"This book considers the intrinsic yet often forgotten role of time in creating the flavors and textures we love. Through a series of encounters with ingredients, producers, cooks, artisans, and chefs, we see how time and again, time itself is the invisible ingredient in our most cherished recipes. Including vignettes from the immediacy of taste (seconds), the exactitude of pasta (minutes), and smoking and barbecuing meats (hours), to maturing cheese (weeks), infusing vanilla extract (months), and perfecting parmigiana and port (years), this is an enlightening and essential volume for foodies, bakers, home cooks, chefs, and anyone who appreciates a perfectly-executed dish"--Back cover.