LAUNCH NEW WEBSITE FOODPAIRING.BE

With proude we present you the of launch our free accessible foodpairing website which contains now 80 food products and their pairs.

- FOODPAIRING -

“Food combines with each other when they have major flavour components in common.”

A list will be made of 250 food products each with their major flavour components. By comparing the flavour of each food product eg strawberry with the rest of the food and their flavours, new combinations like strawberry with peas can be made. The way to use is, is just to select a food product like strawberries. You will get a plot where you have strawberry in the middle surrounded by other food products. Take one of those other food products and try to make a new recipe by combining those two. The more flavours food products have in common the shorter the distance between the food products.

- FOOD IS INTERCHANGEABLE -

A food product has a specific flavour because of a combination of different flavours. Like basil taste like basil because of the combination of linalool, estragol, …. So if I want to reconstruct the basil flavour without using any basil, you have to search for a combination of other food products where one contains linalool (like coriander), one contains estragol (like tarragon),... So I can reconstruct basil by combining coriander, tarragon, cloves, laurel. The way to use it is to take from each branch of the plot one product and make a combination of those food products.

- REMARK -

This is just a tool to inspire you. You still need as a chef the craftsmanship, the experience,…to translate this inspiration into a good recipe. It is not only mixing two components together. The balance between the two is important.

Good luck!

[+ website]

Send us your foodpairing recipe:
[recipe@foodpairing.be]

IX GASTRONOMIC CONGRESS AT SAN SEBASTIAN

Food for design will be one of the lecturers at the 9th gastronomic congress in San Sebastian together with the belgian top chef Sang Hoon Degeimbre of L'air du temps. This congress hosts some of the top chefs in the world like Ferran Adria, Grant Achatz, Quique Dacoste, Martin Berasategui, Wylie Dufresne, Joan Roca, Sergio Herman, Peter Goossens,...
At the congress we will launch our free accessible foodpairing website which contains now 80 food products and their pairs. We are also preparing the lauch of 2 innovative products. So if you want to be part of these revelations, subscribe for this congress. We will give our seminar on Thursday the 22th of November at 16:30.

Many thanks to Jean Paul Perez for the support!

[+ Congress program]

FOODPAIRING PART VI

I was wondering, chefs who know about foodpairing, can you see that in their recipes. Let's take for example Heston Blumenthal. Some reknown recipe of him like the salmon with licorice enveloppe, is that somehow a predictable recipe if you know foodpairing.

We did the test by looking at salmon. If you take the top 3 flavours of salmon and search for what other foodproduct has the same top 3, you obtain...licorice. Also if you scan for the total group of flavours, licorice is still in the 20% best pairings with salmon.

Another combination of Heston Blumenthal is oyster and passion fruit.
We talked already a few time about Sang Hoon Degeimbre his combination of kiwi and oyster, well oyster and passion fruit is the same story. Methyl hexanoate is the flavour that pairs the two together. Also in the Book of Yann Duytsche you will find a foodpairing combination based on that flavour; pineapple and hop.

Anyway it should be clear; it stays still a craft from the chef to turn the knowledge of a foodpairing into a good recipe. So don't think is only mixing some ingredients. Quantity/ balance is most important.

Picture was taken from Flickr, by ComeUndone.

[+ Yann Duytsche]

FOODPAIRING PART V

In previous posts we already talked about interchangeability of food. A new recipe from Sang Hoon Degeimbre illustrates this good. If you compare all the flavour components of tomato and search for the product most similar to those, you obtain...strawberry. So image you have orginally a recipe of lobster and tomato coulis, replace the tomato by strawberry coulis. The recipe of the first picture is called: 'Breton lobster, gaspacho of strawberries, lobster powder'
In the second picture you see the foodpairing of asparagus and violet essence.
The chef of L'air du temps has a talent for these combinations. One of the reasons why L'air du temps is one of our favourite restaurants.
Another nice foodpairing we ate at El Bulli was the combination of potato, coffee and capers. Really great combination. An italian chef started this combination and if you look on the internet you find recipes like risotto with espresso and capers.

[+ air du temps]

FOODPAIRING PART IV - RECIPES BY BELGIAN TOPCHEFS

This is a translation of the recipes in an article by Jean Pierre Gabriel for Le vif express where Sang Hoon Degeimbre (the chef of L’air du temps) and Bernard Lahousse (food for design) had a discussion on food pairing. The combination of oyster and kiwi is a food pairing by Sang Hoon. The 2 others where inspired by Heston Blumenthal (mango/pine and pineapple/blue cheese). For more info on foodpairing look to our earlier posts on this topic.

Included some recipes by Sang Hoon Degeimbre

A. FOOD PAIRING OF MANGO AND PINE


description : Ravioli filled with mango mousse, beads of yoghurt and pine (for 4 persons)

   - 1 ripe mango

   - 200 g mango puree

   - 3,5 g gelatine

   - 2 shoots of a young pine (the very tender, fresh leaves)

   - 3,5 g of methylcellulose

   - Lemon juice

   - Rose leaves

For the yoghurt beads:

   - 200 g yoghurt

   - 90 g double cream

   - 30 g sugar

   - 2 drops of pine extract

For the alginate bath:

   - 1 liter water

   - 5 g alginate

Recipe:

Cut the mango into fine (maximum 1mm) sheets.

Mix the mango puree with the shoots of the pine (cut into fine pieces).

Divide the mango puree into two parts. The first part is heated to 40°C and mixed with the gelatine. The second part is kept cool and mixed with the methylcellulose. Beat the 2 parts together into a light foam.

For the yoghurt beads; mix all the ingredients. Make an alginate bath (reverse spherification) by mixing the water with the alginate. Fill syringes with the yoghurt mixtures. Inject the mixture into the alginate bath so you get beads (2 cm diameter). Leave the beads into the bath for 2 minutes. Rinse in water and leave into the water until use.

Fold the mango sheets into 4 to form like little cornets. Fill the cornets with the mango foam.

Dress the cornets on a plate together with the yoghurt beads, some mango coulis, leaves of roses and shoots of pine

B.FOOD PAIRING OYSTER AND KIWI


description : Kiwître (for 4 persons)

   - 4 oysters

   - 2 kiwis

   - 100 g coconut puree

   - 1 spoon lemon juice

   - 50 g fresh sepia ink

   - 1 tea spoon wasabi powder

   - 1 g tara gum

   - 0,5 g methylcellulose

Recipe:

Mix the coconut with the tara gum. Sieve. Keep fresh during 1 hour.

Mix the sepia ink with the methylcellulose. Keep in the fridge

Peel the kiwi. Cut into small pieces (5mm) but discard the white parts. Mix the wasabi together with the kiwi pieces.

Open the oysters.

On a plate put a spoon of kiwi pieces. On top the kiwi. Put a drop of sepia ink and a spoon of coconut next to the oyster.

C. FOOD PAIRING; PINEAPPLE AND BLUE CHEESE

Description : Fourme d’Ambert on a jelly of pineapple, fennel, apple and sirop de Liège (for 4 persons)

   - 200 g pineapple

   - 40 g Fourme d’Ambert

   - 20 g granny smith (cut into julienne)

   - 20 g fennel (cut into julienne)

   - 30 g sirop de Liège

   - Powder sugar

   - Lemon juice

   - 1,5 g agar agar

   - Oil of grilled pistachio nuts

   - 3 g harissa

Recipe:

Cut 4 fine round pieces out of the pineapple. Place on a silpat, cover with powder sugar, dry into an oven of 110°C during 50 minutes. When ready and still hot roll the pineapple into cylinders.

Make juice out of the rest of the pineapple. Add lemon juice and agar agar. Heat to solve the agar agar, pour in the liquid into a rectangular shape and cool to solidify. Cut into pieces of 5 cm to 1,5 cm.

Cut the cheese in the similar size. Put on top of the pineapple.

Mix the sirop de Liège with the harissa.

Put the apple and fennel julienne on top of the cheese. Decorate with the pineapple cylinder. Add the sauce of sirop de Liège.

[+ article]

THE FUTURE OF FOOD - AUDI

Observer Food Monthly and the Audi A6 have teamed up to present four films with the four most revolutionary young chefs in the country using cutting-edge philosophies of food, innovative technology and techniques to re-define our concept of food and some classic British menus.

In the fourth video 'The Science of Deliciousness'Flavour scientist Jane Parker meets top chef Daniel Clifford of Midsummer House to tell us just what makes the very best food so delicious. What can science offer the industry's top chefs? Is there something about really accomplished cuisine that just can't be analysed?
Jane Parker is telling on the foodpairing of pigeon and chocolate. How both have pyrazines in common.

Thanks to Jean Marc of Kalys for making us aware of the four films.

[+ video 4 'The Science of Deliciousness']
[+ midsummer house]

FOOD PAIRING PART III - FOOD IS INTERCHANGEABLE

A third possibility of foodpairing what Francois Benzi of Firmenich was telling, is replacing food like herbs and spices by other herbs or spices. An example is basil. Suppose you want to make a tomato sauce with basil, but the basil is too volatile or browns too fast.
If you want a basil flavour, but not using basil, you have to look at the flavour composition of basil and try to reconstruct the basil flavour by combining other herbs.
To find the flavour composition you can use the book of Harold McGee (On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen) and go to the chapter dealing with herbs and spices. There you will find a list of herbs with the typical flavour components.
If we do this for basil we find in the list that basil contains linalool, estragol and eugenol. Then you use the same list to search for other herbs that contain the flavour. So search for in which other herbs do I find linalool or estagol or eugenol.

Linalool is present is a lot of herbs/ spices, but most linked to coriander. For estragol you can take tarragon, chervil or star anise. And eugenol is the typical flavour of cloves. So if you want to replace basil, you have to make a combination of coriander, star anise and cloves. Take in account that the quantity is very important, so you need to experiment before.

Another example is what Kevin Ryan is doing. In attachment you can find a link to a movie of this food scientist. Because of the resemblence of flavour molecules in stock and coffee. He is replacing stock with coffee (much easier to make) for making a gravy. So next time you make a gravy replace stock by fresh coffee.

People interested to do something with foodpairing, Martin Lersch from Khymos has post a blogproject where you can make a recipe by combining chocolate, coffee and garlic. To know more about this combination look to our post Foodpairing part II.

Foodpairing part IV will come up with some new foodpairing by belgian topchefs

[+ On Food and Cooking]
[+ Firmenich]
[+ Khymos TGRWT]

FOOD PAIRING PART II - FOOD FOR DESIGN

Next to matching food by common flavour components or a range of flavour components in common, you can also use foodpairing to pair food that doesn't match. Like chocolate and garlic. The trick then is to search for a third food product that has something in common with chocolate and with garlic. An example is coffee. Coffee has flavour components in common with garlic: Dimethyl disulfide and with chocolate: Methyl pyrazine.

You can also replace the coffee by roasted chicory like the chocolatier Dominique Persoone did. He is one of the most innovative belgian chocolatiers. You should have a look at his website where you can see how he makes a ganache with peas or how he is smoking chocolate. He has also a famous shop in Bruges: the chocolateline and delivers chocolates to reknown toprestaurants like Oud Sluis and Comme chez soi

[+ dominique persoone]
[+ the chocolateline]

FOOD PAIRING PART I - FOOD FOR DESIGN

We were honoured to be invited by Firmenich to have a discussion on foodpairing with one of their scientists; François Benzi. He is without doubt the scientist with the most expertise on this topic.

In one of the first Erice meeting (history MG) he was walking in the garden and smelled jasmin. Jasmin for a flavorist is indole. He was thinking where do I find else indole; in porc liver. Why don't we combine those two. They did and it worked perfect.

Some years later Heston Blumenthal was experimenting with salty ingredients and chocolate (salt deminishes the bitterness) and while doing he combined caviar and chocolate, which appeared to fit perfectly together. He contacted François Benzi to have a look at it. And looking at the flavour components François found that both contained trimethylamines. So a hypothesis popped up that you can pair two foods if they have major flaovur components in common.

To demonstrate François Benzi let us smell some flavours like methyl hexanoate. This flavour you find a lot in pineapple, but also in blue cheese. So blue cheese and pineapple will combine nice together.
So you have to look for food that contains the main flavour components in common.

Databases you can consult on these theme are VCF, flavournet.
While communicating with Martin Lersch and Sang Hoon it appears that also the number of flavour components in common is also an important indicator.

For example sauerkraut and chocolate have more than 50% of their flavour components in common and kiwi and oyster 40%.
Other insights of foodpairing will follow and within the next months we will launch a new website dedicated to foodpairing. Stay tunned for that!

[+ firmenich]