Octaves and the "Ring"

Everybody knows about the sweet, sour, salty, bitter, spicy and even the more esoteric umami. What I am interested in is the underlying filtering and evaluating system of taste. The one that judges and organizes flavors. Not just sweet, sour, salty, etc.. but good, bad, harmful, healthy, and satisfying ancient associations. Real evolutionary type stuff. How long do sensations like this stay with us, and how do we remember them?

A popular trend with some chefs is to play with the nostalgic power of food. I read about menu descriptions of food that purports to transport and connect the diner to their childhood food memories. Do I care if it smells like fall or a campfire in this restaurant? Cool as it is to serve a caramelized pumpkin tart on a bed of autumn leaves to evoke nostalgia, It feels a little gimmicky and manipulative for a restaurant experience.

What I find much more interesting is the marriage of a very few flavors from just a few ingredients—and getting out more than the sum of their parts. Some flavor bounced avant garde tasting menu, that allowed me to time travel into my past and smell my grandfather’s summertime grill is cool, but there more sophisticated and relevant flavor experiences to be had.

When I approach an ingredient I think about all of the different flavors it has in its various states. Raw, barely cooked, grilled, burned, slow cooked, boiled, etc. I think a good analogy is a musical octave. Same instrument, same note, slightly different expression. An amazing plated dish from somewhere like Alinea is like a symphony. Different instruments, notes, techniques, and surprises coming together to form a beautiful sensory experience.

More simply, let’s play the SAME instrument. Evoke an intense, memorable, and third synergistic flavor variation of the pleasing “RING” you hear when the same note 2 Octaves apart is struck simultaneously. Sweet, slow roasted carrots paired with a slightly acidic, vegetal raw carrot juice sauce, for instance. The combination of both creating a new, fundamentally pleasing tone.

Here is a slightly more complex example. Grilled lobster, its with bright flavors of salt, lemon, herbs, and butter, is a perfect dish and it stands on its own. But consider also a deep, sweeter slow cooked lobster broth with shallots, white wine, tomato, and garlic. Paired successfully, these dishes can elevate one another. In Southampton during lobster season I made a fresh egg pasta dish using the broth to make a sauce, and garnishing it with the grilled meat. Not cooked together, put played perfectly together as foils. Elevating. The ring.