Food Pairing

Foodgoat & I may have reached, rather late to the game, a new level of foodie-ness: we've discovered food pairing.

One day we picked up, in addition to our usual black coffee, some sweet pastries. The coffee had always been good, and the demises and such were fine, but together ...!

The bitter edge of black coffee beautifully balanced by the dry, buttery richness of the pastries.

In contrast, later experiments found:

Mochas + pastries = way too sweet
Pastries + green tea = weird

confirming that:

Black coffee + sweet pastries = delightful

And then came the great Cake Donut Revelation. Neither Foodgoat nor I have been great fans of cake donuts. So dry, so heavy, so unglazed.

Until we found that:

Black coffee + cake donuts = yummy!!!

What had made them so plain before now made them the perfect accompaniment and dunking medium to strong, hot, black coffee. And we've become great fans of cake-style donuts.

And now I have an idea of what all those wine-pairing discussions are all about. It seems dishes are enhanced when served with complementary foods; a meal, then, is best conceived of as a whole, rather than disparate parts.

Who knew?