Our Quest for Flavour Pairing

[Lembas Soufflé]

Hola guys,

 

Let's discuss our quest for great flavour combination that we use to build our dishes.

 

What is your flavour pairing secret? Do you subscribe to a flavour pairing company? Do you experiment a lot? How do you do your experiment?
Here's the principal thing I'd like to know: with so many ingredients the world over, what and how do you start with?

What is your proudest flavour pairing that you have devised? What effect do you want to achieve with your flavour combination?

Do you have a memorable experience with unusual flavour pairing?

Please share with all of us here! Let's discuss everything about flavour pairing.

 

Cheers,

Lembas

[Jim D.]

You might want to take a look at this previous thread on the subject of pairings (which focuses primarily but not exclusively on sweet rather than savory).  I have gotten many great ideas for chocolate fillings from this list.

 

 

[koen]

For sweets sichuan pepper and strawberry is a quite odd, yet good experience.

 

 

[Okanagancook]

The Flavour Bible is a very useful book.

https://www.amazon.ca/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473552677&sr=8-1&keywords=flavour+bible

[cakewalk]

I just read that old thread, thanks for linking to it Jim D. It's a great thread, and one combination really caught my eye: lemon curd and bourbon. But when and how much bourbon would you add? Together with the lemon juice? I'm thinking maybe a tablespoon. I will probably try this soon. Has anyone used alcohol in lemon curd?

 

Another combination that caught my eye: blueberries and cinnamon. I made a blueberry pie a while ago (I think it was a Richard Sax recipe) that called for cinnamon. I remember I was going to leave it out, the combination just didn't appeal to me when I read it. But I added it, and wow, it was great. Totally unexpected.

[cyalexa]

20 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

 

The Flavour Bible is a very useful book.

 

 

I agree, use mine frequently. 

[MelissaH]

16 hours ago, cyalexa said:

 

I agree, use mine frequently. 

And there's also the Vegetarian Flavor Bible, which has enough different material that we keep both handy. And along the same lines is the Flavor Thesaurus.