Level Up Your Taste Buds With These Sophisticated Must-Try Flavor Pairings

If you’re a food aficionado, mixing up flavors can be an exciting pastime. Instead of eating the same things over and over, you always get something new. 

Of course, you need to be careful with this process. Orange doesn’t go with broccoli. But when you do discover a pairing that works, fireworks happen in your mouth. 

In this post, we take a look at some of the top flavor pairings out there that you might want to try. Some of these concepts are fusions, while others are taken from various culinary schools. 

Fish Sauce And Mango

Filipinos, Indonesians, and Vietnamese people worked out a long time ago that mango goes with fish sauce, a sort of distilled fish condiment. When you combine the two, you get the perfect combination of sweet, sour, and umami (a savory flavor). 

If you go to a restaurant, you’ll find that most establishments combine these ingredients into something called “nuoc cham” dipping sauce. However, you can also add fish sauce to mango salad dressings for an authentic and genuinely unique Southeast Asian sensation. 

Harissa And Honey

Harissa and honey is another popular combination that can help your taste buds come alive. It’s analogous to sweet chili, another better-known fusion. 

Harissa is a spicy paste used in Middle Eastern cooking and North Africa. It’s popular in mezze dishes and often makes an appearance at festivals and critical events in the calendar. 

Honey works well with it by adding more complexity besides heat. The natural sweetness blends with the spiciness and sourness to create interest in the palate. 

Harissa and honey go well mixed together to form a dip for warm pita bread. You can also use the combination for glazing meat and vegetables for a sweet and spicy kick. 

Lavender And Rosemary

If you like using flowers in cooking, you might want to experiment with a combination of lavender and rosemary. Pairing these two in dishes creates a unique herby and floral sensation that’s unlike anything you’d eat conventionally. 

What’s more, you don’t need to leave the enjoyment of these dishes to rare bookings at Michelin Star restaurants. You can whip up recipes at home. 

For example, you can try adding flowers and herbs to salads, as was popular in the Middle Ages. Mixing them together with a source of fat can produce some delicious flavors. 

You can also try adding herbs to desserts. For instance, cardamom is a popular ice cream addition. 

Mushrooms And Miso

Mushrooms have an earthy and deeply umami flavor by themselves. But just like chocolate syrup enhances cakes, miso makes them even better. 

Miso is made of fermented soybeans and rice, made using a traditional Japanese recipe. The result is a salty and deep taste that brings subtle flavors out in dishes. Mushrooms are the ideal bedfellow because their flavor can sometimes get lost in the maze of other ingredients in most recipes. 

You can use miso glaze on roasted mushrooms to help them crisp up and become more delectable. You can also add them to traditional tofu and miso soup to enhance the richness further. 

If you don’t like the texture of mushrooms but love the flavor, try the powdered variety. You can add it to miso-containing meals, getting the taste you love without having to chew on anything squidgy. 

Coffee And Citrus

Another uncommon flavor combination (but no less delicious) is coffee and citrus. Coffee beans bring depth and smokiness while citrus offers sharpness and flavor. 

Some coffee shops already have citrus syrups along with the usual vanilla, caramel, and chocolate. However, orange is also becoming more popular. 

You can also make coffee and citrus-infused salad dressings. Using espresso as the base and adding orange, sesame oil, and pine nuts to a blender can create something delicious. 

Soy Sauce And Berries

The idea of mixing soy sauce with berries sounds unusual, to say the least. But the flavor combination can work if done correctly. 

The reason this pairing works has to do with the sweetness and tartness of the berries, combined with the overwhelmingly savory flavor of the soy sauce. 

One option is to create a soy sauce reduction. Then, you drizzle a small amount of it over a berry compote. You can also add it along with ginger to boiled or baked peaches. 

Chocolate And Chili

The Aztecs worked out that chocolate and chili went together well over a thousand years ago. Now, we’re only just catching up with them in the West. 

Chocolate is one of the most sophisticated food products on the market. It contains more phytonutrients and other flavorsome elements than virtually any other ingredient in the world. 

When you mix it with chili, it enhances the flavor of both, giving dishes a spicy and rich kick. 

The obvious way to combine chocolate and chili is to use them both in a mole sauce. 

You can also combine chocolate and chili in chocolate mousse. Just warn your guests first that it’s spicy (they won’t be expecting it). 

Finally, you can try adding a pinch of chili flakes to chocolate ice cream. The coolness of the dessert contrasts the heat of the peppers beautifully. 

Fruit And Cheese

Why do fruit and cheese go together so well? 

The main reason is the saltiness and sourness of most cheeses. The lactic acid they contain is crying out for a sweet pairing. 

Farmers have been serving cheese and chutney for generations. But most people are still waiting for their palates to catch up. Adding fruit to cheese dishes isn’t always the obvious choice. 

To make life easier, many cheesemakers now integrate fruit into the cheese itself. For example, you can now get cheeses with apricots layered into them. 

However, these combinations are quite clichéed. It turns out that cheeses go with more fruity flavors than you might think. 

For instance, goat cheese pairs well with figs while Stilton goes with pears. 

Most of the flavor combination space is unknown, so feel free to experiment with different arrangements. In general, cheeses go with temperate fruits, but you might find some tropical exceptions. 

Asian Greens And Citrus

Asian greens and citrus are another sophisticated flavor pairing you might want to try. These work well because the acidity of the citrus cuts through the bitterness of pak choi and bok choi, bringing out more of the subtle flavors in these plants. 

Most people add citrus elements to their vinaigrettes. However, you can also turn fruits into a glaze for roasting vegetables or even marinated meat. 

Balsamic Vinegar And Desserts

Balsamic vinegar is a famous Italian condiment, traditionally used to add sweetness to salads and break down tough leaves. However, it has a character of its own, which makes it suitable for sophisticated desserts, too. 

One option is to pair balsamic vinegar with chocolate. The pairing helps to balance the sweetness in the dessert, giving it more of a kick. 

It’s also possible to add it as a sauce for fruit-based desserts. Again, the glaze helps to add sourness, offsetting some of the sweetness of the fruit. 

Picked Fruits And Fish

The Japanese love pairing picked fruits with fish. However, the trend is catching on elsewhere. 

The best pairings occur with fatty fish, like trout and mackerel. The oils these fish release combine beautifully with the tartness of the fruits, improving the flavor further. 

For example, you will sometimes see the top restaurants offering salmon with pickled rhubarb or mackerel with pickled cranberries. Chefs will sometimes use pickled fruits in chutneys or sauces to add richness and depth that fresh ingredients can’t. 

Fruit Salad And Chili

Finally, you might want to consider combining fruit salad and chili. Putting them together brings out the sweetness of the fruits and makes the experience more interesting. 

Many Southeast Asians love pairing these flavors. Street sellers sell sticks of fruit that customers dip in spicy vinegar and eat on the move. 

You sometimes also see people adding salt to the vinegar and using it as a dip for all types of fruits. Combining the flavors of sweet and sour is a classic that works all over the world. 

Conclusion

Changing your tastebuds to enjoy more sophisticated flavors is always a challenging process. It takes time for adjustments to happen. But once you start experimenting, you’ll find that it gets easier. 

If you think a flavor combination might work, but you’re not sure about attempting to cook it yourself, find a restaurant somewhere that can do it for you. Experiencing what it should taste like first can help you when you come to do it yourself (and ensures you won’t be put off by getting any of the flavors too strong). 

You can also use travel experiences to find new flavor combinations. Local people often had to work with the ingredients that were available in their areas, so you can find some unusual traditions and histories that you can emulate or adapt at home. 

So, having read this, which of these flavor combinations do you want to try the most? And which have you experienced already?