#flavor-pairing

#flavor-pairing

Without elaborate or expensive ingredients, chili still holds such a magnetic pull. Right as you step through the kitchen door, it's already impossible to resist following its hearty scent to the stove, where browned beef is simmering in spices, aromatics, and tomato sauce. What else could you possibly need when the temperature drops and your belly longs for a comforting warmth? Not much, except a cinnamon stick. It may seem like an optional afterthought, but trust us, this simple addition could make your chili more heartwarming than you thought possible.

Pre-made artichokes are sharp little flavor bombs that seem tailor-made for pairing with pizza. While there are plenty of great things about them, the key is their flavor profile. Canned artichokes' briny, lightly-acidic taste is great for cutting against the richness of the cheese and fat in pizza. They also bring a touch of vegetal lightness, despite being meaty and satisfying by the standards of other veggie pizza toppings.

A hearty bowl of butternut squash soup is the perfect dish to usher in autumn. While the rich, nutty squash, infused with herbs and broth, stands well on its own, enhancing it with extra ingredients is rarely a bad idea. Crispy, roasted chickpeas and toasted nuts and seeds are perfect for the dish, but pomegranate seeds will be your new favorite butternut squash soup topping.

For his chocola"tea" mousse, Young makes a "very strong tea syrup by bringing tea leaves and water to the boil". He then strains this and lets it infuse for five minutes before incorporating it into a sugar syrup. The chocolatier explained, "tea and chocolate make a wonderful pairing as they both have tannins in common in their tasting notes". Tannins give foods like tea and chocolate their signature bitter tang and also appear in coffee and wine.

The ingredient is a combination of highly-concentrated bitter almond oil, alcohol, and water, yielding a more distinctive taste than vanilla extract. Recipes typically require less than a teaspoon. On the palate, marzipan-y almond extract resembles amaretto liqueur - no mystery considering almonds belong to the same stone fruit family as apricots (amaretto is made from apricot kernels). "I also love the way it pairs with stone fruit, so I often add a dash of almond extract to cherry or peach recipes, like pie fillings," McDowell continues.

My parents took me to a botanical garden for my birthday one year, and we got lunch at the small restaurant inside. It was a bit of a fancier place. For dessert, I got a lemon tart with blueberry compote. I took my first bite and... something happened. I felt like I saw the whole of the universe.

Let's be honest - fried rice is a weeknight hero. You've got the rice, the veggies, maybe some eggs or another protein, and it gets the job done. But with just one addition, you can take it from good enough to something you'll actually look forward to eating: sweet chili sauce. This little condiment balances gentle sweetness with mild heat, instantly giving fried rice a restaurant-level upgrade.

In Jesse Szewczyk's Salt-and-Pepper Shrimp With Crispy Polenta, he enhances store-bought polenta by crisping it in oil, creating a delightful contrast with pan-fried shrimp.

Pastrami is the underrated option that everyone needs to try. The cured meat has that signature smoked brisket tenderness, packed with dynamic flavor, great for nachos.

The acid in salsa is perfect for balancing out the savory flavors of most taco fillings and brightening everything up so you can more easily down one of the world's great culinary creations.

Veggie burgers are often lacking in everything that's good about food, meaning texture, flavour and satisfaction. They tend not to have key flavour highs like fat and salt.