Packed full of flavor, Susan Belsinger’s the perfect bite
is here for you to savor!
Brookeville, MD, July 2022 — Susan Belsinger—author, cook, creator, denizen of the DelMarVa, educator, explorer, tireless experimenter, herbal alchemist—has documented a long-awaited cooking journey, all about smell and taste, now available for your sensory delight. Part cookbook, part memoir, part tutorial, and part food stories, the perfect bite: focus on flavor will whet your appetitewith more than 200 recipes spiced with from-the-heart commentary surrounding each one. She will entertain you withanecdotes, memories, musings and tales about foods which have seminally influenced her approach to her life’s work in the culinary and herbal realms, since she embarked on her revelatory journey nearly a half-century ago.
What is the perfect bite, you ask? Belsinger explains: “When I cook or eat, I look for a balance of flavor in a dish, or in a combination of foods. It might combine all aspects—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami and sometimes pungent or aromatic.” The perfect bite is how she describes profound flavor—a balance of tastes on the palate.
Anyone who likes to eat good, honest food will appreciate this book. Belsinger writes about basic foods that feature flavor at its best. Her descriptions surrounding them create a comfort food/flavortherapy story. Flavortherapy is a term Belsinger coined to describe how each recipe satisfies in a different way—some make us feel happy, while others stimulate, or make us want to take a nap. “Just as aroma works in aromatherapy, flavor works in flavortherapy,” she explains. “There are specific foods that we desire because they make us feel good. Anyone can use flavortherapy to make their own perfect bites.”
As Belsinger is an ovo-lacto vegetarian (i.e., mostly plant-based though some dairy and eggs are incorporated), she has introduced creative possibilities for each recipe, which discuss substitutions and alternatives, from vegan to occasional use of meat, fish or fowl.
Also in the book are recipes from contributors who are herbalists, gardeners, foragers, fermenters and cooks, including Rebecca Altman, Pascal Baudar, Juliet Blankespoor, Pat Crocker, Carolyn Dille, Dina Falconi, Rosalee de la Forêt & Emily Han, Rosemary Gladstar, Tina Sams, Kirsten & Christopher Shockey, Jessica Tunis & Karla Delong, Marie Viljoen and Tina Marie Wilcox.
Illustrated with Belsinger’s own evocative photography, this delightful book will carry you along on her lifelong journey, through her childhood and international explorations, to discover the perfect bite, let you in on myriad tips and techniques, share favorite recipes from her talented cohorts, and set you on the path to creating and savoring your own perfect bites.
This soft-cover book has a full-color cover and is a large format: 8.25- by 11-inches; 396 pages with more than 50 black and white photos. Copies can be ordered from for $23.99 each, directly from the publisher at https://www.balboapress.com/en/bookstore, or autographed copies fromwww.susanbelsinger.com.
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