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The Art Of Flavor!


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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:

· 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
· The 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 to become flavor virtuosos.



Praise for The Art of Flavor


“In this wonderful book, Patterson and Aftel demonstrate that cooking well is a personal, exciting process, a flow of choices that starts with an intimate engagement with the ingredients themselves. They make the case that this is the surest way for cooks at any level to develop their discernment and creativity. The Art of Flavor is a valuable reminder that just as the experience of eating delicious food unfolds in an individual’s mouth and nose and mind, so too does the making of it.” — Harold McGee

“Daniel Patterson and Mandy Aftel have written a sophisticated and totally harmonious guide to understanding flavor and taste. I admire their collaboration in this homage to the senses, as well as their practical approach to cooking with both freedom and restraint.” — Alice Waters

“I learned a lot about my own cooking habits in The Art of Flavor. After many years as a cook, I usually choose, combine, adjust, blend and season ingredients in an impulsive, instinctive way when I cook a dish, relying on some innate knowledge I have absorbed throughout the years I’ve spent in the kitchen. I have discovered the Cartesian logic behind my practice.” — Jacques Pepin, chef, cookbook author, and PBS cooking series host

“An amazingly thorough and holistic investigation into deliciousness. It serves as a brilliant guide, pushing you to trust your senses and experiment with food, and offers a multitude of recipes to draw upon for inspiration.” — René Redzepi

“This book will change the way you understand flavor and will give you the tools to be courageous in the kitchen. The Art of Flavor had my head spinning with fascination and inspiration.” — Sean Brock, author of Heritage

The Art of Flavor is a treasure. It is so much more than just another recipe book–not only is it filled with enticing recipes, it is an ode to the understanding of flavor and will empower you to cook with a new freedom, confidence, and enjoyment.” — Rose Levy Beranbaum, RealBakingWithRose.com

Garnette Cadogan interviews Mandy about some of the main points of The Art of Flavor at Lit Hub: "Flavor is a Language"