Sybil Kapoor - Sight Smell Touch Taste Sound: A new way to cook

A book to pique the curiosity as well as the appetite a riveting read, full of lovely recipes I cant wait to try.

Felicity Cloake, food writer, Guardian

Sybils book has taken the complicated subject of the multi-sensory approach to cooking and made it both approachable and fun. This is a definitive guide to the building blocks of creating dishes that speak on many levels and tap into our conscious and unconscious enjoyment of them.

Kyle Connaughton, chef/owner Single Thread Farm-Restaurant-Inn

Sybil Kapoors books are the most well-thumbed on my kitchen shelf, and this one is already acquiring a heavy patina of spatters. I love, love, love the food in this book, and the thoughtful commentary that comes with it. From Kapoor I learnt that eating chapatti and paneer with my fingers would enhance my perception of its texture, and that some dishes, such as spiced pea and potato frittata taste better (and more silky) just-warm.

Victoria Moore, wine correspondent, Daily Telegraph and BBC Good Food

Sybil has bridged the gap between food science and everyday cuisine. Its great to see there is an easier approach for home cooks like you and me, and encouragement to explore and look at food from a different point of view.

Tony Conigliaro,
founder of the Drink Factory

My fountain pen is full of ink; I have fresh sheets of paper before me. I love my book because I am writing it for you. I feel that I need only let my pen run on and I shall make myself clear. And my ideas move more quickly still.

COOKING IN TEN MINUTES by Edouard de Pomiane, 1948

Edouard de Pomianes words capture the intense pleasure I feel on writing a new book, and none more so than this book. Its the culmination of many years of cooking, travelling, thinking and writing. It started with a simple question: what makes a recipe delicious?

Cooking is the creation of dishes using different techniques and ingredients. Thus, you might think that the answer depends on who you are, where you live and what sort of food you like to eat. True, but underlying our preferences are our senses. We all share the senses of sight, smell, touch (texture and temperature), taste and sound. Theyre integral to our experience of eating, no matter where we live in the world.

Taste, flavour, texture, temperature and appearance are the building blocks of all cookery, regardless of whether you are making a pickle in India or porridge in Scotland. And so, this book was born. If I could understand how these five elements work together and how they affect me, then I, and therefore you, should be able to make consistently delectable dishes.

The first step of writing always lies in research. Much has been written on each of our gustatory senses, including a good deal of flim-flam within the foodie world. Does it really matter whether you expect something to taste sharp because its coloured green? It may be that asparagus and coffee share certain flavour compounds, but which cook really thinks that they taste good together as a result?

Since this is a cookery book and not a scientific manual, Ive only woven in scientific information that brings insight. Its not necessary to be a scientist to cook well, but it is important to be sensitive to your different senses. Eat one chewy toffee, for example, and it tastes gorgeous; eat a bagful of toffees and you stop appreciating their caramel flavour and sweet bitter taste. Your attention lessens with prolonged exposure to any one taste or flavour and you stop registering it.

I divided the book into five chapters, starting with taste and following with flavour, texture, temperature and appearance. This allows you to learn the fundamentals, step by step, so that by the time you reach temperature, for example, you will understand how it might alter your perception of taste, flavour and texture. A warm Basil Custard (), for instance, has more basil aroma when tepid, but will taste less sweet if chilled, added to which the colder its egg-thickened milk becomes, the more it will coat your mouth.

It was at this stage that the project became daunting. Each chapter could have easily become a book in its own right. Ive had to cut and condense everything down to the basics. Use the introduction and notes of each chapter as guides, which can lead you into new territories beyond these pages.

The recipes that follow are subdivided into sections that illustrate how the chapters chosen element can be used within cookery. This varies according to the subject matter. Taste tackles the basics of how you apply different tastes, such as by marination, combination or layering. Whereas Texture is designed to illustrate how different aspects of touch can alter the eating experience from the anticipatory feel of salt on hand-held chips, to the noise of chewing a squeaky Thai salad; the chapter includes sections on learning about textures, changing texture, fat sensitivity, sound, transferring food from hand to mouth, and challenging textures.

Every recipe has been written to illustrate a particular point, albeit from my subjective viewpoint. The best way to learn is through practical experience. Trust your own senses they dont lie. Lift an aromatic glass of Mint Julep () warm, and then cold, and you will appreciate how different temperatures radically change the buttery texture of the sugary juices and flaky pastry.

The hardest chapter to write was Appearance. Your cooking is as much a statement of who you are, as your choice of clothes. Its equally subject to changing fashions, from those of restaurant food to the influence of Instagram. Rather than illogically stating this is an attractive way to plate something, I decided to explore what makes us want to create something beautiful and how we might construct it. It helps to take into account the context of eating before drawing on seasonal influences and memories. In practical terms, it also means utilizing texture, colour and space, as well as utensils.

Throughout the book, youll also find easy experiments and provocative tests to help you decide what you think works. There is no right or wrong in cooking, only likes and dislikes. The more you look, sniff, taste, feel and listen to the world around you, the more intensely you will experience life, from the dapple of summer sunlight to the scent of an Indian takeaway drifting down the street.

The more you are conscious of each of your senses, the more creative you will become as a cook and the more intensely you will enjoy eating. After all, life and food are forever entwined, and every aspect of cooking is guided by our senses. The downy touch of a peach skin, the scent of freshly picked basil, the shock of sour lemon juice, the pleasure of drinking cool water, or the desire to capture the beauty of a full-blown rose. Every experience influences us and, little by little, changes how we cook and eat.