New Hotel & Restaurant  Foodservice guest columnist, Jodi-Ann Pearton of The Food Design Agency, has written in the most recent issue about ‘Flavour Banks’, and has presented a list of five new flavour marriages.   Some of the new trendy flavour marriages sound like bizarre combinations, but will become commonplace over time, as they are increasingly experienced in restaurants and at dinner parties.

Pearton writes after a recent trip to France and Italy, where she attended Bocuse D’Or 2011, “the most prestigious individual culinary competition in the world”, according to her.   Her trip inspired her, and she says that it opened her eyes to a “whole new world.  A world where food is president, where freshness is perilous and where flavour is paramount”.   Flavour was the central focus of her impressions, being “the make or break component of any dish”, a combination of taste and smell.    She writes quite technically about adding and mixing flavours as if one is ‘withdrawing and depositing from a flavour bank”.   So a chef cooks by using the unique flavours of the individual ingredients, and then combines them and even spices them up.  Basic seasonings and fragrant vegetables create a masterpiece on a plate, she writes, creating a “flavour bank”. 

Pearton saw the reality of this focus on flavour in the European markets, where every supplier knows his/her fruit, vegetable and spice, as do the shoppers at these markets, and this knowledge is shared amongst those that one is cooking for too.   “The open channels of communication result in a high level of dining in these communities” as a result.   Flavour combinations create an extra dimension to a dish, says Pearton, and experimenting chefs are the ones coming up with unique flavour combinations.  “The palate is an unworked canvas and as cooks we have the ability to create masterpieces upon it as long as we are not afraid to be creative”, she concludes.

In the article the top five traditional flavour combinations are listed as Tomato and basil, Lamb and mint, Beef and horseradish, Chocolate and orange, and Fish and lemon.

The “Top Five new flavour marriages” are the following, according to Pearton: 

*   Kumquat and cranberry

*   Fresh water trout and sweet corn

*   Lemon verbena and wild mushrooms

*   Lime leaf and pink peppercorn

*   Cabbage and toasted coconut.

Hotel and Restaurant, March 2011.   www.hotelandrestaurant.co.za  www.jodi-ann.co.za

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com   Twitter: @WhaleCottage