Years ago, I purchased a book called The Flavor Matrix and it instantly became one of the most used books on my book shelf. The book breaks foods down to a molecular level and groups ingredients based on how many flavor compounds they have in common. For a recipe developer, it’s a treasure trove of new ideas for how to combine ingredients in sometimes surprising ways.
One of the more surprising pairings I discovered from the book was strawberries and mushrooms. Although they are not typically perceptible, mushrooms contain many of the same organic compounds found in strawberries, which make for a very interesting pairing.
I tested this out in a mushroom stir fry recipe (pictured above) and was delighted to discover how delicious strawberries were in the mix. So, this week’s question is …
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I'm not sure how unusual these pairings are, but they seem to surprise people whenever I do them...
First up, I like to dip chocolate in greek yogurt. A former work colleague was so freaked out by it, she had to walk away.
The second is rosemary and orange in desserts. This one seems to surprise and delight people. And I love it SO much! Might even write a love letter to it for Valentine's.
Orange and rosemary sound positively magical! Please, please write that love letter and include a recipe or two! And people put chocolate in yogurt, so I don't think the other way around is weird at all. :-)
And, tiger-tail ice cream (orange and black licorice) with fresh mint. Tiger tail is such a rare ice cream as I think I am in the very small minority that love it!
Oh my goodness - ya… my marketing pitch could do with some tweaking 🙃. If you do find it in your travels I recommend trying it, could forever change your ice cream cravings!
It is orange in color with black swirls (the licorice part) - like a tiger’s stripes hence, ‘tiger tail’.
I've googled it and see what you mean about it not looking very appealing. Interesting flavour combo though. Maybe a liquorice, orange and mint flavoured bake is on my horizon!
pumpkin seed oil and vanilla ice cream 🍨 it doesn’t sound incredibly strange, but is still a combo that might shock some people once they taste it. it’s very very good.
Cannot wait to see the other responses! Mine are fried mushrooms and chocolate (randomly discovered at boarding school while having breakfast) and strawberries and feta!
It's really delicious - something about mushrooms' earthiness goes super well with chocolate. Do give it a try if you ever see a place selling mushroom flavoured chocolates!
Not unusual for my Italian parents (and don’t know if this is an Italian “thing”), but a grind of fresh black pepper, not too much, on cantaloupe slices. An after dinner treat.
Also, fried eggs with wine vinegar. First done by Roger Verge, and made sublime by the late great Judy Rodgers, who did the eggs in olive oil and added breadcrumbs and marjoram to the mix.
Christmas cake (or any fruit cake) with cheese. Not something I discovered before I moved from London to North East England! A dry crumbly cheese is the norm but I like Stilton!
Years ago one of my friends brought chocolate fondu and potato chips to a book club meeting and it was the best thing ever. I'm sure salted crackers and chocolate would be similar!
So we self-catered our wedding, and one of our menu items was chicken kebabs (grilled foods make for great/easy wedding food, btw) with this marinade that I made up on the fly at home one day.
The ingredients are listed as follows (brace yourselves):
Ok, this is a weird one: plain spaghetti with soy sauce and grated Kraft parmesan cheese. My mom would do this with leftover spaghetti and I loved it as a kid. I don't eat it very often anymore but when I do, it takes me right back to being a child!
We have champorado (a chocolate porridge) typically served with dried fried fish (tuyo or any variety). Filipinos have a lot of unconventional pairings and it definitely puts a lot of unfamiliar folks off.
I'd never heard of champorado so I looked up some recipes and it looks delicious! Pairing it with dried fish is unusual but I love salty-sweet combos, so I'd probably like it. Is it a breakfast thing? Or dessert?
My husband introduced me to peach pie and chocolate ice cream. I gave him a weird look until I tried it. It was delicious. To this day I won't put vanilla ice cream on peach pie. The chocolate taste better. When I was a child, my father taught me to put sugar on grapefruit. As an adult, I started putting salt on it. The salt still cut the tartness without having the sugar high. Now I can eat grapefruit without anything on it.
I would have never thought of trying chocolate ice cream with peach pie, but now I'm eager to try it! I discovered the magic of adding salt and sugar to fruit a while back but, oddly, have never tried it on grapefruit. I'm going to try that next time.
Tahini and honey on bread, with a dusting of cinnamon! YUM!!!
Oh my. That sounds dreamy.
What a fabulous book!
I'm not sure how unusual these pairings are, but they seem to surprise people whenever I do them...
First up, I like to dip chocolate in greek yogurt. A former work colleague was so freaked out by it, she had to walk away.
The second is rosemary and orange in desserts. This one seems to surprise and delight people. And I love it SO much! Might even write a love letter to it for Valentine's.
Orange and rosemary sound positively magical! Please, please write that love letter and include a recipe or two! And people put chocolate in yogurt, so I don't think the other way around is weird at all. :-)
I certainly will! I see a newsletter in the making!
Haha, glad to hear others don't think it's weird! I think that work colleague just had a thing about it
You get my vote for a rosemary and orange dessert! That sounds SO good.
Super! Give me a few weeks and I’ll get some recipes together!
I second orange and rosemary in dessert applications
Balsamic vinegar or glaze on fries.
And, tiger-tail ice cream (orange and black licorice) with fresh mint. Tiger tail is such a rare ice cream as I think I am in the very small minority that love it!
Balsamic on chips, whenever possible for me.
Yum!!!
I have never heard of tiger-tail ice cream but now I must find it.
It is not at all easy to find. Visually it is not terribly elegant! And your lips may turn a shade of greyish black (all worth it I promise you).
Last time I had it was in Maine (I think it was Maine, may have been Connecticut).
I don’t eat ice cream in general but when find tiger-tail I certainly indulge.
Haha! Doesn’t look great, and turn your lips a ghastly color, but it’s delicious, I promise! :-) Maybe I’ll see if I can find a recipe and make it.
Oh my goodness - ya… my marketing pitch could do with some tweaking 🙃. If you do find it in your travels I recommend trying it, could forever change your ice cream cravings!
It is orange in color with black swirls (the licorice part) - like a tiger’s stripes hence, ‘tiger tail’.
I have never heard of tiger tail ice-cream and now I must try it!
I just love it. But, as I mentioned it is not very common.
I've googled it and see what you mean about it not looking very appealing. Interesting flavour combo though. Maybe a liquorice, orange and mint flavoured bake is on my horizon!
When I used to get a small tub of it I always chopped up fresh mint as the topper, and it probably still is a favourite combo!
pumpkin seed oil and vanilla ice cream 🍨 it doesn’t sound incredibly strange, but is still a combo that might shock some people once they taste it. it’s very very good.
Oooooo.... I can't wait to try this! It sounds delicious!
Olive oil affogato is also really delicious! Sub the oil for the espresso.
Oh wow. I would have never thought to do this but it sounds so good!
Cannot wait to see the other responses! Mine are fried mushrooms and chocolate (randomly discovered at boarding school while having breakfast) and strawberries and feta!
Mushrooms and chocolate? What????? I am so intrigued.
It's really delicious - something about mushrooms' earthiness goes super well with chocolate. Do give it a try if you ever see a place selling mushroom flavoured chocolates!
Loooove feta and strawberries !
This sounds nice. I might try that.
So good, isn't it?
Ok, mind blown on the shroom and chocolate combo!
Mustard on scrambled eggs.
Yum! I can't imagine why I've never tried this! My daughter puts ketchup on her eggs and it grosses me out, but mustard sounds delicious.
My wife thinks I'm weird for doing it, but I really like it.
I'm also a fan of Miso and lime with scrambled eggs 🍋🟩🥚
I am glad you said it first lol! I think I will make this today.
So good with seseme seeds and spring onions too!
Not unusual for my Italian parents (and don’t know if this is an Italian “thing”), but a grind of fresh black pepper, not too much, on cantaloupe slices. An after dinner treat.
Also, fried eggs with wine vinegar. First done by Roger Verge, and made sublime by the late great Judy Rodgers, who did the eggs in olive oil and added breadcrumbs and marjoram to the mix.
I love sprinkling pepper on fruit! I even have a strawberry jam recipe that includes black pepper and people are so surprised by how good it is!
I have put black pepper along with salt on cantaloupe for years. I learned that from my father.
Salt on cantaloupe helps the most bland cantaloupe taste sweeter!
Oh my goodness! My dad (not Italian) also used to put black pepper on cantaloupe! I have never heard of anyone else doing this. So interesting!
Christmas cake (or any fruit cake) with cheese. Not something I discovered before I moved from London to North East England! A dry crumbly cheese is the norm but I like Stilton!
I LOVE cheese with sweet things so I can guarantee that I would like this. Although, if I'm being honest, I love cheese with everything. :-)
Salted crackers and chocolate! Although that's not so unusual anymore nowadays 😊
Years ago one of my friends brought chocolate fondu and potato chips to a book club meeting and it was the best thing ever. I'm sure salted crackers and chocolate would be similar!
Omg that's such a good idea, I have to try it!
I grew-up spreading chocolate frosting (usually Duncan Hines) on Triscuit crackers. Salty-sweet perfection.
So we self-catered our wedding, and one of our menu items was chicken kebabs (grilled foods make for great/easy wedding food, btw) with this marinade that I made up on the fly at home one day.
The ingredients are listed as follows (brace yourselves):
orange juice, lemon juice, EVOO, curry powder, garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil, dried thyme, dried parsley, salt, pepper, Tabasco, and stoneground mustard
First of all, I'm super impressed that you self-catered your wedding! Second, I've copied your marinade ingredients and I am going to try it!
Here are the measurements I found from my Wedding Prep Google Doc (circa 2018)!
(per 1 lb cubed chicken)
juice of 2 oranges (8oz)
juice of 1 lemon (2oz)
olive oil (½ cup)
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 T. Tabasco
4 tsp. stoneground/german mustard
Ok, this is a weird one: plain spaghetti with soy sauce and grated Kraft parmesan cheese. My mom would do this with leftover spaghetti and I loved it as a kid. I don't eat it very often anymore but when I do, it takes me right back to being a child!
That sounds pretty good, actually... salty and cheesy pasta? How can you go wrong?
We have champorado (a chocolate porridge) typically served with dried fried fish (tuyo or any variety). Filipinos have a lot of unconventional pairings and it definitely puts a lot of unfamiliar folks off.
I'd never heard of champorado so I looked up some recipes and it looks delicious! Pairing it with dried fish is unusual but I love salty-sweet combos, so I'd probably like it. Is it a breakfast thing? Or dessert?
It's usually for breakfast 😋
My husband introduced me to peach pie and chocolate ice cream. I gave him a weird look until I tried it. It was delicious. To this day I won't put vanilla ice cream on peach pie. The chocolate taste better. When I was a child, my father taught me to put sugar on grapefruit. As an adult, I started putting salt on it. The salt still cut the tartness without having the sugar high. Now I can eat grapefruit without anything on it.
I would have never thought of trying chocolate ice cream with peach pie, but now I'm eager to try it! I discovered the magic of adding salt and sugar to fruit a while back but, oddly, have never tried it on grapefruit. I'm going to try that next time.
Balsamic with berries isn’t so unheard of…but it doesn’t get the credit it should. Don’t forget some freshly ground black pepper.
I agree 100%!