Food pairing#Food science
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File:Mmm... sauteed tomatoes and mozz with fresh basil and olive oil (6243832083).jpg are a common flavor pairing in some countries]]
Food pairing (or flavor pairing or food combination) is a method of identifying which foods go well together from a flavor standpoint, often based on individual tastes, popularity, availability of ingredients, and traditional cultural practices.
From a food science perspective, food pairing was an idea popular during the early 2000s that foods that share key chemical compounds or flavor components taste good together. This has since been debunked.
Examples
One general pairing that is and has been very commonly used,{{cn|date=November 2023}} cited as a response in "your favorite food" or "food that you can eat every day" surveys and seen in recipe videos, websites or books globally is:
- A starchy item (generally one of bread, rice or pasta) and some combination of meat, cheese, tomatoes, onions, and green vegetables (including in burgers, sandwiches, shawarmas, tacos, pizzas, sushi, chicken and rice and spaghetti and meatballs)
Pairings where the flavors of two foods specifically complement one another include:
Food science
File:Norfolk Pea Tart - Benedicts.jpg and white chocolate]]
Experimenting with salty ingredients and chocolate around the year 2000, chef Heston Blumenthal concluded that caviar and white chocolate were a perfect match. To find out why, he contacted a flavor scientist at Firmenich, the flavor manufacturer. By comparing the flavor analysis of both foods, they found that caviar and white chocolate had major flavor components in common.{{cite news |author=Heston Blumenthal |date=4 May 2002 |title=Weird but wonderful | Life and style |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2002/may/04/foodanddrink.shopping |accessdate=2012-02-16 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London}} Based on this, the idea of "food pairing" was borne, that tasty food combinations could be created by looking for shared chemicals. Early combinations, including chocolate and blue cheese, and pork liver and jasmine received acclaim and media attention. However, systematic analyses performed during the 2010s found the technique could not predict what pairings would be considered good.{{cite journal |last1=Spence |first1=Charles |author-link=Charles Spence |last2=Wang |first2=Qian Janice |last3=Youssef |first3=Jozef |date=2017 |title=Pairing flavours and the temporal order of tasting |journal=Flavour |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=7 |doi=10.1186/s13411-017-0053-0 |doi-access=free}}
See also
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- Flavor threshold
- Food craving
- {{annotated link|Food combining}}
- Hyperpalatable food
- Ingredient-flavor network
- Molecular gastronomy
- Molecular mixology
- The Flavour Thesaurus
- Whisky with food
- Wine and food matching
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