Sources for unusual/scientific food pairings?

Cooking Discussions
1

About 15 years ago, a website launched that showed scientific food pairings - it’s still going strong. Are other, similar lists on other websites or in books?

I’m not talking about what’s found in the Flavor Bible, which lists common affinities; I’m looking for the unusual, perhaps based on the aromas and chemical components of foods.

For example, salmon:

  • The Flavor Bible suggests pairing with onions, parsley, potatoes, shallots, and tomatoes, and gives flavor affinities like salmon + apple + horseradish + rosemary

  • The Foodpairings website suggests cinnamon cookies, sharp Cheddar cheese, bergamot

A second example, coffee and espresso:

  • The Flavor Bible: baked goods, dark chocolate, cinnamon, hazelnuts

  • Foodpairings website: mushrooms, smoked cherry wood, shellfish stock, koshian (sweetened red bean paste)

A last example, cardamom:

  • The Flavor Bible: use in baked goods, goes well with coffee, cinnamon, coconut, flavor affinity includes cardamom + rice + rosewater + saffron

  • Foodpairings website: Kumquat peel, dried laurel, Gruyere cheese, salami, gin

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2

Or how about this website?

You could just people here (who are all very talented, inventive and intrepid cooks).

3

Interesting - Back when O Ya in Boston had an a la carte option, they offered a sashimi of ocean trout with Gruyere and grapefruit zest. In “At Home In The Kitchen”, by David Kinch, he has a trout with grapefruit segments recipe. It does work very well! I am expanding salmon to salmonoids (and bergamot to similar citrus) for the purposes of these examples, of course.

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