El arte y la ciencia del foodpairing: 10.000 combinaciones de sabores que transformarán tu manera de comer

by Peter Coucquyt, Bernard Lahousse, Johan Langenbick

10,000 flavor matches that will transform the way you eat.

What is foodpairing? It is not the familiar and mundane matching of wine and food or even food and food, but it is certainly all about creating the most delicious culinary results possible.

When humans taste a food, they are processing its taste 80 percent through the nose -- via the food's aromatic molecules -- and only 20 percent on the tongue. We can conclude then that knowing the aromatic molecular properties of a food is critical to pairing foods successfully for ultimate taste.

For a long time, we have been unknowingly pairing aromatic molecules out of instinct, cultural history, tradition, and plain guesswork. Many of those are routine and make sense but others are counterintuitive, like balsamic vinegar on strawberries. We like them because they are delicious. What we didn't know is that they work because they share aromatic molecules. With this new knowledge we have discovered unheard-of pairings like chocolate on cauliflower and kiwi with oyster. So how do we use this new science? We at home don't have the technology to isolate molecules or store the results in a database.

That's where The Art and Science of Foodpairing(R) comes in. From the scientists and chefs who discovered this new culinary science, and the company that created and maintains the enormous database, here is a fabulous reference to 10,000 food pairings for use in both professional and home kitchens. Foodpairing(R) has proven to be revolutionary: When the Foodpairing(R) database went live, the chef and restaurant community came on like a storm with 100,000 website hits on the first day. Now over 200,000 chefs and restaurants in 140 countries regularly access the database when designing their menus.

The Art and Science of Foodpairing(R) provides 10,000 flavor matches laid out in taste wheels and color keys. When cooks go to one ingredient, they will find 10 food pairings and a color wheel revealing the taste results. For example, boiled beets will taste less like the earth they grew in and more like cheese if they are paired with coffee, and cauliflower sprinkled with cocoa could turn the fussiest child into a veggie fiend.

Foodpairing(R) has the potential to transform our food choices with outcomes that include good health as well as the power to alleviate boredom. The same dinner, the same staples. We get bored, our children get bored. Foodpairing(R), even without adding anything new to the pantry, can alleviate that.

Beginning with an in-depth introduction and the story of Foodpairing(R), the book contains:



Foodpairing(R) - What it is, how it works, methodology; the database; how to create a well-balanced recipe. The omnivore's dilemma - Including the conflict between playing safe and boredom, and the search for variety and novelty; learned food association; acquired tastes. Aroma - Including the importance of aroma to our flavor experience; how we change aromas by cooking; how ingredients create different or similar results; building your aroma library. Smell - Including how people smell and perceive aromas; why smell is essential to the eating experience. The Foodpairing(R) directory - 10 pairings per food, 10 per cooking method, 10,000 combinations in total. The book also covers key food characteristics, aroma profiles, classic dishes, contemporary combinations, scientific explanations, special features and contributions from some of the world's greatest chefs for the top 150 ingredients, and much more.

The Art and Science of Foodpairing(R) is destined to become the essential reference to creating delicious, exciting and perfectly balanced meals.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Reference, Cuisine, Culinary

388 pages, Hardcover

Published February 4, 2021

Reviews

[M]

This book is ostensibly part of the same genre as such classics as "the flavor thesaurus", "the flavor bible" etc. But the pairings here are by and large *not* classics - black tea and guava, kiwi and oyster, pecorino and vanilla, etc. The irony of the putatively scientific approach (grouping things according to shared compounds as revealed by gas chromatography, although typically which compounds are in question and the precise methodology is not shared) is that we end up with a veritable I Ching of pairings whose offbeat nature is genuinely inspirational. Still trying to come up with a dish that will showcase the vaunted possibilities of potato meeting popcorn.

[Rui Zúñiga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Christmas present ever!

[Chris King · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic as a reference, but not really structured for linear reading.

[Frynk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. If you don’t have any understanding of chemistry and food technology, you might not get the theory and facts behind how foodpairing works, but I do. Sad for everyone else I guess. It is a really well written book, but definetly written from a experts perspective. The first 30 pages are the ones you read, and then the rest is kind of like a cook book, or an encyclopaedia if you will.

[Nigel Ewan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating concept. I suppose it's intended for a professional culinary audience.

[Marzi Pecen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comment about the audiobook: Poorly executed accents performed by narrator. If that puts you off, get the book. It’s a fascinating read that’s about so much more than skin books.

[Martin Stoev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mind-blowing!