Unusual Flavor Combinations

Chemists have developed a new analytical system for culinary professionals that pairs unlikely foods together based on their molecular composition. This is based on the odor produced by certain foods. Humans only have about forty genes for taste receptors that are grouped into four or five taste sensations, but we have over 400 genes for nasal smell receptors which is where most of the flavor we "taste" in food comes from.

Image from Google Images

Sensory psychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Marcia Levin Pelchat, explains that, "During normal eating movements, the tongue and palate push puffs of air to the olfactory receptors via the back of the throat and it is by this route, rather than by sniffing in through the nose, that the odor component of taste is perceived." Based on this knowledge, in the 1990's, chef Heston Blumenthal and a team of chemists discovered that foods that shared key chemical components could be traced using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS). Since then, research into GCMS has become something like a craze in the culinary and scientific world, especially in Europe.

Image from foodpairing.com

The company Sense for Taste was launched in 2009 by bioengineer Bernard Lahousse and Michelin star rated chef Peter Coucquyt to help chefs discover the potential for untapped and unique flavor combinations. This company developed a software program that combines the GCMS data of different foods and applies this to an algorithm to create, what they call, a food tree. In this diagram, the various possible combinations are presented in relation to a certain food and based on its chemical composition. When a food is entered, it shows the best pairings with another food in nine different categories, some of which include dairy, meat, fish, fruit, beverage, and pastry. This information is available at foodpairing.com and is used by more than one million chefs, bartenders, and food enthusiasts across the world.

Chicken skin, banana, passion fruit, and foie gras
Image from foodpairing.com­

I chose this article because the possibility of putting seemingly random foods together to make something new and amazing is so interesting to me. For example, in the article, a blogger talked about how he tested the combination of garlic, coffee, and chocolate to create unexpectedly awesome dishes such as roasted garlic dipped in melted chocolate with coffee beans and a mocha tofu mousse with roasted garlic. Even though it sounds pretty gross, I think it would be really interesting to try. The fact that this kind of information was discovered scientifically, it just goes to show that scientific research can be effectively applied in any field of study.    

Article: Chocolate and Cheese
Written By: Edyta Zielinska
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/32928/title/Chocolate-and-Cheese/