You should serve roast beef with chocolate sauce, scientist claims
When it comes to roast beef, most of us reach for pungent flavours such as horseradish or mustard.
But should be reaching for a nice, sticky chocolate sauce instead?
University of Cambridge researchers analysed the chemical compounds shared by different ingredients in 56,498 online recipes, and found some rather unexpected pairings.
Dr Sebastian Ahnert says, ‘It has led to something called computational gastronomy. We can use datasets about food compounds to change the way we experience food.’
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Dr Ahnert says that in Western Europe, North America and Latin America, recipes tend to use ingredients which share flavour compounds – but the same isn’t true of Asian recipes.
But the research also threw up some unusual pairings which even the boldest chefs are yet to try – such as beef and chocolate, white chocolate and caviar, pork and vanilla and chicken served with kelp seaweed.
Dr Ahnert said, ‘Coffee and potato share a lot of compounds so I made mashed potato with milky coffee. It was horrible. But I’ve had a dish in Paris with coffee and potato that worked.
‘So the execution is a big part it and that is where chefs can really help.
‘Cooking can also alter compounds so we need to do some work predicting how that can change a flavour profile.’
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