Abstract
There can be little doubt that plating food beautifully is becoming ever more important in the world of high-end cuisine. However, there is a very real danger that all the attention to how a dish looks (or photographs) can end up obscuring the importance of temporal order to flavour perception. That is, there is an increasing tendency to prioritize plating elements in a dish so that they please the eyes of the beholder, rather than necessarily because they deliver the optimum balance of sensations to the palate. Relevant here is the fact that certain combinations of ingredients taste better when sampled simultaneously, or in a particular sequence, than when sampled in a different order. In this review, we examine the importance of sequencing and pairing taste/flavour sensations, both in the design of the meal itself, and when attempting to combine (or match) food and drink. We address the chemical, psychological, and computational strategies that have been suggested by those wishing to combine flavours for maximal impact. We evaluate three general principles of flavour matching: similarity—matching components based on common flavour compounds (or similar flavour profiles); contrast—combinations that are purposely chosen because they differ from each other (a strategy that is more common in the cuisine of some countries than others); and synergy (or emergence)—those combinations that together deliver new flavour experiences or else harmonize with one another. We argue that the psychological account (informed by an awareness of cultural differences), and to a lesser extent the chemical account, provides meaningful suggestions as far as effectively combining flavours is concerned.
Highlights
The two Michelin-starred chef, Denis Martin, used to serve an intriguing dish in his namesake restaurant in Vevey, Switzerland
Focusing on everyday foods such as ice cream, these researchers argue that dynamic contrast during consumption, typically somatosensory contrast, such as the temperature change when consuming a spoonful of ice cream or the textural changes when eating a piece of chocolate or masticating a crunchy food such as a potato chip is especially rewarding—that is, we find it palatable
While much of the literature on computational gastronomy and flavour pairing has undoubtedly focused on the simultaneous delivery of flavours, it is worth noting how under the majority of everyday conditions, one could well imagine how tasting experiences are more likely to occur sequentially
Summary
The two Michelin-starred chef, Denis Martin, used to serve an intriguing dish in his namesake restaurant in Vevey, Switzerland (see Fig. 1). It turns out that combining flavours, as when pairing food and wine, may affect one component of the tasting experience more than the other.
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