Nature has published a fascinating paper that solves a seemingly silly but very interesting question: why do Western and Asian foods taste so different?After analyzing 56,498 recipes the answer is in the way they pair 381 ingredients.
Why do they taste different?
According to the study, Western cuisines have a tendency to pair ingredients that share many of the same flavor compounds. East Asian cuisines, however, do precisely the contrary, avoiding ingredients that share the same flavor compounds. The more flavors two ingredients share, the less likely they would be paired together in Asian kitchens.
Why is this important?
This is the first time that a experimental study has confirmed what only was an hypothesis over the past decade:
This food pairing hypothesis has been used to search for novel ingredient combinations and has prompted, for example, some contemporary restaurants to combine white chocolate and caviar, as they share trimethylamine and other flavor compounds, or chocolate and blue cheese that share at least 73 flavor compounds.
However, since Asian food works by avoiding food pairs, their analysis also destroys the idea that flavor pairing is the only way to achieve amazing new plates. According to the study, this “discovery of patterns that may transcend specific dishes or ingredients” may open new ways to cook.
How do flavors connect?
This graphic shows the backbone of the flavor network: “each node denotes an ingredient, the node color indicates food category, and node size reflects the ingredient prevalence in recipes. Two ingredients are connected if they share a significant number of flavor compounds, link thickness representing the number of shared compounds between the two ingredients.”
I can’t wait to taste how cooks all over the world use this research to create new weird flavors for me enjoy. [Nature]
Timelapse photography of a rotting watermelon over a span of 35 days.
According to the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council, here are the dos and don’ts to eating “America’s sacred food”:
Don’t… Condiments should be applied in the following order: wet condiments like mustard and chili are applied first, followed by chunky condiments like relish, onions and sauerkraut, followed by shredded cheese, followed by spices, like celery salt or pepper. Do… Don’t… Do… Do… Don’t… Don’t… Don’t… Don’t… Do… Do… Don’t… Don’t… Don’t… BONUS —> Their own YouTube channel illustrating these dos and don’ts at Hotdogcouncil!
Put hot dog toppings between the hot dog and the bun. Always “dress the dog,” not the bun.
Serve sesame seed, poppy seed and plain buns with hot dogs. Sun-dried tomato buns or basil buns are considered gauche with franks.
Use a cloth napkin to wipe your mouth when eating a hot dog. Paper is always preferable.
Eat hot dogs on buns with your hands. Utensils should not touch hot dogs on buns.
Use paper plates to serve hot dogs. Every day dishes are acceptable; china is a no-no.
Take more than five bites to finish a hot dog. For foot-long wiener, seven bites are acceptable.
Leave bits of bun on your plate. Eat it all.
Fresh herbs on the same plate with hot dogs over-do the presentation
Use ketchup on your hot dog after the age of 18.
Mustard, relish, onions, cheese and chili are acceptable.
Condiments remaining on the fingers after eating a hot dog should be licked away, not washed.
Use multi-colored toothpicks to serve cocktail wieners. Cocktail forks are in poor taste.
Send a thank you note following a hot dog barbecue. It would not be in keeping with the unpretentious nature of hot dogs.
Bring wine to a hot dog barbecue. Beer, soda, lemonade and iced tea are preferable.
Ever think there is a wrong time to serve hot dogs.
Lactose Intolerant by RogerRogerRoger
Part of the Anthropomorphic Food derby at shirt.woot. We dont take kindly to your kind ‘round these parts.
Dave Arnold’s Soup Dumpling Burger
