There is a world of exciting flavour combinations out there and when they work it’s incredibly exciting”– Heston Blumenthal Aroma - Including the importance of aroma to our flavor experience; how we change aromas by cooking; how ingredients create different or similar results; building your aroma library. Foodpairing(R) - What it is, how it works, methodology; the database; how to create a well-balanced recipe.

Allium sativum first originated in the Central Asian regions of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, where nomads collected the wild bulbs to take with them on their travels and plant elsewhere. Instead of being grown from seed, garlic was propagated asexually throughout much of history by simply planting the cloves or entire bulbs; only in the past few hundred years have growers employed selective breeding in the domestication of the garlic crop. These days, there are many varieties of garlic, and it is used widely in many cultures. It features prominently in Mediterranean sauces such as aioli, allioli, pesto, skordalia, persillade and gremolata. Why chopping garlic changes its aroma

The Art and Science of Foodpairing® provides 10,000 flavor matches laid out in taste wheels and color keys. When cooks go to one ingredient, they will find 10 food pairings and a color wheel revealing the taste results. For example, boiled beets will taste less like the earth they grew in and more like cheese if they are paired with coffee, and cauliflower sprinkled with cocoa could turn the fussiest child into a veggie fiend. Group A shows three ingredients that share strong aromatic links. Chocolate, caramel and coffee all contain roasted, caramellic and nutty notes. A dessert made using these ingredients would be an example of what we call ‘overtoning’, in which variations of similar-smelling ingredients result in a more subtle complexity than combining chocolate with the fruity, citrus and floral notes of raspberries would. Overtoning allows us to incorporate plenty of herbs, spices or other closely related ingredients in a dish without it turning into a cacophony of contrasting elements. Smell - Including how people smell and perceive aromas; why smell is essential to the eating experience.

But say we add almonds and basil to our chocolate dessert: suddenly, Group B becomes more complex, as we now have five contrasting ingredients to balance in terms of taste and texture. One way to get around the issue of too many items overcrowding the plate is to limit yourself to just a few ingredients that offer a diverse range of contrasting profiles. The next time you’re in creative mode be sure to pull this book off the shelf and read it for inspiration. The most successful food pairings strike a carefully measured balance between complexity and coherence. As humans, we crave variety, yet we also seek out familiar elements or structures that help us make sense of novel experiences. This aesthetic principle of “unity-in-variety,” as coined by the psychologist Daniel Berlyne, satisfies our curiosity and desire for learning while also allowing the disparate elements to be efficiently processed in ways we deem pleasurable. The book also covers key food characteristics, aroma profiles, classic dishes, contemporary combinations, scientific explanations, special features and contributions from some of the world's greatest chefs for the top 150 ingredients, and much more.There are five - or six, depending on who you ask - basic tastes: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, umami, and fat. " Expand your search by looking up the grid for one of the suggested pairings, and start building aromatic bridges between different ingredients. The Art & Science of Foodpairing. Firefly Books Contrasting textures

The diagram on the left charts the correlation between the perceived complexity of a dish and a person’s affinity for that dish based on hedonic variables like aroma, flavor, taste, texture, and appearance. We can see that most people respond positively to added complexity, but only up to a certain point. Their interest tends to wane once too many elements begin to overcomplicate a dish. Optimizing complexity When you are learning to work with aromas, start with no more than five ingredients—this makes it easier to maintain balance as you refine your pairings. In addition to your choice of ingredients and the personal or cultural preferences of your diners, optimizing complexity is determined by the following elements: the total number of different aroma molecules present in a recipe; the type of aroma types and descriptors each ingredient contributes to a dish, and whether they share any similarities; in addition to which taste molecules are also present. The more distinguishable elements stand out in your dish, the more complex it becomes. Once the food enters your mouth, chewing it releases yet more aromatic compounds, over a thousand individual compounds may be found in a single bite."p. 13 - He talks about complimentary vs balancing tastes. every person should know this if they plan on just being a great cook (not a chef, which is a different thing).

A little sweet, salty, and spicy can make for an ace taste-bud combination. Dhaya Eddine Bentaleb/Unsplash SHAREThe Foodpairing® directory - 10 pairings per food, 10 per cooking method, 10,000 combinations in total.