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Food pairing and flavour combinations are a complicated science that can be learnt in the kitchen through a combination of experience, trial and error, tradition, culture and personal preferences.
But where do you start when you want to introduce a new flavour combination or ingredient successfully first off?
By taking a methodical approach and employing some basic building blocks of taste and flavour combinations anything is possible. Try listening to Grant Achatz's simple explanation of the process he refers to as 'flavour bouncing'. See what ingredients he comes up out with to go with a starting ingredient of white beans.
With a little knowledge under your belt and applying some basic rules, break out of your flavour comfort zone and embark on a culinary journey into a delicious new world. You can even cross reference your ideas on a food pairing website to see if you're on the right track.
These ten infographics are a great place to get started from the taxonomy of taste to food and wine pairings.
1) The Taxonomy of Taste
If you're looking to break out of your flavour combination comfort zone this infographic is a perfect resource that breaks down ingredients into 6 main families, from fish to bulbous stem veg, find out which other ingredients compliment them.
2) Flavour Bases for Eight World Cuisines
Master cuisines of the world with this global food chart. Learn the flavour bases for the French, Italian, Chinese, Indian, Thai and Middle Eastern food and more.
Via Visually
3) Wine and Food Pairings
This infographic's a great starting point to visually understand the complexity of balancing the right wine with the right intensity of food.
Via Visually
4) Beer with Food
This intelligent infographic gets into the mechanics behind matching beer in three steps: Balance the Weights, Compare and Contrast the Components, Bridge the Flavors. Once you have mastered the steps you can apply the technique to any number of beers rather than work from a pre-prescribed list.
5) How to pair Soup with Wine and Beer
Pairing soup with wine or beer is not always an easy task. This infographic makes it easier with a total of 30 pairings which cover everything from chicken noodle soup to minestrone which should have most of us covered.
Via Vinepair
6) How to pair Beer and Wine for Christmas Lunch
Getting it right on festive occasions can be a little more difficult. It's not everyday we tuck into turkey and roast ham, and when we do we want to make sure we get it right. This infographic should help you answer all those tricky questions in preparation of the big day.
Via Visually
7) The Taxonomy of Condiments
Most people have their favourite condiment. Brush up on your knowledge in this fun infographic and find out just how many different varieties of brown sauce and ketchup there are and how many you've been missing out on.
Via Visually
8) Cheese Pairing Guide
Cheese lover's unite for this interesting infographic that goes beyond the classic wine and cheese territory into cheese and meat pairing as well as cheese and crackers. Take a look and see if you've been getting the best from your cheese all these years.
9) Beer with Cheese Guide
Beer lover's will be enjoy this chart that helps you pair your favourite beer with the most suitable cheese from a wheat beer and goat cheese to the weightier stout and aged gouda.
10) The Ultimate Guide to Chocolate Pairing
Pairing chocolate with other ingredients doesn't always come naturally. We've all heard of chilli and dark chocolate but what about bacon and cheese. Have a look at some unique winning chocolate combinations.
Via Visually
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