Flavorama

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 world’s best chefs, Arielle Johnson, with more than 75 recipes—plus a foreword by René Redzepi.

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

Meet Arielle Johnson—she’s 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 what’s going on beneath the hood of flavor and make delicious new foods. Now, with Flavorama, 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 don’t need a lab or a professional kitchen—or even a background in science—to get something out of the science of flavor. With Flavorama, you’ll 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 tarragon—all are members of the same “herbal-aromatic” flavor family—for 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 99 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-appreciated–Spice 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.

Author Biography

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 Rene Redzepi’s Noma in Copenhagen and Science Director for Noma Projects, Arielle is a former Director’s Fellow at the MIT Media Lab and Science Officer for Alton Brown’s 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.