umami5

I've registered an account with them but it is pending for several days now. I will send them an email. Thanks

I can't find this book anywhere online!?

Has anyone come across a digital version of Practical Professional Cookery (revised 3rd edition) H.L. Cracknell & R.J. Kaufmann. I am using this as the textbook for my culinary arts students and a digital version would come in very handy for creating notes and handouts.

Hi Syzygies, You have made some very interesting points. I wouldn't see the collision of "France's culinary genius and their penchant for bureaucracy" as unfortunate but rather the opposite. I am looking at the idea that the foods were paired together for a reason, back then they just "went" together or "worked well" together, but is there an actual scientific reason behind these pairings? Can we show that the "rules" laid down were actually right because of any scientific justification? I want to know the scientific reasoning for food pairings, not set down by any institution, foods you would never consider pairing, "I would never have thought of that" kind of combinations. Like the idea of nutritional complementarity is something that science proved, after the body had discovered it.

Hi Patrickamory, I hadn't realized that but 1 or 2 people did use the same method to highltight that error to me. I wanted to avoid highlighting any one particular regions food pairings through the survey so I did keep it to basic flavour pairings, although thyme and olive oil were a selection in different questions and the option of other was intended for respondents to express a persons personal tastes and cultural preferences. Thanks for the help

that sounds like and interesting combination all-right. I really love the taste of those foods but have not tried them together. Do you have a picture of the dish? Here is a picture of a dessert I had recently at Frantzen/Lindeberg it was composed of beetroot, blackberries, liquorice and balsamic vinegar (presentation pic, picture 2 ) an excellent dish

Thanks for the info rgruby (Geoff) I have looked into most of those publications but I haven't seen the Lucky Peach article or the piece on synthetic flavours that you mention. I will certainly look into these. Thanks again Cheers

Do you know whether they share any flavour-bearing molecules, as in the example you gave previously, of caviar and white chocolate? Although I can't comfortably wrap my head around this combination, I'm fascinated by the idea that this could yield something palatable, or even better, delicious. Hi Mjx, Using the foodpairing explorer I input fresh banana as the key ingredient and it displays a tree that shows boiron tomato coulis and fresh tomato among other flavours to pair with banana. I'm not entirely sure how this is going to work yet but it will be interesting to experiment. I have a wide variety of heirloom tomatoes which I can also try in tastings

I would really like to hear your report on that combo. I don't doubt you could work them all together in a dish, but when I think about their flavours, regions where each predominates, and various culinary cultures, it feels forced and kind of questionable (sort of like putting Darth Vader, Wolverine, Hello Kitty, Mad Max, and Bertie Wooster together in a room; you could write that book, but...). What makes this seem like a good idea, or at least be palatable enough to be interesting? I'm not being sarcastic: you've clearly thought about this, and I'm curious about the sequence of ideas behind this. Hi Mjx, I have seen some "interesting" references to banana and ketchup on Foodpairing and the Huffington post aslo mentioned it in an article. It will be interesting to see if I can create a dish that works for people!!

Hi Katie, Thanks again for adding to the discussion. In relation to the comparable flavours, e.g. Caviar and white chocolate, it is the reasons given by Nickrey above and investigated by Heston. Caviar and white chocolate contain similar trimethylamines. This was the "Eureka" moment for Heston which started the analysis of other foods to compare compounds.I probably should have been clearer in my "can't taste" statement, and again Nickrey was correct in his description, I was thinking of religion here and the fact that people cannot taste or pair certain foods.The point of nostalgia is that it is so individual, it can bring you back to a fleeting moment in time (Good or bad), the smell of your grandmothers baked bread, your mothers fresh raspberry jam, the burning of oak leaves in you neighbourhood. They bring you back in time and that one experience can never be replicated for someone else. They can appreciate the pairing of the foods or the taste, but not for the same specific reason that you do. A rhubarb tart with custard will bring me back to my mothers kitchen when I was 10, it can bring someone else to a different point in time and a different memory.

Hi Katie, Thank you for your input and you have raised some excellent points here. I don't think that you do separate emotionally connected/paired foods or geographically paired foods. They are all important for different reasons, however foods strongly connected to memory or emotion are very personal and not easy for others to experience. This is a section from my thesis introduction: There are several factors which contribute to food/flavour pairing; Seasonality – grouse and cepesPersonal taste – truffle and eggs. Some people just don’t like them and not all people have equally sensitive olfactory receptors, approximately 33% of the population cannot smell truffles (Barham 2001)Comparable flavour compounds – caviar and white chocolate, pork liver and jasmineCulture or religion – cannot taste certain food pairings such as pork and apple sauce for JudaismGeography – Nattō (Japanese fermented beans) and rice, dashi and umamiIt is estimated that 20% of our gustatory experience comes from taste and the other 80% comes from smell and aroma. Smell and aroma are some of the main reasons for memory recollection. (Proust's madeleine) Grant Achatz uses burning oak leaves in one of his courses to evoke a memory of Fall. I am basing my study on Northern European/American food pairing preferences, but i will be acknowledging the pairings form other societies/cultures. I look forward to experimenting with my banana and tomato dish!! It's all about the balance!?

Some of the unusual pairings that people have tried (from the survey Dill & Celery in a sweet dessertElderflower & mackerelDouglas fir & rhubarbChocolate & broad bean Beef & coffeeChocolate & parmesan cheese

These flavours can actually go together in a dish, it is all about finding a good/correct balance. The ratios at which the foods pair well will vary significantly. I am going to create a dish that incorporates all of these and I will be doing some tasting workshops to gauge the acceptability.

Thank you for completing the survey. It's not a pairing that would get a lot of use but it is certainly a pairing that I have seen and works well. Think of the old "Chicken Maryland"

My thesis "Working Title: An investigation into food pairing and why certain foods and flavours complement each other (In Western Society)" I have designed a short 10 question survey for now and I would very much appreciated if you could take the time to fill out this survey and share it for me. Thank you

For me I find that the exercise is does work in general but as with any cooking, it is about creating a balanced dish using this information available as a guide?

Hi nickrey, Thanks, I have been looking at Flavornet and VCF. I will check out the www.thegoodscentscompany.com site also. Thanks you

I have that book too but it seems to be based on the authors opinion rather than on any scientific fact, which is ok but not exactly what I'm after

Hi SylviaLovegren, Thank you for all your suggestions, and no you will not drive me crazy! It seems that food pairing based on flavour similarities is more of a European/N.American way of combining foods and that S.American/Asian food pairing do not follow this trend but more the yin yang combinations http://www.technologyreview.com/view/426217/flavour-networks-shatter-food-pairing-hypothesis/

HI IndyRob, I have the Flavor Bible and I will be going through it shortly with the view of using it as part of my Lit. review also thanks

Thank rob1234, I have that book and it is excellent, and I am using it as part of my Lit. review. As for the roast chicken & corn, it seems that it may be a common food pairing on both sides of the Atlantic since corn was introduced to Europe and used as a grain feed for chicken. (Cornfed chicken) Thank you for your reply

This is part of my investigation though, maybe the fruits/foods that you substituted have similar molecular compounds...?

I will try and get some info on him. This is definitely 1 of the topics that I want to include, not just the science, but that science backs up tradition in some cases.

Thanks rotuts, I will keep this thread updated with any replies that I get from other sources

I am currently completing a M.Sc. in Culinary Innovation and Food Product Development at Dublin Institute of Technology in Ireland and for my final year thesis I have chosen the subject of flavour pairing. My thesis will be mainly focused on traditional flavour pairings in Western European society. My research will investigate food pairings, how and why they were created by cooks through geography, necessity and seasonality. This study will also investigate if there is an actual scientific justification behind these pairings and do they work because of a compatibility on a molecular level. With the aid of charts, chromatograms and any other relevant data tables, I will display the molecular similarities, differences or compatibilities in such foods. This is the list of conventional flavour pairings that I am proposing to investigate: 1. Roast Pork + Apple + Sage 2. Roast Beef + Horseradish + Thyme 3. Roast Chicken + Corn + Parsley 4. Lamb + Mint + Peas + Rosemary/thyme 5. Bacon + Cabbage + Mustard 6. Oysters/Fish + Lemon + Fennel 7. Lime + Chili + Avocado + Cilantro From here I then propose to investigate 2 new flavour pairings that have been created with the use of the foodpairing.com website. The 2 new flavour pairings created are unusual combinations that one would not normally consider and will be tested on a number focus groups to check there acceptability levels. The proposed new flavour pairings are: 1. Banana + Tomato + Peppermint + Strawberry + Bergamot 2. Sardine + Raspberry + Sourdough bread + Chili + Olive oil I would really like to get people's opinions, recommended reading materials, journals or any other general direction Thank you all in advance @umami5