Two masters of composition—a chef and a perfumer—present a revolutionary new approach to creating delicious food.

Michelin two-star chef Daniel Patterson and celebrated natural perfumer Mandy Aftel are experts at orchestrating ingredients. Yet in a world awash in cooking shows and food blogs, they noticed, home cooks get little guidance in the art of flavor. In this trailblazing guide, they share the secrets to making the most of your ingredients via an indispensable set of tools and principles, including

the Four Rules for creating flavor;a Flavor Compass that points the way to transformative combinations;“locking,” “burying,” and other aspects of cooking alchemy;the flavor-heightening effects of cooking methods; andthe Seven Dials that let you fine-tune a dish. With more than eighty recipes that demonstrate each concept and put it into practice, The Art of Flavor is food for the imagination that will help cooks at any level become flavor virtuosos.