How can I find flavors that pair well with a given ingredient?
"What goes with X?" is a common question. It could be a starting point for coming up with a new recipe for an ingredient you have on hand, or a way to come up with a variation on an existing recipe.
So how can I find such flavor pairings? Are there resources dedicated specifically to this sort of thing?
Note: this is intended as a canonical reference which we can provide when people ask flavor pairing questions.
Best Answer
First, a caveat: different people and different cultures have different tastes, so no pairing recommendations are likely to be perfect for you.
Books
You can find books on this topic, for example by searching for flavor pairing on Amazon. A couple of the most popular ones:
- The Flavor Bible - for each ingredient, lists a large number of other ingredients that pair well with it, with the best/most popular ones highlighted. Also includes a small number of example ideas of dishes and several-ingredient combinations.
- The Flavor Thesaurus - for each ingredient, lists a fair number of good pairings, each with a bit of additional description and perhaps recipe ideas.
Websites
There are a few websites discussing this sort of thing:
IBM's Chef Watson - lets you pick an ingredient, then suggests others, which you can accept or reject to get additional suggestions. Also provides example recipes. Free.
Foodpairing - lets you pick an ingredient, then suggests "matches". Free version has a limited set of ingredients, and for a monthly fee you get everything.
VCF 2000 - a commercial database of volatile compounds in foods. It has a demo, but the actual database is extremely expensive (currently $2775). Between that and the difficulty of basing things on aromatics, it's probably not particularly useful, though.
On pairing by aromatic compounds: while folks have used this to come up with ideas, it really seems to be at best an oversimplification. Plenty of things with "matching" aromatics don't end up being good pairings, and plenty of commonly liked pairings have very different aromatics.
Do it yourself!
Searching for recipes is actually a pretty effective method here. Just search for "X recipes" on Google, or search for X on your favorite recipe site, and look through the recipes to see what other ingredients people use with X. You'll quickly come up with lists of ideas quite similar to those you might find in dedicated books or websites.
Pictures about "How can I find flavors that pair well with a given ingredient?"
What flavors mix well together?
TOP FLAVOR COMBINATIONS- Apple & cinnamon.
- Pumpkin/squash & spice/spicy.
- Fruit & punch.
- Lemon & Lime.
- Strawberry & banana.
- Tomato & basil.
- Chocolate & peanut butter.
- Garlic & herbs/herbal.
How do you match food flavors?
Back to Flavor Pairings: coming up with harmonious flavor pairings must take into account not only balancing tastes\u2013something sweet with something salty, for instance\u2013but also making sure that the aromas of the different flavors\u2013say marinara sauce and grated Pecorino Romano, for example\u2013blend well.What ingredient enhances flavors?
Use red, green and yellow peppers of all varieties \u2014 sweet, hot and dried. Or, add a dash of hot pepper sauce. Add a tangy taste with citrus juice or grated citrus peel: lemon, lime or orange. Acidic ingredients help lift and balance flavor.What are contrasting flavors?
Top 5 all-time 'contrasting' food flavor pairings- Salt and Pepper - they are a fixture on every restaurant table.
- Sweet and Basic- the classic example is Oreo Cookies.
- Sweet and Sour- common flavor pairing on Asian menus and others.
- Salt and Vinegar \u2013 found on chips and snackables.
Introduction To Flavor Structure, The F-STEP Curriculum, \u0026 How a Coconut Macroon Changed My Life
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Hanbo Wang, Liam Moore, Ray Piedra, Monstera