Foodpairing

Foodpairing portrays the idea that food products combine with each other when they have major flavor components in common.

History

Experimenting with salty ingredients and chocolate, Heston Blumenthal, chef of The Fat Duck, discovered that caviar and white chocolate are a perfect match. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2002/may/04/foodanddrink.shopping] To know why, he contacted François Benzi of Firmenich (the largest private owned flavor house in the world). By comparing the flavor analysis of both products they found that caviar and white chocolate had major flavor components in common. At that time they stated a hypothesis that food combines well together when they have major flavor components in common. foodpairing was born. [http://khymos.org/pairings.php] To validate the concept of foodpairing, CREAX food [http://www.creaxfood.com/] http://www.foodpairing.be/] did the research necessary to gather all available flavor analysis on food products. Then, by comparing the major flavor components of those food products, lists were made of food products that should combine well together. All this information was put for free on the web, so people from around the world could test the food pairings by using them as a tool for making new recipes. These lists can be visualized with foodpairing trees. An example is given for strawberry. All the products should combine well together with strawberry, since they have major flavor components in common. [http://www.theflemishprimitives.com/]

Types of foodpairing

New combinations

The essence of foodpairing, food combines with each other when they have major flavor components in common, can be brought into practice. By comparing the flavor of each food product e.g. strawberry with the rest of the food and their flavors, new unexpected combinations like strawberry with peas can be made. This combination was adopted by Sang Hoon Degeimbre, chef of L’air du temps. Another example of a new combination is Kiwître, kiwi and oysters, also created by Sang Hoon Degeimbre. The recipe can be found below. [http://www.airdutemps.be/]

:"Kiwître, by Sang Hoon Degeimbre":*4 oysters:*2 kiwis:*100 g coconut puree:*1 spoon lemon juice:*50 g fresh sepia ink:*1 tea spoon wasabi powder:*1 g tara gum:*0,5 g methylcellulose :"Recipe":Mix the coconut with the tara gum. Sieve. Keep fresh during 1 hour. Mix the sepia ink with the methylcellulose . Keep in the fridge. Peel the kiwi. Cut into small pieces (5mm) but discard the white parts. Mix the wasabi together with the kiwi pieces. Open the oysters. On a plate, put a spoon of kiwi pieces. On top the kiwi. Put a drop of sepia ink and a spoon of coconut next to the oyster.

Now these combinations might not sound like a marriage made in heaven, but only because of our preconceptions about what we will and won't like. These concoctions totally make sense when looked at their respective foodpairing trees, their flavors are compatible and this feature makes the dishes so unexpectedly delicious.

Interchangeability

A food product has a specific flavor because of a combination of different flavors. Like basil taste like basil because of the combination of linalool, estragol… So if one want to reconstruct the basil flavor without using any basil , one has to search for a combination of other food products where one contains linalool (like coriander), one contains estragol (like tarragon), ... A foodpairing tree is very handy at this point. Eventually, basil can be reconstructed by combining coriander, tarragon, cloves, [laurel] . Most of the flavor components of tomato are found again in strawberry. So imagine a recipe of lobster with a tomato coulis, then replace the tomato by strawberry coulis. Tomato and strawberry are interchangeable.

ee also

*Wine and food matching
*Molecular gastronomy

Further reading

http://www.levif.be/weekend/fr/lifestyle/gastronomie/vive-le-food-pairing--/a2541-article.jsp

References