The Flavor Matrix: The Art and Science of Pairing Common Ingredients to Create Extraordinary Dishes

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Using the supercomputer Watson, and other sources this book helps combine flavors that you would not think are compatible with meals that are flavor compatible. On the side, there are also eye-catching. On the surface of things, the book seems firmly rooted in taking a scientific approach. There's quite a bit of science-based exposition on flavors and taste, which I appreciate. However, sometimes it seems like the urge to remain as scientifically accurate as possible gets the best of the authors. And other times, you'll find examples where it seems like the book has nothing to do with science at all, and was instead written by a layperson (and, with two authors, perhaps that very much is the case here).

The Flavor Matrix: a case study on the UX of cooking The Flavor Matrix: a case study on the UX of cooking

The author of "flavor matrix" spent years (is what they say, and I tend to believe it seen the result) studying the flavoring composition of various ingredients. Then they compiled tables with this data, and used that data to identify foodstuff that had similar flavoring compounds, and thus "ought to" pair well with each other. A few months ago, I stumbled upon the show, The Final Table, a Netflix original that showcases a global cooking competition among some of the world’s top chefs. In each episode, a new country is featured and the dish the chefs prepare must include a specific ingredient that is relevant to a country, and is chosen by top culinary critics of the same country. As I watched, I couldn’t help but feel inspired by the creativity of the dishes and the different ways each chef put a spin on the ingredients. I decided I wanted to challenge my own culinary interests and bought James Briscione’s book, The Flavor Matrix: The Art and Science of Pairing Common Ingredients to Create Extraordinary Dishes. I think this book has a lot of interesting information but as a professional Food Scientist who specializes in the sensory properties of food, I wish the author had gone about this differently.I had to put the the book down when, after a good 5 minutes of searching for broccoli, I found it instead in the "Brassica Oleracea: Floral" section along with Cauliflower and Romanesco. Looking for potatoes? Don't waste your time in the "Root Vegetable" section because it won't be there. It inexplicably has its own potato section to itself. So far this is my fave of the YEAR cook book. 🤔should I even be calling it a cookbook? More like flavor pairing. Awesome. This is on my to BUY LIST!! This comment in English because that's the book's language. If you can not read this, do not bother purchasing the book - as it requires a well deep understanding of the techinical terms to be properly understood. The project was simple: The chefs at ICE created dishes based on uncommon food combinations Watson predicted would taste good. Many experiments later, this work led the science-curious Briscione to further investigate how rarely paired foods—with complementary aromatic compounds—can create fantastic flavor. The result is The Flavor Matrix.

The Flavor Matrix - Google Books

Eggs have many flavor compounds in common with the dairy products, brown butter, coffee, and—uh—fish. Yum. Jan Willem Tulp/Houghton Mufflin Harcourt In this book the author describes approximately 150 of these ingredients or ingredient families, each with their own optimal partner ingredients and the most suitable (or less so) associations thereof. Briscione, director of culinary research at the Institute of Culinary Education, along with cowriter and wife Parkhurst, will delight food nerds with this scientific exploration of flavor profiles of common ingredients...Professional chefs and home cooks who enjoy experimentation will welcome this insightful new approach." What I personally liked about it is that the book clearly shows that there was a lot of work behind the curtains to achieve these "simple" tables, and shares them not as finished works, as recipes, but rather as the starting point for the curious culinary explorer who wants to climb to a new height in their own culinary work. The Flavor Matrix is not the first chapter in the saga of chefs that are using data to become more creative. Read here about how IBM created an algorithm that quantified the creativity of each recipe.Over all, good book. There's no real shortage of idea starters here. I write a lot of recipes, and a lot of menu's, and this book definitely helps with the creative spark. Take-away, if you like coming up with your own ideas when cooking, buy it, you more than likely will not regret it. Summary: This is good if you are very into food and mixing together random stuff. For those that do this naturally, it's a nice reiteration, but not earth shattering. For those that can only use a recipe, this may be quite a bit more insightful as to why there are those that don't need one.