A few months ago we asked you to share your favorite ingredient pair-ups. The crowd-sourced list had a few reliable favorites: avocado and egg, tomato and basil, peaches and cream. But besides tasting delicious, there are actually legit scientific reasons behind our favorite flavor pair-ups.
Bon Appétit recently wrote an article delving into the science of flavor pairings. With the help of Joe Peragine, a senior flavor chemist at Brand Aromatics, and Paul Breslin, a sensory scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, they took nine common pairings—pineapple and ham, pickle juice and whiskey, french fries and ice cream, pears and blue cheese, chile powder and fruit, strawberries and balsamic vinegar, salt and caramel, apples and peanut butter, and bacon with everything—and dissected why those flavor combos are so enticing. Here are a few excerpts from their findings:
For French Fries and Ice Cream: "Ice cream and starches have hung out together for ages (think cake and ice cream), so it's not wild to think that the pairing would taste just as good—if not better—if the starch were fried. Add a little salt and you've got the beautiful polygamous marriage of crispy, sweet, and salty."
For Apples and Peanut Butter: "Apples lack both salt and fat. And that's no fun. Adding the fats and salt found in nut butters provides a satiating element to water-based foods like apples, celery, and even carrots. This paring works particularly well with tart apple varieties such as Granny Smiths and Braeburns."
For Pineapple and Ham: "Really fatty foods, like ham and other meats, tend to leave your mouth feeling fatty, which is an undesirable state... Enter the pineapple. The fruit, which is naturally acidic, cuts through that greasy mouthfeel, creating a balanced (and tasty) result."
See the Whole List and Read More: There Might Be a Real Reason We Like Pineapple and Ham Together | Bon Appétit
Related: Flavor Combinations: Beans, Herbs, and Spices
(Image: Faith Durand)
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For French Fries and Ice Cream: a lot of people don't believe this is good but its one of my favorite things.
pickle juice and whiskey? that's a common pairing?
I don't really eat fast food, but I must admit it's hard to pass up getting a Wendy's Frosty & fries. YUM.
That makes sense - my grandma used to put salt right on the apples. I still don't know anyone else who does that though.
Ditto, KATEPK, I've never heard of that!
From what I understand, the whiskey and pickle juice thing has been passed around as a hipster fad within the past few years. I've only seen and heard of it (I work in a bar) as a whiskey shot with a pickle juice back, never as a mixed drink. It seems as though it's losing popularity, though.
Anyone know where those wooden plates are from? Those look great!
DH and I were JUST having a conversation about french fries and ice cream last night. Love when that happens!
Apples with peanut butter is the best snack ever.
Scrambled eggs on marmalade toast.
Discovered by accident years ago.
Thick doorstep sliced white bread toasted then spread with butter and a thick slathering of chunky marmalade then topped off with hot fluffy scrambled eggs.
My fav breakfast.
I found out at holistic nutrition school that food pairing are also related to "energetics" - the effect that food has on our state of being, more as an alchemy rather than a science. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, food can be warming/cooling, expansive/contractive, building/cleansing, etc. Our well-being is maintained by balance, so that is what we strive for, consciously or not. For example, salt is contractive while sugar is expansive, so salty-sweet combos make sense. Spicy food is expansive and warming, so we ground it and cool it down with condiments like yogurt or sour cream. Salt intensifies the warmth of food, hence the comfort of a stew in winter. Coffee is alkalizing, while sugar is acidic, so we sweeten our coffee drinks...etc. I found all of this fascinating!