The "food pairing" method consists of concocting unexpected flavor mixtures based on the common molecules between the ingredients.
A platform, popular with many chefs, is available online to find the best possible combination.
When artificial intelligence plays the matchmaker on our plate.
As in love, the meeting between two ingredients can sometimes take an unexpected turn, and two foods little suspect of being compatible can finally give a delicious combination.
And it is these surprise alliances that help to concoct "food pairing", this field of research on flavor associations.
A platform that allows chefs to conquer new flavors by combining them is available on the internet.
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The platform examines the common molecules between the proposed ingredients to know if it 'matches', like a kind of "Tinder" of the plate.
Many chefs use it to compose associations and create dishes.
For example, you can discover chocolate and onion combined in a dessert, or an alliance between chocolate and porcini mushrooms.
Fourme d'Ambert and pineapple also have things to tell.
However, the fact that two foods have compatible aromatic molecules is not enough.
You have to know how to dose, balance the flavors, and master the cooking.
With this software, the Korean starred chef from Namur, Sang Hoon Degeimbre, who works with engineer Bernard Lahousse, has developed the "kiwître".
It is a kiwi jelly that we will put on an oyster in the shell.
Between the two products, fourteen aromatic molecules are compatible.
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Chocolate with capers, salmon and parmesan
Of course, the great chefs did not wait for this technology to invent astonishing associations.
We can cite, for example, the duck à l'orange by René Lasserre, the salmon with sorrel from the Troisgros brothers, or even more recently the Haute-Savoie chef Jean Sulpice who concocts pretty bricks of salmon with Parmesan.
On the sweet side, we can mention Jacques Génin and his chocolate with capers.
But these daring combinations aren't just for professionals.
At home, you can also combine your recipes with ingredients that seem to have nothing in common, such as cumin and carrot, pomelo and pineapple, or parsnip soup with peanuts.