Savory Food Combinations
February 15, 2009 3:05 PM Subscribe
Foodfilter: Savory dish pairings? Previously
I'm looking for tasty dishes to serve together for meals. A personal favourite of mine is chili and couscous.
In addition to quintessentially North American pairings (I'm Canadian), I'd also be interested in regional/ethnic cuisine. In other words, what are common dish pairings throughout the culinary regions Europe, Coastal Asia etc.
I'm looking for tasty dishes to serve together for meals. A personal favourite of mine is chili and couscous.
In addition to quintessentially North American pairings (I'm Canadian), I'd also be interested in regional/ethnic cuisine. In other words, what are common dish pairings throughout the culinary regions Europe, Coastal Asia etc.
Not sure if this is the kind of thing you're looking for. Over the last several years, the following combination of ingredients has become kind of the standard "new American" salad.
-salad greens of the "anything but iceberg" variety (bonus points for something boozhy like frisee)
-slices of either pear or granny smith apple
-salty pig component like speck ham
-feta or gorgonzola-type cheese
-slightly candied nut (pecan, cashew, or walnut)
-vinaigrette
As long as you grab one ingredient from each of these arenas, you're guaranteed a delicious salad.
posted by phunniemee at 5:13 PM on February 15, 2009
-salad greens of the "anything but iceberg" variety (bonus points for something boozhy like frisee)
-slices of either pear or granny smith apple
-salty pig component like speck ham
-feta or gorgonzola-type cheese
-slightly candied nut (pecan, cashew, or walnut)
-vinaigrette
As long as you grab one ingredient from each of these arenas, you're guaranteed a delicious salad.
posted by phunniemee at 5:13 PM on February 15, 2009
If you look at the Japanese style of lots of small dishes on a single tray, there are a lot of places you can go with this. Off the top of my head, you can go with okayu (rice porridge) and little dishes of mixers. Okayu is almost never eaten plain. Things to mix in include sliced green onion, Japanese-style pickles, sesame oil, and, well, whatever you can think of. This is kind of a meal in a bowl thing, though you could supplement it with a dish of tofu with seasonings. If you're not adverse to eggs, chawan mushi (egg custard) can be good. Usually it has seafood, but again, you can modify that.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:22 PM on February 15, 2009
posted by Ghidorah at 5:22 PM on February 15, 2009
You might want to search for tapas (Spanish) and meze (Eastern Mediterranean) combinations. Thousands of recipes and ideas out there.
There is also the trend for "small plates" restaurants - similar concept, often adapted to reflect local cuisine. Search for menus and crib ideas for flavour and texture combinations from them.
Note, some restaurants do the "small plates" well - simple dishes with interesting flavours to choose from and combine. Some miss the point completely and offer smaller portions of the beef nachos and fish of the day.
Example of our local restaurant menu PDF - the vegetable dishes are the most interesting ... Cauliflower & Manchego croquettes ... black peppered strawberries ...crumbed haloumi and aubergine parcels ...
posted by Catch at 5:53 PM on February 15, 2009
There is also the trend for "small plates" restaurants - similar concept, often adapted to reflect local cuisine. Search for menus and crib ideas for flavour and texture combinations from them.
Note, some restaurants do the "small plates" well - simple dishes with interesting flavours to choose from and combine. Some miss the point completely and offer smaller portions of the beef nachos and fish of the day.
Example of our local restaurant menu PDF - the vegetable dishes are the most interesting ... Cauliflower & Manchego croquettes ... black peppered strawberries ...crumbed haloumi and aubergine parcels ...
posted by Catch at 5:53 PM on February 15, 2009
Italian: Herbed grilled vegetables & creamy polenta.
French: Mixed green salad with fruit and an interesting vinaigrette & spinach and caramelized onion quiche.
American: Grilled portobello burgers & sweet potato fries
Southwest American: Corn & Squash Soup & grilled polenta
Mediterranean: Nicoise style salad with potatoes, green beans, & olives with grilled garlic bread
I'm pulling these out of my head and probably some of these combinations aren't really legit to the area I claim, but they should all be good.
posted by Jupiter Jones at 8:20 PM on February 15, 2009
French: Mixed green salad with fruit and an interesting vinaigrette & spinach and caramelized onion quiche.
American: Grilled portobello burgers & sweet potato fries
Southwest American: Corn & Squash Soup & grilled polenta
Mediterranean: Nicoise style salad with potatoes, green beans, & olives with grilled garlic bread
I'm pulling these out of my head and probably some of these combinations aren't really legit to the area I claim, but they should all be good.
posted by Jupiter Jones at 8:20 PM on February 15, 2009
Well, it pretty much depends how nuts you want to go.
Last night, for example, I made:
- chicken thighs (boneless, skinless) quickly pan fried (in almost zero oil), then deglazed the pan with some white wine, reduced, poured it over the chicken and flashed under the broiler really fast to glaze. You could do this with seitan or tofu if you're avoiding meat.
- linguine with a mushroom cream sauce. Super easy. Chop mushrooms, saute in a little butter or olive oil until nicely darkened, toss in a little bit of the same white wine, reduce slightly, throw in 100ml cream. Add your cooked linguine, toss, throw in fresh chopped tarragon. It sounds rich, but the sauce just barely provides a glue for the mushrooms to stick to the pasta.
- fennel, blood orange, red onion salad. Just chop (make supremes of the orange segments), throw in a bowl, add some white wine vinegar and olive oil (I like 'broken' or non-emulsified dressings).
Pretty much takes about 1/2hr from start to finish, and here's why the flavours work together:
- chicken is pretty neutral (unless you're getting hardcore organic free range heirloom breeds), so it'll go with everything. The white wine glaze ties to the mushrooms.
- mushrooms and cream is a match made in heaven anyway. Tarragon and mushrooms is *gorgeous*. Linguine provides a neutral background, and the earthy notes in the mushroom will pull out the heavier flavour in the chicken thigh (which looks like white meat but tastes like dark; lovely). The bit of white wine also echoes the chicken.
So so far you've got earthy, rich, sweet, neutral, herbal. And then:
- the fennel and orange salad provides a fresh bright flavour to cut through everything else, and the anise flavour of the fennel plays off the similar anise flavour of the tarragon.
Also, read this (selflink to my nascent food blog), which was originally a comment I made around here somewhere. The best way to start playing with pairings is to think about what you like to eat together, and then fiddle with replacing one half of the equasion. Let's say you like roast beef and mashed potatoes. Classic, right? So what about doing a mashed celeriac instead? Well, you're going to get that herbal/slightly bitter/celery flavour in the mash, and it'll be slightly sweeter, so maybe instead of a straight gravy you make one lightly flavoured with rosemary to play against it.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 8:24 PM on February 15, 2009
Last night, for example, I made:
- chicken thighs (boneless, skinless) quickly pan fried (in almost zero oil), then deglazed the pan with some white wine, reduced, poured it over the chicken and flashed under the broiler really fast to glaze. You could do this with seitan or tofu if you're avoiding meat.
- linguine with a mushroom cream sauce. Super easy. Chop mushrooms, saute in a little butter or olive oil until nicely darkened, toss in a little bit of the same white wine, reduce slightly, throw in 100ml cream. Add your cooked linguine, toss, throw in fresh chopped tarragon. It sounds rich, but the sauce just barely provides a glue for the mushrooms to stick to the pasta.
- fennel, blood orange, red onion salad. Just chop (make supremes of the orange segments), throw in a bowl, add some white wine vinegar and olive oil (I like 'broken' or non-emulsified dressings).
Pretty much takes about 1/2hr from start to finish, and here's why the flavours work together:
- chicken is pretty neutral (unless you're getting hardcore organic free range heirloom breeds), so it'll go with everything. The white wine glaze ties to the mushrooms.
- mushrooms and cream is a match made in heaven anyway. Tarragon and mushrooms is *gorgeous*. Linguine provides a neutral background, and the earthy notes in the mushroom will pull out the heavier flavour in the chicken thigh (which looks like white meat but tastes like dark; lovely). The bit of white wine also echoes the chicken.
So so far you've got earthy, rich, sweet, neutral, herbal. And then:
- the fennel and orange salad provides a fresh bright flavour to cut through everything else, and the anise flavour of the fennel plays off the similar anise flavour of the tarragon.
Also, read this (selflink to my nascent food blog), which was originally a comment I made around here somewhere. The best way to start playing with pairings is to think about what you like to eat together, and then fiddle with replacing one half of the equasion. Let's say you like roast beef and mashed potatoes. Classic, right? So what about doing a mashed celeriac instead? Well, you're going to get that herbal/slightly bitter/celery flavour in the mash, and it'll be slightly sweeter, so maybe instead of a straight gravy you make one lightly flavoured with rosemary to play against it.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 8:24 PM on February 15, 2009
I come from a Korean family. Traditional Korean meals involve having lots of food on the table, including several "mains" that play flavors/textures/temperatures off each other (i.e., grilled meat in a sweet marinade, deep-fried chicken chunks in a spicy/citrusy/sour sauce, grilled salted fish). As a result, even when my family eats Western meals, they feel the whole meat-and-three concept is kind of...meager, and like to have several main attractions.
I usually get roped into going over and cooking anytime my parents host a big meal. They always want at least two main things. Tonight, they hosted a dinner party where I grilled ribeyes and topped 'em with compound butter that had a tiny bit of anchovy paste, and also put out a platter of grilled jumbo shrimp marinated in chimichurri (we also had roasted new potatoes, grilled asparagus, a squash thing, and haricot verts with balsamic onions). In the past, we've done grilled chicken, fried crabcakes, and a substantial grilled-tomato and proscuitto panzanella with sides; sausage lasagna AND chicken piccata AND chopped salads with meat; a stuffed crown roast of pork AND a roasted side of salmon with citrus; duck breasts with green peppercorns AND a light-duty shellfish paella. Some combinations are more successful than others, but the key is diversity, playing complementary textures and flavors against each other - they expect everyone to eat a little of everything, not choose between the chicken and fish.
Maybe also take cues from traditional holiday meals, especially if you're a vegetarian? A sweet potato gratin and creamed spinach don't seem like natural partners apart from the Thanksgiving feast, but the sweet/savory and nutty/creamy dichotomies make it work. Ditto roasted butternut squash and creamed onions.
posted by peachfuzz at 8:29 PM on February 15, 2009
I usually get roped into going over and cooking anytime my parents host a big meal. They always want at least two main things. Tonight, they hosted a dinner party where I grilled ribeyes and topped 'em with compound butter that had a tiny bit of anchovy paste, and also put out a platter of grilled jumbo shrimp marinated in chimichurri (we also had roasted new potatoes, grilled asparagus, a squash thing, and haricot verts with balsamic onions). In the past, we've done grilled chicken, fried crabcakes, and a substantial grilled-tomato and proscuitto panzanella with sides; sausage lasagna AND chicken piccata AND chopped salads with meat; a stuffed crown roast of pork AND a roasted side of salmon with citrus; duck breasts with green peppercorns AND a light-duty shellfish paella. Some combinations are more successful than others, but the key is diversity, playing complementary textures and flavors against each other - they expect everyone to eat a little of everything, not choose between the chicken and fish.
Maybe also take cues from traditional holiday meals, especially if you're a vegetarian? A sweet potato gratin and creamed spinach don't seem like natural partners apart from the Thanksgiving feast, but the sweet/savory and nutty/creamy dichotomies make it work. Ditto roasted butternut squash and creamed onions.
posted by peachfuzz at 8:29 PM on February 15, 2009
I grilled ribeyes and topped 'em with compound butter that had a tiny bit of anchovy paste
This is me drooling.
and also put out a platter of grilled jumbo shrimp marinated in chimichurri
Excuse me, I need a bucket.
they expect everyone to eat a little of everything, not choose between the chicken and fish.
Yes, this is a very weird thing in Western cuisine, the idea that you have ONE thing and ONE side thing and YOU ARE EATING IT. I suspect the backlash against that is a large part of the success of El Bulli/Minibar/WD-50/etc, as well as the dying trend towards 'tapas' restaurants, and Todd English's recent (past couple of years) Italian omakase concept in NYC.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:01 PM on February 15, 2009
This is me drooling.
and also put out a platter of grilled jumbo shrimp marinated in chimichurri
Excuse me, I need a bucket.
they expect everyone to eat a little of everything, not choose between the chicken and fish.
Yes, this is a very weird thing in Western cuisine, the idea that you have ONE thing and ONE side thing and YOU ARE EATING IT. I suspect the backlash against that is a large part of the success of El Bulli/Minibar/WD-50/etc, as well as the dying trend towards 'tapas' restaurants, and Todd English's recent (past couple of years) Italian omakase concept in NYC.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:01 PM on February 15, 2009
Vegetarian: Quinoa and lentils (similar to your chili and couscous in terms of protein + starch, but you get a nice compare/contrast effect between the quinoa grains and lentils).
Cliched carnivorous: corned beef and cabbage.
Not sure where this one falls: poached eggs and arugala salad (the latter with some shaved parmigiano, lemon juice, and olive oil).
posted by lionelhutz5 at 10:43 PM on February 15, 2009
Cliched carnivorous: corned beef and cabbage.
Not sure where this one falls: poached eggs and arugala salad (the latter with some shaved parmigiano, lemon juice, and olive oil).
posted by lionelhutz5 at 10:43 PM on February 15, 2009
Beans and greens. Most frequently, sauteed garlic with cannelli beans and kale but many, many combinations are possible. Eat as-is for a main, add stock for a soup. Always tasty.
posted by cali at 12:57 AM on February 16, 2009
posted by cali at 12:57 AM on February 16, 2009
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posted by kiki_s at 3:16 PM on February 15, 2009