Each of us has our own food preferences. Some people like sweets, some like salty, some people cannot do without meat, and some people's diet mainly consists of dairy products. In any case, for the most part, all these dishes are quite standard, both in appearance and in the combination of some ingredients with others. However, there are also those in which the components seem to be completely incompatible with each other and you involuntarily wonder how you can eat it? It turns out that it is possible and, moreover, it is even tasty.

So, THE MOST UNUSUAL FOOD COMBINATIONS, which we didn’t even suspect:

1. MEAT AND CHOCOLATE

An unusual duet. But this is a common dish of Mexican cuisine.
"Mole"- meat with gravy made from chocolate, peanuts, sesame seeds and various spices. The chocolate enriches the meat sauce, making it even darker and more velvety. It’s hard to imagine, but it turns out very tasty.

2. FRUIT SALAD AND CHILI PEPPERS

The combination of fruit salad and super hot chili seems completely crazy, but it is a common dish for Mexicans. The heat of the pepper enhances the smell and sweetness of the fruit. Pineapples are ideal for chili.

3. EGGPLANT AND HONEY

A very simple and unusual dish, and you can find many recipes on the Internet in the form of a variety of additional ingredients and cooking methods. The main highlight here is the addition of honey. Easy to prepare, quick and tastes excellent.

4. CAVIAR AND WHITE CHOCOLATE

The fact that sweet is often combined with salty is not news. After all, salt can reveal the fullness of the taste of a sweet dish. Of course, if you add it in moderation. Based on this, British chef Heston Blumenthal decided to experiment and came up with an original dish where two completely incompatible ingredients interact appropriately - black caviar and white chocolate. A hint of salty flavor on white chocolate is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also, as it turns out, very unusual and tasty. The chef also decided that red caviar on white chocolate was an equally winning option.

5. FRENCH FRIES AND CHOCOLATE BUTTER

Salt in this case acts as a flavor enhancer. It will be even sweeter. And the soft taste of potatoes itself will only emphasize this. You can also replace Nutella (or other chocolate spread) with a milkshake.
The combination is unusual, but you just have to remember a trip to fast food. Moreover, many people take a milkshake as a sauce for potatoes. Strange, but delicious. However, do not get carried away with such experiments. This is not a completely familiar combination of foods for our body. It's delicious though.

6. MELONS AND HAM

It would seem that these are absolutely incompatible products. By the way, melon with ham is a traditional Italian dish, which is served both in restaurants and cooked at home.

7. STRAWBERRY AND PARMESAN

These 2 ingredients go well together in a salad. The interaction gives the dish a rich sweetish-sour taste. Adding arugula and pouring olive oil makes a very tasty light dish.

8. DARK CHOCOLATE AND BEET

An unexpected but perfect combination of sweet and bitter. You need to sprinkle the beet salad with grated chocolate. Experiment, preparing such a dish is not at all difficult, but you will try something new and unusual.

9. PINEAPPLE AND BLUE CHEESE

The combination of these products allows you to enrich the taste of the resulting dish. The sourness of blue cheese miraculously harmonizes with the sweet fruit.

10. CHOCOLATE AND SOY SAUCE

Once again, a combination of salty and sweet. The salty soy sauce brings out the sweetness of the chocolate. The components included in both of these products enrich each other's tastes. You can pour soy sauce over the chocolate or drizzle it over a chocolate dessert.

Why do certain ingredients in cooking go so well together in taste? If you browse the pages of the Treatology website and explore the recipes offered by the Wilton Test Kitchen, you will discover unforgettable combinations of flavors and aromas that you may not have encountered before. Many of you may be wondering why these ingredients and textures work so well together. It's all about the intricacies of the science of combining tastes!
The flavor bouquet is made up of several taste criteria - sweet, sour, salty, bitter and “umami”, i.e. the flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate, plus the aroma and individual physical sensations in the mouth produced by a particular food. One of the most important aspects in creating excellent taste is the balance between these five taste criteria. Ingredients with the same taste complement each other, but a truly interesting flavor bouquet is obtained by combining opposite tastes.

Below are different flavors that work well together:

• Sweet taste (in small quantities) creates a wonderful contrast with salty and sour tastes and determines the balance of savory dishes.


• The sour taste goes well with the sweet.


• The salty taste enhances the sweet, softens the bitter and emphasizes the taste of the flavor enhancer.


• The bitter taste balances the sweet and sour tastes.


• A flavor enhancer adds piquancy, improves the olfactory and visual perception of a dish, and helps balance other flavors.

The initial perception of food is created by the texture of the food, the way flavors combine in your mouth, and the sensation on your tongue. Add flavor and you have flavor!

For example, let's look at one of my favorite recipes on Treatology - Bourbon Turtle Brownies (recipe). When you bite into this dessert, each bite contains a deliciously gooey brownie mixture topped with creamy Bourbon caramel, a whipped Bourbon caramel topping, and a toasted pecan topping.
From the point of view of taste, this dessert has many sweet components that combine perfectly with each other. This amount of sweetness is tempered slightly by the bitterness of the chocolate and pecans. And when this whole bouquet of flavors, united together in the form of contrasting textures, meets the strong aroma of Bourbon caramel and chocolate, an incredible aroma and taste is created.
So, I encourage you to have fun trying out recipes from the site, but don't stop there. I encourage you to experiment and create your own flavor bouquet - the possibilities are endless!

What is taste and flavor bouquet?
The terms "taste" and "flavor" are synonymous and interchangeable for most people, but do you know the difference between them? Let's try to figure it out.

Taste
The taste of food is made up of a combination of sweet, salty, bitter, sour and flavor enhancers that are perceived by the taste buds in the mouth. And the balance of these five flavors creates truly amazing dishes.

Sweetness It is usually added to a dish through sugar, but sweet notes can also be enhanced by the natural sugars in various foods, such as fruits. Sweetness is very dominant in dessert dishes, but also creates a huge contrast between salty and sour. In small quantities, sweet additions also perfectly balance the heat and spiciness in dishes.

Acid can be added through various acidic ingredients such as vinegars and citrus fruits. While acid is usually added to savory dishes, it is also great for sweet dishes.

Salt in truth, it is considered by chefs to be the most important ingredient in food. Salt improves the flavor bouquet, enhances sweetness and suppresses bitterness. Salt is used in most recipes and is very often added to sweet dishes.

Bitterness may be present in a variety of ingredients including chocolate, coffee and beer. If not balanced, bitterness can aggressively overwhelm other flavors, but in very small quantities it can add richness and depth to a dish.

Flavor enhancer (Umami) also known as the "5th taste", is used primarily in spicy and salty dishes to create and develop a flavor bouquet in the mouth when eating food. These are mainly monosodium glutamate and ribotides*. The flavor enhancer can be felt when we eat meat, fish, cheeses (such as Parmesan or blue cheese), and certain vegetables (mushrooms and asparagus). Flavor enhancers are usually subtle, but are vital to creating balance for outstanding dishes.

*Ribotide is a food additive designed to enhance taste sensations. It is a white crystalline powder, highly soluble in water. By acting on certain receptors, it enhances the natural taste properties of products, weakened during processing and storage. Moreover, it masks certain unpleasant components of taste and smell..

Flavor bouquet
The flavor bouquet of food is made up of a combination of the five tastes described above, plus the aroma and initial perception of food in the mouth. Aroma is, in other words, the smell of food. Ingredients that have a high volatile content, such as fresh fruits and vegetables and herbs, are often added in cooking to enhance the overall flavor. The initial perception of food in the mouth depends on the sensitivity of the individual sensations that a person experiences when food enters the mouth.

About the author.
Laura is a Nutrition Scientist and Director of Products at WILTON. At the company, she constantly creates new products that allow decorators to make their sweetest dreams come true. Wilton believes that Laura has excellent taste and her functional inventions will always resonate with customers. Prior to joining Wilton, Laura was Director of Technical Support for a dairy products company. When Laura is not mixing some new sweet formula to create the next miracle for decorators, she loves meeting and communicating with her family and friends.

Translation from the site

Each of us has our favorite food combinations, many of which are considered generally accepted, such as tomato sauce with pasta, cottage cheese with fruit, or tea with cookies. And few people would like to change their habits or try new combinations of products, especially if they seem unusual and very dubious. But trust me, these food combinations will definitely delight your taste buds and are worth trying!

Meat + berry jam

Many people still don’t imagine how they can eat meat with berries. Meanwhile, in many countries around the world this combination is considered classic. Try serving lingonberry or cranberry jam with steak or baked pork - we are sure you will remember this taste for a long time.

Eggplant + honey

Eggplant with honey is something new! But in sunny Andalusia this combination is considered almost classic. Just fry the eggplants in the usual way and pour honey over them - you will lick your fingers!

Strawberry + cucumber

Strawberry season is just around the corner. Which means it's time to try something new. How about an unusual but very original combination - strawberries and cucumber? With them you can prepare sweet toasts, refreshing flavored water or a very tasty salad according to our recipe.

Melon + ham

It would seem that these products are absolutely incompatible with each other. Meanwhile, ham with melon is a traditional Italian summer dish, which is served both at official receptions and at home dinners. Try it, it's very tasty.

Pineapple + blue cheese

Pineapple and cheese actually contain many similar substances. Combining them allows them to interact, enriching the taste. The best pairing is blue cheese, the sourness of which is balanced by the sweetness of the fruit.

Strawberry + Parmesan

Strawberries sprinkled with grated Parmesan replaced chocolate covered strawberries. The butyric acid in this cheese, which is also found in chocolate, reacts with the flavonoids in strawberries to produce a rich, sweet flavor.

Dark chocolate + beets

The substances geozyme and pyrazine give beets a special taste. The latter is also found in dark chocolate, and when you combine it with beets, you get an interesting combination of sweet and bitter. Try sprinkling grated dark chocolate on your beet salad.

Chocolate + soy sauce

An ideal combination from a chemistry point of view. The saltiness of the soy sauce brings out the sweetness of the chocolate. In addition, both products contain roasted, vegetable and fruit components, mutually enriching each other's tastes. Try dipping a candy bar in soy sauce or drizzling it over a chocolate dessert.

Pickled cucumber + ice cream

Pregnant women intuitively feel that this combination can trigger a reward response in the brain. Here's why: the salt in pickled cucumber is necessary for normal blood circulation and cellular metabolism, while the sugar and fat in ice cream provide energy through fast carbohydrates. Your body needs all of this to survive. Therefore, the brain encourages the use of such combinations, even if they seem inappropriate.

Black caviar + white chocolate

The famous British chef Heston Blumenthal understood that a hint of saltiness on white chocolate would enrich its taste and soften its sweetness. He began experimenting with combinations and experimentally discovered that it was best to put black caviar on a bar of white chocolate.

Meat + chocolate

Complete madness. But not for Mexicans, because this is their traditional dish for several centuries. “Mole” is a mixture of several types of meat baked in a pot along with chocolate, peanuts, sesame seeds and various spices. The chocolate enriches the meat sauce, making it deeply dark and velvety. To completely drive the future eater crazy, local chefs also add garlic to the dish.

Fruit salad + chilli powder

Ready for some fireworks for your taste buds? But this dish is ordinary Mexican street food. Capsaicin contained in chilies awakens the sense of smell and enhances the sweetness of the fruit. Mangoes and pineapples go especially well with chili.

Nutella + French fries

Salt enhances the flavor, even if it is a sweet taste. Try the nutty Nutella chocolate mixture with French fries. As mentioned above, potatoes have a mild flavor, so in this case they only act as a container for salt. You can also replace the Nutella with a chocolate milkshake. However, beware of side effects - bloating and other troubles.

Strawberries + balsamic vinegar

Vinegar instead of cream? The combination of sour and sweet, firstly, has already been repeatedly used in cooking. Secondly, it is much healthier than pouring cream or chocolate sauce over strawberries.

Ketchup + dark chocolate

You've probably put ketchup on a lot of other foods, but you've probably never tried it on dark chocolate. However, the latter has notes of tomato in the taste, and ketchup enhances them, enriching the taste. They both also have notes of parsley, thanks to the linalool molecule.

Source , ,

The word “food pairing” relatively recently turned the entire culinary world upside down. The main idea of ​​food pairing is to combine the most suitable smells and tastes. This new one was brought to the attention of Heston Blumenthal, the chef of The Fat Duck restaurant. He noticed that salty foods go perfectly with sweet ones. Then he started experimenting and discovered that white chocolate goes perfectly with caviar.

Now every self-respecting chef (or even a beginner) is learning the basics of food pairing in order to surprise guests. Entire books are devoted to this method, they talk about it at seminars, and everyone who has even a little experience with the kitchen in their life is interested in it. We have known many combinations since childhood - duck and cranberry sauce, ice cream and chocolate, cheese and tomatoes. But what about new, original combinations?

We did a little research and put together the 10 most successful flavor combinations for you:

1. First place deservedly goes to the combination of beets + cream + vanilla (cream) and... smoked fish.

Yes, yes, don’t rush to be surprised. This taste is quite difficult to imagine, but with the right combination of such products, the result is a very unusual and tasty dish.

2. Raw venison, juniper and sea buckthorn.

This dish will definitely become the highlight of your culinary portfolio.

3.Pike perch + rhubarb marinated in sweet orange juice + sun-dried cherry tomatoes.

Thanks to the sweet and sour notes, the taste of the fish will reveal itself like never before.

4. White chocolate + yogurt + caviar

We have already mentioned this combination, it was invented by Heston Blumenthal during his experiments.

5. Smoked salmon-apple gel-vanilla oil

A certain variation of the first combination, but its taste is a little more elegant and with a slight sourness thanks to the apple. The combination was invented by Juan Roca.

6. Mango, thyme and chili.

A spicy mixture of products that has already proven itself in world-class restaurants.

7. Peach, mango, yogurt and lavender.

A fairly classic combination of fruit and yogurt is delicately emphasized by a hint of lavender - the most beneficial combination for a summer dessert.

8. Strawberries, dark chocolate, fresh basil and balsamic vinegar.

Once you try it, you can’t refuse it. These components have become the basis for many legendary desserts, and molecular gastronomy gurus have long been using this undoubtedly beneficial combination for their experiments.

9. Roast pork, eggplant, plum, smoked plum, red wine, fresh coriander.

A dish similar to Aphelia (Cypriot pork), but with the addition of vegetables and fruits.

10. Fried beef, baked eggplant puree, miso paste

A familiar dish with the added touch of Pan-Asian cuisine thanks to miso paste.