apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time


Culinary Brain Teaser: The Incompatible Food Triad

2008_05_02-Triad.jpgOk, 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)

Tags

Slinks, George Hart, incompatible food triad

Related Links

Share

Comments (24)

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???

posted by mh330 on May 2nd 2008 at 5:40am
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.

posted by laetitiae on May 2nd 2008 at 6:44am
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!!

posted by chusmabilly on May 2nd 2008 at 7:17am
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!

posted by Aaron on May 2nd 2008 at 7:28am
view Aaron's profile

chusmabilly - if you simplify your first list it almost works: chocolate, sour cream, avacado.

posted by Aaron on May 2nd 2008 at 7:30am
view Aaron's profile

errr avocado

posted by Aaron on May 2nd 2008 at 7:31am
view Aaron's profile

I was waiting for some comments.

I just found this too challenging, like my logic classes.

posted by art on May 2nd 2008 at 7:53am
view art's profile

This is totally impossible! I was thinking potato:sourcream:chocolate, but chocolate on a potato makes no sense!

posted by labchick on May 2nd 2008 at 8:24am
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.

posted by surplusj on May 2nd 2008 at 9:22am
view surplusj's profile

labchick, check this out:

http://www.brooksidechocolates.com/chcopoch.html

posted by tomahto on May 2nd 2008 at 9:42am
view tomahto's profile

tinned sardines



tangerine slices



brie

posted by meems on May 2nd 2008 at 10:52am
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?

posted by cmcinnyc on May 2nd 2008 at 11:54am
view cmcinnyc's profile

bacon chocolate apple ??? i dunno.

posted by Barbara S on May 2nd 2008 at 1:44pm
view Barbara S's profile

shit. now i'm craving bacon with chocolate and apples.

posted by Barbara S on May 2nd 2008 at 1:44pm
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.

posted by burrda2000 on May 2nd 2008 at 2:39pm
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

posted by Maggie from SF on May 2nd 2008 at 2:55pm
view Maggie from SF's profile

How about chicken, dill, chocolate?

Or how about asparagus, avocado, black olives?

kimchi, tuna, mustard?

posted by EunHee on May 2nd 2008 at 6:26pm
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.

posted by angorian on May 3rd 2008 at 3:36pm
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.

posted by angorian on May 3rd 2008 at 4:03pm
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.

posted by EunHee on May 4th 2008 at 9:08am
view EunHee's profile

Morimoto, not Matsumoto!

posted by EunHee on May 4th 2008 at 8:38pm
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.

posted by Aldyth on May 5th 2008 at 8:30am
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!

posted by BenW on July 25th 2008 at 9:42pm
view BenW's profile

salted cucumbers sugar yogurt???

that's exactly what indian raita is made of, and its delicious!

posted by Cactina on November 5th 2009 at 3:36am
view Cactina's profile