Truly scrumptious
elisabeth luard
The Flavour Thesaurus: More Flavours. By Niki Segnit
Bloomsbury £20
There are cookery writers, recipe-writers and culinary historians. And then there’s Niki Segnit. She’s the real thing – a genuine, gold-plated sui generis (she’s earned herself the Latin). Her first Flavour Thesaurus – the new one, More Flavours, is plant-led – has already been translated into heaven knows how many languages. Considering our island nation’s lingering reputation for terrible cooking, that’s quite a compliment. The idea behind both books is simple, the execution anything but. The cover promises ‘pairings, recipes and ideas for cooks’. That doesn’t do justice to the breadth of knowledge acquired through book learning, allied to a deep interest in the science behind what happens in the mouth, that goes into each of the miniature ingredient portraits, few longer than 100 words. There’s the occasional mention of meat and fish as an add-on, but cheese, eggs, honey and yoghurt are allowed centre stage. Segnit avoids flat-out vegan...
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