A Taste of the Secrets and Science of Flavour Pairing
With many more once-weird food combinations becoming everyday favourites, chefs are striving to be ever more experimental with their flavour pairings. But, what are the secrets to creating an effective flavour combination and how do the experts know which ingredients go together? We take a look at the food science and philosophies of flavours that chefs are harnessing to produce the perfect match.
An introduction to flavour mapping
With in-depth scientific culinary research at our fingertips it’s now far less likely that successful flavour mash-ups are an accidental product of kitchen experimentation. Through analysis of western recipes, it’s become commonly accepted that effective food pairing is, at least to a degree, possible through ‘molecular matching’ or flavour mapping. The science behind the theory is that flavours that share similar aromas or flavour compounds in common will match well together. But how do you discover where the flavours overlap? With a little food analysis of course!
The process of flavour mapping is all about breaking down the individual elements that make up each flavour and looking for the crossover. It’s taking food down to a molecular level in this way that has seen chefs such as Heston Blumenthal enjoy huge culinary success (and of course, he's a huge salted caramel fan himself), with plates that appear at first glance to be at the very least some sort of food of Frankenstein but are in fact works of molecular gastronomy. If you’d like to add something a little more unusual to your menu, the flavour mapping and matching technique is a good place to start. But there are other strategies you can employ for success…
Understanding flavour philosophy
Research carried out by the University of Cambridge compared ingredients from different cultures to look for common flavours before examining different recipes to see which cultures paired flavour compounds. The conclusion was that flavour matching is in essence a western culinary tactic.
The research found that while western recipes commonly use flavour pairing of ingredients that share compounds, recipes of Asian origin are far more likely to combine opposing flavours. If you’re familiar with the Chinese doctrine of ‘Five Flavours’, best represented by dishes such as the Sichuan Hotpot, or the Thai tendency to try and balance the flavour elements of salty, spicy, sour and sweet, flavour pairing becomes less of a scientific pursuit; in fact, with this approach, putting flavours together becomes more of a philosophy or an instinctive art.
This helps to explain why salted caramel has been such a hit: the intense sweetness of the caramel is balanced by the salt, and it also helps to enhance the nuttiness of the caramel, drawing out a new flavour element altogether.
Choosing which flavours to combine
You could rely on science or culinary philosophy to guide you in creating new flavour combinations but to appeal to the taste buds of the masses, sometimes it’s simply a case of combining the most popular ingredients for success. When we crave foods we tend to reach for those with very salty or sugary flavours, which means when you combine both - as in salted caramel, or Stateside favourite bacon and maple syrup - you could be on to an instant hit.
Chefs also frequently put the best of nature’s flavours together in unexpected ways to produce flavours that wow; think of lavender and white chocolate, or beetroot and dark chocolate. The fragranced or earthy flavours work to elevate that chocolatey flavour. Another pathway of discovery is to bring together familiar flavours with future or on trend tastes, for combinations that rely on nostalgia and curiosity to become must-tries. It’s a route that has definitely had a hand in the recent spiked milkshake trend, and could help you to appeal to customers from multiple generations at one time.
What do you think is the secret behind successful flavour pairing? Is it a science, or something borne of instinct and a sheer love for food? And should we look to the past to help us discover what’s now and next? Share your favourite flavour pairings with us below, or tell us your predictions for the next big flavour pairing trend.
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