Inspiration from The Flavor Bible

My friend was dropping off a book at the Sunnyvale public library when I bumped into a book called the Flavor Bible.

With my short time (20-40 mins) looking through the book I often think back about what I've read.
Here's an Excerpt from an online website

http://www.projectfoodie.com/spotlights/cookbooks/the-flavor-bible.html

Learning to recognize the Language of Food: Flavor=Taste+Mouthfeel+Aroma+"The X Factor"

Excerpted from The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburgy. Little, Brown and Company, 2008.
A great cook is able to make food taste great by doing two basic things:

1. Understanding the essence of the moment, which comprises everything from the meal's driving force to the occasion, to the weather, to the available time, budget, and/or other resources (for example, ingredients, equipment, etc.).

2. Understanding the essence of the ingredients, which comprises their season, regionality, weight and volume, function, flavor, and/or flavor affinities.

The deeper your understanding of both, the greater your ability to bring them together into a dish that is the perfect expression of the ingredients and the moment.
Each Flavor Profile in the Flavor Bibile provides the following as appropriate:

Season: The ingredient's seasonal peak(s)
Taste: The ingredient's primary taste(s), e.g., bitter, salty, sour, sweet
Function: The ingredient's intrinsic property, e.g., cooling v. warming
Weight: The ingredient's relative density, e.g., from light to heavy
Volume:  The ingredient's relative flavor "loudness," e.g., from quiet to loud
Tips: Suggestions for using the ingredient
Flavor Affinities/Pairings: Compatible flavor groups
Avoid: Incompatible flavors

Bacon

Taste: salty
Weight: medium
Volume: moderate
Techniques: broil, roast, sauté
Compatible Flavor Pairings:

aioli avocados beans (e.g., black, fava, green) breakfast butter, unsalted celery chervil chicken eggs French cuisine frisee greens (e.g., arugula) Italian cuisine lentils lettuce maple syrup mayonnaise mushrooms, esp. chanterelles

olive oil onions parsnips peas pepper, black potatoes risotto salads salmon salt scallops shallots spinach squash, winter stews stock, chicken tomatoes vinegar

Flavor Affinities

bacon + arugula + egg + pork belly
bacon + chanterelle mushrooms + chicken + potatoes
bacon + chanterelle mushrooms + salmon + shallots
bacon + hard-boiled eggs + spinach + balsamic vinegar
bacon + lettuce + tomatoes
bacon + onions + vinegar
bacon + shallots + vinegar
bacon + spinach + winter squash

 Reference

Jones, Heather. n.d. “Project Foodie - The Flavor Bible.” Project Foodie. http://www.projectfoodie.com/spotlights/cookbooks/the-flavor-bible.html (Accessed March 22, 2010).