Nothing is Impossible

Mr Langenbick, is it true that veal goes well with white chocolate?

You may be surprised, but veal and white chocolate really is a good combination. They share a lot of key aromas.
 
Does that mean that they have similar flavours?

Yes. At this point, I should explain how we experience flavour. There is a widespread misconception that we only perceive aromas in our mouth, on the tongue. In reality, as much as 90 per cent of our sense of taste comes from the scent of the food we eat. We may not be aware of it, but the olfactory receptors in the upper part of our nose detect even the smallest aromatic compounds. These compounds, which we call the ‘primary aromatic compounds’, are crucial in our perception of flavour. White chocolate and veal share a number of primary aromatic compounds, so they harmonise well.

How do you work out which ingredients go together?

At first, we use gas chromatography to isolate the individual aromatic compounds of a single type of food. In most cases, this process also involves mass spectrometry. We then identify the main aromas that determine how we perceive the flavour of the food. Humans cannot detect every single aroma. Most substances are only present in extremely low concentrations, and our nose simply cannot identify them. They are below the odour detection threshold. Only aromas which exceed that threshold shape the flavour we experience. We use these aromatic compounds, of which there may be up to 40 at once, to create a flavour profile for each individual type of food. These profiles are the foundation of our database.

And chefs, bartenders and private cooking enthusiasts can use them, too?

Exactly. Foodpairing® offers a starting point to anyone who wants to create a new recipe. A chef may enter an ingredient into our database, for instance. Based on shared primary aromatic compounds, the underlying algorithm puts out all possible pairings. The more compounds two ingredients share, the better they will harmonise with each other. This system yields some very surprising combinations – such as veal and white chocolate, for instance. Now, it all comes down to the chef’s creativity. To create a harmonious dish, he or she needs to strike the perfect balance between aroma, flavour and texture. If this is not done well, the combination won’t work. After all, flavour and texture make up around 20 per cent of our enjoyment of a dish. Sang Hoon Degeimbre, the Chef de Cuisine at L’Air du Temps in Belgium, for example, has firmly established the combination of strawberries and peas in his restaurant.