The Spice Companion: A Guide to the World of Spices: A Cookbook

Every kitchen needs this book. Seriously. Sercarz has created an invaluable resource for every cook. Each spice and herb gets a two page spread with a beautiful illustration of it, a photo of it in various forms (such as ground and seed) and a rather in-depth look at it's flavor, origin, uses, and pairing suggestions. With each also comes a recipe for a spice blend using it. This is not necessarily the book you will go to when you are wondering what you will make for dinner tonight, but if you wanted to take that salmon in your fridge and create something flavorful and new, this is where you'd look. He covers the traditional spices most are familiar with and many that we may not be. From the introduction where he talks about his background, his love for amazing flavors, and goes into an overview of the fascinating history of spices to his pages on storing, buying, and using these falvorful ingredients, I was hooked. Reading this book made me want to order so many new flavors I have not tried yet and create more of my own blends. It is inspiring and educational and is now considered a treasure in my kitchen.

I purchased this book as a gift for my wife, so I asked her to write this review: This book is amazing. The photography and illustrations are beautiful, and it includes detailed information about many spices, some I didn't even know existed! Additionally, there's a good deal of information about storing spices, using spices, as well as each entry having its own blend suggestion (just in case you're feeling hesitant or a little uncomfortable with a new spice). I especially love how there's an explanation of where a specific spice or herb comes from, the different ways they can be used, and a little bit about the history of each spice I believe this book would be a great gift for anybody who, like me, really enjoys cooking a variety of ethnic cuisines and wants a little inspiration and understanding of the ingredients they are using... or likes to research and discover new things.

I just got this book, and I am already in love. The first thing that stood out to me are the gorgeous, full-color pictures on almost every page. Lior Lev Sercarz is clearly passionate about spices, but he is in no way arrogant, despite his depth of knowledge and experience. Instead he seeks to inspire and encourage. I feel like he is the Bob Ross of spices, encouraging me to just try my hand at making blends and have fun with it. He offers great tips in a tone of voice that makes you feel like a friend is teaching you all they know about their favorite subject. I read a review stating they thought there would be more history about each spice and they felt it was incomplete. I can sort of see that, but this isn’t a textbook on spices. It’s a super helpful guide. While there isn’t exhaustive information on every single spice, there is enough to leave you feeling informed and inspired enough to get in the kitchen and create.

At first glance, my thoughts were to return it. But looking more closely, I found it to be even more informative than it originally seemed. My only comment would be that there are foods pictured in the very nicely photo'd book that I would perhaps like to cook, but no recipes are offered. I realize that this is not a cookbook, per se, and some recipes are included at his website. Just a little more "work" is all. I decided to keep the book.

If a book about something I do all the time has me muttering "...I never knew that ...what an interesting idea, I want to try that ...I never would have thought of that" every couple pages, then to me it's a very good book. I've been cooking and baking (pretty darn well, if I do say so) for fifty years, and while I still learn ideas and pick up recipes or techniques from new food books, it's quite rare for any book about food to wake me up and actually inspire me to re-think. What a treat! Lior Lev Sercarz produced a book beautiful and artistic enough that you may be tempted to think, "Just a coffee-table book." But in the deliberately spare descriptions and careful lists and suggestions lie all the directions you need to find yourself a new universe of flavors.

Very beautiful and informative. I've used it to inspire me to use uncommon spices that I acquired for a specific recipe in other dishes. It has really opened my eyes and made me much more creative in the kitchen. Highly recommend it!

If you want to upgrade your dining experience, no matter what cuisine you follow, this is the book for you. It goes in depth into lots of different spices, though like the author says it's not encyclopedic, so it's missing some I'd like to have known more about (chervil) that are a bit more obscure. But not only does the book give you a good sense of spices and how to blend them, but what spices go well with each other, and what foods they accent the best. Another word about the book's presentation. This is a book you could easily leave on a coffee table or put in a place of honor in the kitchen. Not only is it well bound, but each page is very very well designed and beautiful on its own. A true find, if you want to learn more about spices this is the book for you!

Like this book offers "good to know" things for the novice cook and experienced chef's alike.

i've seen a lot of spice books, but this one is especially enjoyable. it's well illustrated in colour, it's terse in its descriptions and recommendations for use and it is in dictionary format, from A to Z. Couldn't ask for more.

La pubblicazione graficamente è molto bella, ma la parte migliore è il contenuto. C'è un'interessante introduzione generale e schede specifiche sulle singole spezie. Non è pensato per essere un'enciclopedia, non sono elencate tutte le spezie del mondo, ma per tutte quelle presenti (tante) ci sono informazioni sulla coltivazione della spezia e soprattutto vari abbinamenti in cucina, sia fra spezie che con altri ingredienti e piatti. Ci sono anche accenni a ricette, senza un preciso vademecum, ma sufficienti per fare un piatto simile. L'autore è esperto di mix di spezie e per ogni spezia offre anche un'idea di mix da fare in casa. Esiste anche un comodo indice analitico non solo con le spezie, ma anche con gli ingredienti delle ricette.

Good book with lots of usefull information. Though The book was damaged and some pages had stains. I doubt it was new.

This book is worth every penny. A wealth of knowledge.

Very informative book about mixing spices