Learn
Resources
Books
Salt, Fat, Acid Heat
by Samin Nosrat
A reference to pairing with contrasting tastes is the James Beard Award winning book Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat.
The first part offers a chapter on each of the four pillars of taste. It shows how to balance each when incorporating it into a dish.
The second part show specific recipes using the recommended techniques to make each of the elements work to best advantage.
Also a Netflix movie !
What to Drink with What You Eat
by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page
Finally, a book that gives you pairing ideas and the rationale for them: What to Drink with What You Eat by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page.
It has two key sections:
“What to Drink with what You Eat”. In this section you select a food and it offers a list of beverages that pair well with it.
“What to Eat with what You Drink” In this section you select a beverage and it offers a list of foods that pair well with it.
Wine Grapes
A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavors is a reference book about varieties of wine grapes. The book covers all grape varieties that were known to produce commercial quantities of wine at the time of writing, which meant 1,368 of the known 10,000 varieties
The Science of Spice | The Science of Cooking
by Dr. Stuart Farrimond
Spices can be used either on a food or in sauces. Food elements can be tied together with sauces. An outstanding book on Spices is the book Spice by Dr. Stuart Farrimond. The author is a M.D. who specializes in food science. His book contains two pages on each spice, identifying the four major aroma compounds and suggesting what foods contain the same compound.
A page for fennel is pictured below. It shows that the dominant aroma is anisole, which is also present in anise and licorice. He selects food partners for each spice.
