Food matching

[Jonathan Day]

Andrew and Karen, many thanks for joining us on this Q&A.

One of the striking things about Culinary Artistry was that table of "what goes with what" -- the food pairings. It is unusually complete.

How did you go about putting this together? Were the pairings a reflection of your own aesthetic or more a view of the many chefs you've come to know?

Did you ever think about a table of "what doesn't go with what", e.g. things not to pair with a lobster?

[Andrew&Karen]

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks for the kind words about our book CULINARY ARTISTRY.

This book was Karen's baby -- she led the charge in researching flavor combinations after a particularly frustrating conversation with the late Jean-Louis Palladin (whom we were honored to interview for both BECOMING A CHEF and CULINARY ARTISTRY). During the latter interview, she kept asking him how he knew which flavors went together, and he argued that it was intuitive -- that he'd always known how a particular herb and another ingredient (e.g. vegetable, meat) would taste together. He, like other chefs, said they could taste the combinations "in their heads."

We wanted to create a book, and a database, that would help other less-experienced chefs and cooks access the same information that had already become second-nature to many great chefs. So, she began by looking at the flavors Palladin combined in dishes that appeared on his menus, at that time (1995-96) and previously. She looked at the most popular flavor combinations that appeared in his cookbook. She researched the dishes that restaurant critics praised most highly of his, and noted the flavor combinations they represented. And this began our database.

Then, we started researching dozens of other leading chefs' (e.g. Rick Bayless, Daniel Boulud, Lydia Shire, Alice Waters, etc.) menus, cookbooks, and reviews, and noted the most popular flavor combinations in the dishes featured -- and these were added to our massive database. We also interviewed leading chefs on the topic of culinary compostion -- how they thought about composing flavors, composing dishes, and composing menus -- and included this first-hand information as well.

At the end of the process, we looked at which flavor combinations were mentioned most frequently, and included them in the book. Those that were mentioned most frequently of the ones included in the book are featured in bold.

For those unfamiliar with CULINARY ARTISTRY, what resulted is a massive compilation of lists of ingredients, from apples to zucchini, and the herbs, spices and other flavorings which best complement those ingredients.

For example, under the listing for "LOBSTER," you'll find flavorings such as basil, brandy, butter, caviar, chervil, chives, Cognac, corn, cream, fennel, foie gras, garlic, lemon, mayonnaise, mushrooms, mustard, oranges, parsley, shallots, tarragon, tomatoes, truffles, vanilla, and white wine.

As a chef, this is all you need to be able to jump-start the creative process. Ask yourself, "What do I want to do with this lobster today?" and see which flavorings strike your fancy! In the hands of an experienced chef, the rest comes naturally. All the chefs and caterers and other menu planners who love CULINARY ARTISTRY tell us that they love using the book as an idea-starter when they sit down to compose a new menu or when they're in the kitchen trying to figure out that night's special.

In fact, we've been surprised and flattered by dozens of chefs, caterers, cooking school instructors and other culinarians who have told us that CULINARY ARTISTRY is their #1 favorite culinary book of all time, bar none. Rather than a put-down to Escoffier, what we think they really mean is that it's the first book that has ever helped them to develop their OWN creativity and their OWN signature cuisine, rather than simply provide yet another guide to recreating others' recipes.

CULINARY ARTISTRY is a book we'll hope to revise and update one day, too, as we just did with the second edition of BECOMING A CHEF (Wiley; Oct. '03)!

Andrew & Karen