Ok, folks, put on your thinking caps. Professor George Hart has issued a challenge to all us smarty-pants foodies.
He asks, "Can you find three foods such that all three do not go together (by any reasonable definition of foods "going together") but every pair of them does go together?" In other words, a triad of food ingredients where A+B is lovely, B+C is scrumptious, and even A+C is conceivable, but A+B+C is just unthinkably disgusting?
There have been a few attempts over the years: "chocolate + chicken + honey," "salted cucumbers + sugar + yogurt," "lemon + cocoa + curry."
These are all promising combinations, to be sure. But in these days of culinary fusion and unexpected flavor combinations, none of these really sounds completely out of the realm of possibility.
The amazing thing is that Hart has been at this since 2003! Surely one of us can come up with an incompatible food triad and help the professor end his quest!
(Photo Credit: Dagwood Sandwich by Bill Melton via AllPoster.com, $29.99)
Is this even possible? Its pretty easy to think of situations where A B is good B C is good but A C is awful... but if everything works together (including A C) then why WOULDN'T A B C be great?
Btw, from the example above, what does one do with cocoa curry???
view mh330's profile
This has been a topic of many dinner conversations between my friends and I, with the proposals getting more and more outlandish the more wine we consume. :)
I'm pretty convinced that it can't happen...there just isn't one.
view laetitiae's profile
i was thinking along the lines of chocolate cake sour cream guacamole.... but a c should be somewhat palatable.... doesnt work. corn bread jalapeno chunks strawberry presevers. but even then, i could see a spicy strawberry jam. hmmm. damnit!!
view chusmabilly's profile
i was immediately reminded of Stephanie's recent concoction on Top Chef: Peanut Butter, Tomatoes and Lemon Juice. But that one is just bad in any combination!
view Aaron's profile
chusmabilly - if you simplify your first list it almost works: chocolate, sour cream, avacado.
view Aaron's profile
errr avocado
view Aaron's profile
I was waiting for some comments.
I just found this too challenging, like my logic classes.
view art's profile
This is totally impossible! I was thinking potato:sourcream:chocolate, but chocolate on a potato makes no sense!
view labchick's profile
Pineapple, tomato sauce, noodles?
As in, pineapple pizza? Yes. Pineapple stir-fry? Yes. Spaghetti and tomato sauce? Of course. But add pineapple? Maybe not.
A friend and I who spent college living on pineapple stir-fries once tried to come up with anything that wouldn't work with pineapple. Our closest were spaghetti (with tomato sauce) and popcorn.
view surplusj's profile
labchick, check this out:
http://www.brooksidechocolates.com/chcopoch.html
view tomahto's profile
tinned sardines
tangerine slices
brie
view meems's profile
meems, I was at a party where the 80's style salad (fennel, oranges, olives, anchovies) was untouched until the drunken end. And then it got RAVES. So while tinned sardines and tangerines sounds disgusting...who knows?
view cmcinnyc's profile
bacon chocolate apple ??? i dunno.
view Barbara S's profile
shit. now i'm craving bacon with chocolate and apples.
view Barbara S's profile
labchick... if you ever see chocolate covered potato chips in the gourmet-type food store... try them! they're delicious! chocolate with salt. yum.
view burrda2000's profile
Barbara,
Mo's Bacon Chocolate bar might actually work with apples, gross I know, but apparently there is a market for it:
Applewood smoked bacon deep milk chocolate
http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/product/bacon_exotic_candy_bar/exotic_candy_bars?source=053007link1
view Maggie from SF's profile
How about chicken, dill, chocolate?
Or how about asparagus, avocado, black olives?
kimchi, tuna, mustard?
view EunHee's profile
cream, ice, tuna.
Tuna cream ( capers) = nice pasta sauce.
Ice cream = obviously yummy
ice tuna = chilled sashimi or something?
tuna ice cream = ick.
That's the best I can do, and I'll readily admit that it's a bit of a hack.
However, I have to say I think this is probably an impossibility since I don't see why the rule of transitivity wouldn't apply.
view angorian's profile
I think the only hope of finding such a triad is to have at least two of the pairs be strange combinations that are unexpectedly good.
As for my previous suggestion, I think ice is unfortunately more of a state/process than an ingredient/flavour.
The biggest problem I see with this whole issue is that it's unclear what the limitations are. If it was just three things with no extras allowed, that would be very different from if it's those ingredients in another recipe (along with many other things that might modify those flavours/ingredients). What degree of concentration of the ingredient is required for it to count? And who judges? I would have said that the salted cukes, yogourt, sugar counted as a win (aside from the fact that salt and cucumbers are really two separate ingredients). However, the creator of that webpage discounts tzaziki as an acceptable pairing, which strikes me as overly picky since that's a well-established dish.
view angorian's profile
Angorian, tuna ice cream has been done on Iron Chef. Chef Mori Matsumoto is always making tuna ice cream and sometimes people really like it, and others just can't get their heads around it.
Depends on if you like savory ice cream, or if in your mind ice cream is only sweet.
view EunHee's profile
Morimoto, not Matsumoto!
view EunHee's profile
Then, there was the time that an Iron Chef competitor made trout ice cream.
Not only did he lose, but it gets brought up on a regular basis.
view Aldyth's profile
Chicken, Chocolate, Cheese.
Chicken Mole. (Chicken Chocolate)
Chicken Cordon Bleu. (Chicken Cheese)
Chocolate Cheesecake. (Chocolate Cheese)
or if cheesecake isn't cheesy enough: http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/product/collezione_italiano_16pc/collezione_italiano
But Chicken Chocolate Cheese? Not today, thanks!
view BenW's profile