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

Many people who want to lose weight should take into account the principle of combining foods, based on the research of American naturopath Herbert Shelton. The principle of compatibility of various ingredients with each other is based on the chemical composition, which is different for each type of product. The composition completely affects the time of digestion and breakdown of food by the stomach. If incompatible foods enter the body together, they can cause serious digestive problems due to different digestion times. When adhering to proper nutrition, you must take this property into account.

The first figure to turn his attention to the peculiarities of food processing was Academician Pavlov, who noted in his works that many factors influence absorption - the composition of the product, the digestive department in which the component is processed, the rate of breakdown by gastric juice. His works formed the basis for all the scientific activities of Shelton and many other nutritionists.

Product Compatibility Chart

In addition to the digestion time, it is also necessary to take into account the energy value of foods - food in which carbohydrates predominate does not go well with fats. The same applies to proteins. To make it easier to determine the combination of products, a special table was created by which it can be determined. It shows which ingredients we combine this or that component with and which we don’t.

Flavor combinations

To prepare a delicious dish, it is enough to take into account the taste combination of products with each other. It will significantly diversify the daily menu, delight the taste buds and make weight loss recipes less monotonous.

Many famous chefs use established combinations of edible ingredients as the basis for their culinary experiments. Here are just some of the most successful of them:

• tomato + basil + garlic - this classic combination will always come in handy in any dish where tomatoes are present;
• olive oil + garlic + lemon juice - this combination can become an ideal dressing not only for any salad, but also for a second one;
• soy sauce + honey + ginger - with this combination you can also dress salads or marinate meat products or fish;
• avocado + shrimp - a healthy balanced combination used for weight loss; salads, sandwiches or snacks are prepared with it;
• cheese + grapes - a combination served with wines as an independent snack, but is often used in salads for the richest taste;
• rosemary + game - rosemary is a very bright spice, but in this combination it complements meat very well;
• potatoes + nutmeg - the spice will highlight the aroma of potatoes prepared in any way;
• potatoes + dill - dill is a very successful combination with boiled potatoes, the same applies to salads that include this ingredient;

• beans + walnuts are an interesting combination that complements both vegetable dishes and those that contain meat. Nuts are suitable for both green beans and grains;
• lemon + fish - in this combination you can use lemon juice or stuff the fish with citrus slices, the effect will be the same - the flesh will become tender, the fishy smell will not be so noticeable.

With spices

Properly selected spices can create interesting combinations with other products, enhancing their taste, complementing them and allowing their aroma to unfold. The system of combining spices and foods is based on the same principles - many seasonings can speed up the processing of foods, and can whet the appetite or replace sugar, which is only a plus for dietary nutrition. Here are the most common food combinations with spices:

Principles of combining products from Maya Gogulan

Maya Gogulan is a famous journalist and supporter of the principle of separate nutrition. Her system is a combination of products based on nutritional components. The main rules of the combination look like this:

• carbohydrates should not be consumed simultaneously with carbohydrates (for example, eat porridge and pasta with bread);
• eat proteins at one meal with carbohydrates (for example, do not eat fish as a snack with bread, but oatmeal with chicken);
• vegetables can be combined with each other and with any other products;
• Vegetable and animal fats are well complemented by carbohydrates or protein.

In addition, Gogulan advises completely eliminating sugar from the diet, reducing the amount of salt and spices, which lead to increased appetite. Make the choice of products towards unprocessed ones. Oatmeal is a good example—coarse, unrefined flakes are better than processed ones. It is necessary to leave the table slightly undernourished. There must be a desire to do something. Drowsiness and laziness are signs that a person has overeaten, and this is not beneficial.

Many experts also advise paying attention to the method of preparing dishes - reducing the consumption of fried foods, replacing boiled

Table of food combinations for separate meals according to Shelton

To make it easier to navigate among a variety of products and adhere to a healthy diet, Herbert Shelton developed a special table that allows you to determine the compatibility of certain components. It is very simple to use - select a product in the first column and see which of the components listed above it is combined with.

Gradually you can remember all the listed components and their features. The basis of their combination is an acidic or alkaline component, which decomposes in the stomach for a certain time.

Rules

• choose only natural and fresh ingredients for cooking;
• do not overeat - leave the table with a slight feeling of hunger and lightness in the body;
• bad signals are the desire to sleep and heaviness in the stomach - this is evidence of overeating;
• you need to eat often, but little by little; take into account the acidity of the product when adding it to a dish;
• Fresh vegetables should make up a large proportion of the diet.

The principle of combining foods can facilitate the digestion process without spending a lot of energy on processing foods, which can be usefully spent in other areas. By adjusting your diet, you will have additional strength and will be able to live an active life.

A delicious dessert is the perfect end to a meal. In order to diversify her sweet menu, every woman tirelessly searches for new recipes. However, most flavor combinations, such as nut and chocolate, strawberry and banana, vanilla and egg batter, no longer make much of an impression. That’s why it’s worth focusing on using new combinations.

Now famous confectioners around the world are engaged in this search, every now and then presenting unusual dishes to their clients. Cauliflower ice cream, carrot cake, pumpkin souffle and other unusual desserts soon become famous and even traditional treats.

Unusual flavor combinations

We have selected several examples of interesting combinations that you can use in your daily menu:

• Chocolate and beets
• Avocado and chocolate
• Lemon and cinnamon
• Coffee and carrots

For an inexperienced person, they may seem overly bold, but after trying something unusual just once, you will not be able to stop and, perhaps, even go towards other culinary experiments.

Chocolate and beets

This combination first saw the light of day in the idea of ​​one American confectioner, who proposed introducing root vegetables into children’s diets in this way. The combination of chocolate and beets can be used in making cakes and muffins.

Beets, when baked, highlight the chocolate and give the dessert a very soft taste and delicate texture. In addition, this dessert is very healthy. Give it to your children to try without naming the secret ingredient, show how tasty vegetables can be.

Also, with the help of cinnamon, almonds or nutmeg, you can add some spicy notes to the dish that will surprise not only little gourmets.

Avocado and chocolate

An unexpected exotic combination - avocado and chocolate. A striking example of this is an exquisite dessert made from avocado puree and chocolate ice cream. If you use confectionery flavorings, the workpiece can be made even more interesting. Thus, the aromas of vanilla, strawberry, banana go well with chocolate, and black currant, apple or lemon will add a touch of freshness to the dessert.

Avocado pulp with lemon juice and sugar syrup is simply crushed in a blender and then sent to the refrigerator. Don't forget to add a pinch of salt and your chosen flavoring.

You can make chocolate ice cream yourself or buy a quality product in the store. When serving, place 2-3 tablespoons of avocado mass and a scoop of ice cream in a dessert bowl. Enjoy!

Lemon and cinnamon

Lemon with its freshness and spicy cinnamon go well together. With these ingredients you can prepare a fairly easy dessert - lemon pie. It will be an excellent solution for the summer menu.

When preparing it, you can use a variety of dyes so that the appearance of the dish matches its rich taste. In this case, yellow and green shades are suitable for the cream, and chocolate for the base. You can add a little more brightness by decorating the finished dessert with raspberries.

On our website you will also find original solutions for Easter. In our article you can learn how to choose dyes for Easter eggs.

Coffee and carrots

This flavor combination can be called explosive and daring, but it has already been tried in many famous restaurants around the world. One of the dessert options could be, for example, like this.

Carrots need to be peeled from the top layer and cooked in any convenient way: boiled, baked, processed in a double boiler. Mix coffee with coconut flakes, roll carrots in this mixture, and when serving, decorate the plate with orange slices. The dessert is ready, and its lightness will appeal to all adherents of a healthy diet.

All the presented combinations seem unusual and even specific at first glance, but they are really good. They can be adapted for different dishes, creating your own recipes. The use of food flavors and dyes will make each decision more vibrant, attractive and unusual. By experimenting with different combinations of flavors and shades, you can transform even the most ordinary desserts.

They play a very important role; together with vegetables, they supply us with the necessary amount of vitamins and minerals. That is why traditionally fruits so often replace dessert on the Italian table.

Open up to new tastes

Combining fruits or berries with spices is a great way to enhance flavor or create something new in your kitchen. Recently, however, fruits not only perform the traditional function of dessert, but are also used to prepare appetizers, salads, and can also be used as ingredients in main dishes or as a side dish (I am always delighted with my favorite combination of Parma ham with sweet melon).

Such culinary changes in no way diminish the merits of authentic Italian cuisine; on the contrary, spices correctly selected for fruit dishes are intriguing and inspiring. Try orange slices sprinkled with ginger juice for a fresh accent, or pear slices with soft creamy cheese like Philadelphia on a cinnamon lettuce leaf. Or mix summer with winter - salt and pepper aromatic slices of fresh ripe peach and serve it as a side dish to grilled pork.

Freedom of creativity in your kitchen

Another unusual combination that can decorate any table is diced strawberries, seasoned with 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, generously sprinkled with black pepper and sugar, and placed in the oven for 5 minutes. And if you are ready for a little more adventurous experiments with strawberries, then cut them into pieces into a large salad bowl, pour in coconut milk, add maple syrup and 1 tbsp curry (or to your taste).

Well, if you want to freely experiment with flavors in your kitchen or create a truly unusual signature dish, then to help you in your culinary creativity, we will present the most successful combinations of berries and fruits with spices and aromatic herbs.

Why did I suddenly start talking about combining fruits with spices and aromatic herbs? It's very simple - the summer season is approaching, and with it a full range of fruits for fantastic fruit salads. Don't be afraid to experiment!

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.