peppery, pungent thyme while Summer Savory is milder) and how the item is used in its native tradition. Arndt then suggests other possibilities. Hence savory, or sariette, flavors French goat cheese but would be good in a three-bean salad, and it reduces the odor of cabbage during cooking. She also recommends substitutions, suggesting that oregano can replace cilantro, and vanilla extract might replace Kewra Water, a floral Indian flavoring, when necessary. Because the taste of food is affected by more than the aromatic compounds added by spices and herbs, Arndt explains how heat, cold, and other variables influence our perceptions of flavor. In sum, she makes Seasoning Savvy a user-friendly reference book that cooks of all levels, from beginners to professionals, will value. --Dana Jacobi

Seasoning Savvy: How to Cook with herbs, Spices and Other Fl:
A useful reference book for those who are fascinated with cooking with spices. While the table of contents may seem like many spices are not listed, the thorough index listings cross reference to the alternative names. Individual descriptions of herbs give all the names, list substitutions, characteristics and the types of food suggested for each herb or spice. Interesting suggestions will encourage a cook to try new food/spice combinations.

A wonderful guide for both novice and experienced cooks.:
Seasoning Savvy is a wonderful guide to cooking with herbs and seasonings that goes beyond the usual recipe collection, discussing over 100 herbs, spices and flavorings from the history of their cultivation and use to how readers can make wise substitutions. No recipes in the usual sense; but plenty of lore on how to use herbs and spices wisely.