Hi all!
Today, we’re explaining our ‘Match from Scratch’ function, which we just launched on our new website. This one is only for LITE, PRO, and EXPERT subscribers though! Log in and check it out on inspire.foodpairing.com.
Hi all!
We’re excited to show you our new website, which we launched last week. We’ve got new features, and today we’ll explain our new ‘Twist it!’ option. Log in and check it out on inspire.foodpairing.com, or if you haven’t got an account yet, REGISTER FOR FREE!
The point of the ‘Twist It!’ function is to take an existing recipe and vary it easily. This way, you’ve quickly got an all new dish on your hands with only minimal effort or skills needed. Try out new things, insert your favorite ingredients, and add your personal touch!
Here’s a small tutorial with plenty of pictures.
Robert Kranenborg, a famous former 2 Michelin star chef, asked FoodPairing.com to analyze the oldest printed recipe (dated 1593), called ’Keulschen huspot’ .
The recipe was found in one of the oldest printed cooking book (actually it was more like a medical encyclopedia) written by Carolus Battus.
In the Dutch program ‘De Wereld Draait Door’ Kranenborg will give a complete image of the cow by using movies, cow meat, anatomic models and living cows. From whey till the meat on your plate. He will share butcher’s secrets and farmers craftsmanship. Talk about the overrated tenderloin and the underrated stew. And of course about Foodpairing…
Tonight you can follow the program 8:30 pm at the Dutch television NED3.
We analyzed the ‘Keulschen huspot’ (type of stew with lots of herbs and spices) based on the following recipe;
Ingredients:
500 g beef, cut into cubes of 3 x 3 cm, ± 40 g per piece of meat
100 g onion
40 g butter
8 g flour
9 g dill
70 g ginger, cut into chunks
0.1 g of nutmeg powder
1.1 g of crushed white pepper
5 dl veal fonds
Preparation:
Cut the onion into brunoise. Heat the butter in a pot and add the onion. Fry the onions and remove from the pot when the onion are glazed.
Season the meat with salt and pepper. Put some extra butter in the pot and add the meat cubes. When the meat cubes are colored, add again the fried onion, some flour and stir.
Add the veal fonds and the dill, the ginger, the crushed peppercorns and the nutmeg powder. Maybe you will be surprised by the quantity of the spices, but you need this amount.
Put the lid on the pot and bring to the boil. Cook in a preheated oven at 150°C.
The combinations with this dish? You can find here in the Foodpairing tree.
We are proud to announce that we added a new exclusive vodka to our database: Beluga Gold Line Vodka. This vodka is produced in Siberia and matured for 90 days before bottling. This renders a broad aromatic profile with a soft sweetness. Let’s take a look at Beluga Gold Line’s Foodpairing potential.
The flavor profile of Beluga Gold Line Vodka is dominated by the fruity theme, pineapple and apple make excellent matches. Furthermore, this Vodka has outspoken spicy (clove-like) and green (cucumber, peppers, pea) flavor directions; and is further supplemented with caramellic notes (maple syrup). The flavor profile is rather complex for a vodka, providing a lot of Foodpairing opportunities.
We designed a complete menu complementing the Beluga Gold Line Vodka, from starter to dessert. The Vodka can be served throughout the meal.
The appetizer combines fruity and floral themes in a refreshing dish. While the dessert is exclusively focused on the fruity components of vodka. The vodka is paired with pineapple and ginger.
The main coursed combines grilled cucumber, fried beef and cabbage. This dish brings out the green and caramellic notes of the vodka.
Recipes you can find here.
Let’s talk chocolate! In this article we’ll take a look at Belcolade’s Noir Origins Grenada 67 and two pralines we‘ve designed to bring out its unique character.
Chocolate is unarguably one of the most complex food products, especially when it comes to its flavours. Belcolade has an Origins series covering almost the whole chocolate flavor spectrum, going from very earthy to flowery fruity. All Origin Chocolates were added to database. So check out the Foodpairing Explorer if you’re looking for a perfect matching chocolate. Based upon the flavor analysis and the Foodpairing results, a variety of pralines and desserts were designed, each emphasizing the particular character of the used chocolate. Find the recipes on our website.
Let’s take a closer look at the Grenada 67 and its recipes.
This chocolate is characterized by fruity and citrus flavor directions. The Grenada 67 also has a big nutty flavor theme, yet these aromas can be found in many chocolates. When searching for good matches with a particular chocolate, it’s best to focus on flavor themes that are characterizing for that chocolate. A first Grenada praline was made playing with the fruity direction, incorporating pear and blackberry
Recipe here.
A second praline is focused on the citrusy character of the Grenada 67 chocolate. Selecting Calamansie and mint.
Recipe here.
The North Sea has a broad diversity of fish species. Sole, turbot and sea bass are on top of the most wanted list; though there are plenty more fish in the sea –literally-, equally delicious yet unfairly unknown. Ever heard of Pout whiting or Weever fish? These fish are considered by catch, they are so difficult to sell only because of their unfamiliarity. Time to change all that!
To make the general public more acquainted with these undervalued fish we started analyzing some 30 North Sea fish including many species that are now considered by catch. A group of chefs, united as The North Sea Chefs, have now committed to put these lesser known species on their menus.
The following recipes are made with such by catch fish. Click on the fish name to see their Foodpairing® tree
Carrot curry soup with orange Pout whiting
Braise the vegetables with the butter. Add water or chicken stock and bring to a boil. Cook the vegetables on low heat. Blend. Season with salt, pepper and curry powder. Keep warm
Blend the fish with the egg white. Put the mixture into a bowl and place in ice water. Stir in the cream little by little. Mix in the cilantro and freshly grated orange peel. Season to taste. Make fish balls using a spoon. Cook the fish balls in lightly salted water. They are done once they start to float.
Put the fish balls in the soup. Finish with extra cilantro.
Braised small-spotted catshark, leek with dill and sauce Duglère
Chop the cat shark into desired pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté the shallot in a little butter. Deglaze with white wine and fish stock. Bring to a boil. Put in the pieces of cat shark. Cover with tin foil and cook in a preheated oven at 200 ° C for 1 to 2 minutes, depending on the thickness of the pieces. Remove the fish from the pan and keep warm. Strain the poaching liquid. Add cream, fish stock or bouillon and mussels broth. Reduce to the desired thickness. Blend in a little butter and pass through a sieve
Add the diced tomatoes and chives Bring to taste with salt and pepper.
Melt a knob of butter in a pan. Fry the leeks until tender. Season to taste. Stir in the dill just before serving.
Though they‘re available all year round, tomatoes are at their best in August. Check out how we tune up our favorite tomato application: Tomato Ketchup! In this article we’ll show you how to open doors to tons of new surprising ketchup recipes your guests will surely admire you for.
Making your own tomato ketchup is not that difficult at all. It’s a matter of blending a tomato sauce with an aigre-doux (a classic sweet and sour sauce), sugar and spices. The bonus you get by doing it yourself is you can add your own personal touches; herbs, spices, or even other vegetables or fruits will make your home made ketchup stand out from the retail crowd.
Here is our base recipe:
For the tomato sauce:
Mix all ingredients and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer for approximately 1hour. Blend and pass through a sieve. For the aigre-doux: Caramelize 50 g of castor sugar. |
For the ketchup:
Mix all of the ingredients. Reduce to about 900 g. Blend and thickening with a starch thickener. Allow the ketchup to rest for 1 night. |
There are many customization opportunities. Add extra herbs after the thickening step in order to preserve their freshness, spices or condiments could also be added during this step, but can also be applied when mixing the tomato sauce and aigre-doux. Alternatively they can be used to initially flavor the tomato sauce. Extra fruits and vegetables may be added during the mixing step, partially replacing the tomato sauce. Hard vegetables or fruits need to be cooked before application, e.g. cooked pumpkin puree. In fact vegetable purees can completely replace the tomato sauce. Check out our pumpkin ketchup recipe.
When it comes to selecting your personalizing ingredients, make sure to use the Foodpairing Explorer for inspiration. Here is the Foodpairing Tree of tomatoes as a starting point.
Here are some suggestions:
Continuing the bbq frenzy, in this article we’ll give you a sneak preview of some recipes we’ve designed based on the analysis of wood smoke.
We at Foodpairing® recently analyzed the smoke of different types of wood: apple, pear, cherry wood chips and grape vines. At first glance all woods have similar intensity and aroma profile, yet each smoke has its own specific character.
The apple wood smoke tends to be spicier than the rest, with clove and allspice flavours. The cherry smoke is characterized by its chocolate and peach themes. The pear smoke holds the middle between the cherry and apple, both containing the spicy and chocolate directions, with hints of boiled vegetables. The grape vine smoke is more savory than the rest. This information may help when selecting the right smoke for your recipes.
Smoking products requires a bit of skill, but once mastered it is not really that challenging. So we went looking for alternative ways to smoke and came up with two other for which you don’t need a barbeque.
When using a smoke port, make sure the chips are not too large, saw dust actually works the best. Place the empty smoke pot on the heat. Put in the wood chips when the pot is hot. As soon as the first smoke has disappeared, one can start adding ingredients on the grill above the smoldering wood.
When smoking in a standard grill oven, it is best to moisten the wood chips before use, as you would do on a barbeque. Water can be used for that purpose, but other liquids may be used for added dimensions. Check the Foodpairing Explorer for inspiration. Why not moisten your apple wood chips with apple juice?
Wrap the soaked wood chips in aluminum foil and place under the grill. As soon as the smoke begins to develop (which may take some time), put in the products to smoke.
Please observe that virtually any ingredients can be smoked. Though traditionally meats and fishes are smoked, excellent results may be achieved when smoking vegetables, fruits or even liquids or dairy.
Here is a preview of the “smoke” recipes that will come online.
pear wood smoked mackrel – avocado – bergamote
grape vines grilled and smoked chicken – fava beans – apple
cherry wood chip smoked orange peel – carrot – white chocolate – mascarpone
apple wood smoke black olive served with a classic Dry Martini
The Barbecue season is open again. Let’s see how Foodpairing can spice up your bruschettas, an excellent opener for any bbq menu.
A traditional bruschetta is easily made. Slice some baguette, grill it, add some tomato basil and the optional mozzarella and you’re done.
But what about when you’re searching for some new combos to put on the toast? Foodpairing offers tons of inspiration for these little appetizers. Just navigate to the Foodpairing Explorer and enter a starting ingredient. Next select matching ingredients and your done. You can start your foodpairing searches from pretty much anything that comes to mind. To keep it simple we selected the bread base as a starting point.
We ended up with following combo:
Cook the peas and blend them to obtain a smooth pea puree. Perfectionists can pass the puree through a sieve for extra smoothness. Put the puree on a toasted slice of baguette. Finish the bruschetta with dried ham, olive oil and some mint sprigs for freshness.
Next recipe follows the same blue print, but with different ingredients (no need to change a winning game). Mix some pickled artichokes. Put the puree on a toast; garnish with a few pieces of pickled artichokes and a few dots of goat cheese (eg Chavroux).
If carefully dosed, a bruschetta can benefit from some sweetness. In the following recipe we mixed cream cheese with chopped spring onions and a little mango chutney. The whole was finished with some extra mango chutney and some lemon verbena.
A few weeks back Bernard, the founder of Foodpairing®, was invited to Castillo de Canena for a Foodpairing event on their estate. Castillo de Canena is a Spanish producer of top quality olive oil. We analyzed two types of their olive oil for the occasion.
Both olive oils show a rich flavor profile which is mainly dominated by green and fatty aroma molecules. The Picual is more green, green banana, apple, cucumber than the Arbequina, which in turn is more citrus, fruity.
The owner of the Rosa Vaño estate used Foodpairing to prepare a whole menu; cocktail, snacks, meat dishes, cakes and more, all incorporating the 2 different extra virgine olive oils.
The green nature of the Picual olive oil connects better with fruit and vegetable preparations, matching perfectly with gaspacho of tomato and strawberry, mandarin & pork or Westvlaams Red with potato chips. The fruity and citrus character of the Arbequina olive oil is ideal in cake preparations.
Enjoy!
