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

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As an instructor at one of the world's top culinary schools, James Briscione thought he knew how to mix and match ingredients. Then he met IBM Watson. Working with the supercomputer to turn big data into delicious recipes, Briscione realized that he (like most chefs) knew next to nothing about why different foods taste good together. That epiphany launched him on a quest to understand the molecular basis of flavor--and it led, in time, to The Flavor Matrix. 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. Salty - it's just complementary to everything but sour and bitter (seems wrong to me) (no balancing) p. 253 - Talks to the idea that fat is controversial as a taste, even though specific receptors have been found that specifically notice fattiness. p. 13 - He talks about complimentary vs balancing tastes. every person should know this if they plan on just being a great cook (not a chef, which is a different thing).

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There are five - or six, depending on who you ask - basic tastes: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, umami, and fat. "

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This comprehensive book is a great tool for any student looking to strengthen his or her knowledge of ingredients, flavors, and textures. The opportunity to study and understand the science of these elements is a great advantage to today’s generation of cooks. They should all make use of 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. The front cover of The Flavor Matrix: the art and science of pairing common ingredients to create extraordinary dishes by James Briscione

The Flavor Matrix: The Art and Science of Pairing Common

The next time you’re in creative mode be sure to pull this book off the shelf and read it for inspiration. A gifted and creative chef, James Briscione puts the algorithms of taste to use in this wonderfully researched new book. The Flavor Matrix uses science to expand our universe of possible ingredient combinations, and in the process points the way to the future of cooking.” In Flavor Matrix, the team of authors, James Briscione and Brooke Parkhurst have fashioned a visually stunning book that suggests flavor pairings of fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, and other protein sources with other fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, etc., and also with herbs and spices, liquids, etc. Crafted for ambitious home cooks, chefs-in-training and food writers, a wealth of food data fits into a graphic image which I think of as a flavor wheel. The wheel displays at a glance the top choices for numerous variations or possibilities on a single ingredient. 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." 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.

A fascinating collection of matrices that break down the best flavor combinations to make main ingredients shine...Visually, this book is stunning, like a science text for foodies, with a particularly helpful introduction...[ The Flavor Matrix]is a treat for gourmands and food science geeks."

The Flavor Matrix Helps Home Cooks Pair Foods According to

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. The flavor-pairing meme permeated the culinary community. Silicon Valley’s techno-optimism was reflected in a smaller subculture: What if a computer could crunch data to reveal combinations of food that no human ever imagined would taste good together? Briscione, the director of culinary research at the Institute of Culinary Education, became interested in the flavor-pairings movement. He worked with IBM engineers to develop Chef Watson, a cousin of the Watson software that has also been adapted to play Jeopardy and help doctors diagnose diseases. Together, Chef Watson, Briscione, and others at the Institute of Culinary Education created a cookbook, Cognitive Cooking with Chef Watson. A revolutionary new guide to pairing ingredients, based on a celebrity chef's groundbreaking research into the chemical basis of flavor 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.The flavor matrix” book does contain some recipes; however, the recipes are a little too exotic for everyday use. The major reason I removed a star is that I don't think it goes into texture as much as it should other than to say it's important. I think there's not as great an understanding of texture mixes. Also, I didn't find the recipes (upon reading them) by the AI to be earth shattering. Interesting for sure, but I just think the better skill is to take what's left in your pantry and make that taste good.