The Incompatible Food Triad

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-incompatible-food-triad-is-the-most-delicious-philosophical-problem-of-our-time

by samclemens • 10 years ago

66 78 10 years ago

atlasobscura.com

endswapper4• 10 years ago

Chocolate and brie sounds delicious...I'm going to eat some right now. It sounds like a salty, chocolaty, creamy dream come true. I'm going to have some red wine with it.

imagist3• 10 years ago

Yeah. That's what I thought when I read that.

grkvlt2• 10 years ago

I tasted some cheese-flavoured speciality chocolate once, you can buy them from the Barcelona chocolate museum.[0] I will not be doing that again. Possibly the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten...

[0] http://www.museuxocolata.cat/museu.php

uiri• 10 years ago

Chocolate, Pretzels, Mustard.

Chocolate-covered pretzels - great!

Mustard on a pretzel - great!

Chocolate and mustard - http://archive.jsonline.com/features/recipes/159818205.html

All three? WTF!

lucideer3• 10 years ago

I think the fact that chocolate and mustard is a thing (and that you had to link to proof of this) is probably a bizarre enough fact to hint that all three might also be somehow workable.

someones_acct2• 10 years ago

The chocolate mustard used in that brownie recipe is specifically marketed as being good on pretzels. :) http://store.mustardmuseum.com/product/1296/exotic-mustards

jstanley• 10 years ago

Salted cucumbers, sugar, and yogurt might work, but if you count the salt, that’s four ingredients, not three. You might not like the thought of potatoes, mayonnaise and cabbage, but someone has invented a corned beef salad that has all three.

So, which is it? "More than 3 ingredients doesn't count" or "it counts as long as it contains all 3"?

bmh100• 10 years ago

I agree. The article isn't consistent. It references the

Lemon, cocoa, and curry don’t sound great, but it’s not too hard to imagine a decent lemon mole sauce.
Salted cucumbers, sugar, and yogurt might work, but if you count the salt, that’s four ingredients, not three.

Mole sauces seem to contain quite a bit more than 3 ingredients, such as chili peppers [1]. If salt counts as a single ingredient, then surely a mole sauce is extremely disqualified. Sugar should also be considered an ingredient.

Tiffany Inglis, a programmer and digital artist, took some time a few years ago to design a lemon affogato, in order to patently prove that a top Incompatible Food Triad contender—espresso, lemon, and milk—wasn’t so bad after all.

Here is the list of 5-8 ingredients in that affogato [2]:

- 1 cup milk

- 1cup sugar

- ¼ cup condensed milk

- 5 egg yolks, lightly beaten

- 5tbsp lemon zest

- ½ cup fresh lemon juice

- 2 cups heavy cream

- 1 shot of espresso

In my opinion, the only reasonable way of approaching this problem is to strictly limit what counts as an ingredient and to carefully limit the amount of preparation involved to count ingredients as "paired". This way, pickles actually count as two ingredients, due to the vinegar involved. Sugar also cannot be assumed as a glue to bind the triad together. "Curry", being a mixture, could also not count as an ingredient. Therefore, I propose my own solution:

chili powder + espresso = spicy espresso

espresso + lemon juice = sour espresso

chili powder + diluted lemon juice = spicy lemonade

chili power + lemon juice + espresso = spicy sour espresso (bad)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_sauce

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numb...

edmccard• 10 years ago

> Salted cucumbers, sugar, and yogurt might work, but if you count the salt, that’s four ingredients, not three. You might not like the thought of potatoes, mayonnaise and cabbage, but someone has invented a corned beef salad that has all three.
So, which is it? "More than 3 ingredients doesn't count" or "it counts as long as it contains all 3"?

Not sure what the confusion is, but neither of the two examples counts as "three foods where any two of those foods taste good together, but all three combined taste disgusting". The first example fails (if you count the salt) because it has four foods, not three. The second example fails because someone has made a (presumably non-disgusting) recipe with all three combined.

mcphage• 10 years ago

The question is about flavors, not specific food items.

mirimir• 10 years ago

Salted cucumbers, sugar, and yogurt

Isn't that cucumber raita, more or less?

When scrounging, I tend to assume that "The Incompatible Food Triad" hypothesis is false ;) But then, I've eaten some strange stuff. Spicy shredded beef fried crispy in sugar syrup, say. Hot-pepper chocolate ice cream.

grkvlt2• 10 years ago

The addition of other ingredients is required to make an actual dish containing the relevant pairs. So it doesn't matter if A and B, B and C, and A and C all taste good together; if A, B, C, D, E, F and G together taste good, that's counterexample like the corned beef salad. But, the first point is talking about ingredients A, B and C, C and D, and A, B and D, where A is salt and B is cucumber; this is not a triad. Also, the recipes with A and B together would presumable contain A, B and P, Q and R; A, C, S, T and U; B, C, V, W and X; that is, each combination is used to make a dish that has other, ancillary ingredients.

whiddershins• 10 years ago

My favorite answer is: tequila, tequila, tequila.

rwallace• 10 years ago

Sorry, nope: back in my student days, I tried that combination on more than one occasion and greatly enjoyed it!

mikeash• 10 years ago

Merely adjust the quantities to fit the individual in question.

mfrykman• 10 years ago

Liquor, Beer, Wine?

jayd16• 10 years ago

Its that third drink that turns the night.

Retric8• 10 years ago

If you limit it to just those 3 things then it's easy: Vanilla, Chocolate, ice cream. Vanilla + chocolate = tasty, Chocolate or Vanilla ice cream = tasty. Mixing Vanilla and Chocolate ice cream fails.

The only way it's a problem is they keep adding other stuff such as a banana ice cream Sunday.

tgb6• 10 years ago

You'll find that many people disagree with you on this... https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1...

Retric8• 10 years ago

Yet you don't find chocolate vanilla ice cream pre mixed.

endswapper4• 10 years ago

No way! "Mixing Vanilla and Chocolate ice cream fails."

Chocolate and vanilla soft serve twist is a thing, a glorious, glorious thing.

https://www.google.com/search?q=vanilla+and+chocolate+soft+s...

Retric8• 10 years ago

"Soft serve is generally lower in milk-fat (3% to 6%) than ice cream (10% to 18%)" So, soft serve is not ice cream IMO.

imagist3• 10 years ago

I worked at an ice cream shop. Chocolate + vanilla in a shake is called a black and white shake and in a cone is called a twist cone. It's a common enough combo it had its own name.

rblatz• 10 years ago

Most recipes I see for chocolate ice cream include vanilla[0]. Not to mention the typical chocolate vanilla swirl soft serve.

[0] https://www.google.com/amp/www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton...

asah• 10 years ago

coffee+lemon = espresso

coffee+cream = latte

cream+lemon = ricotta

coffee+lemon+cream = curdled mess!

imagist3• 10 years ago

Yeah, you could substitute a lot of stuff for espresso there: chocolate, for example. Basically the curdling reaction is the key there.

lucideer3• 10 years ago

It's debatable whether curdled == bad though (e.g. ricotta)

drjesusphd• 10 years ago

I'm pretty sure you can make a dessert from ricotta and espresso. A coffee canoli sounds delicious.

pbhjpbhj• 10 years ago

You can do a simple cheesecake with ricotta, cream, and sugar (and a biscuit base). Flavour it with coffee, seems like it would taste OK.

fnord1232• 10 years ago

Similar:

tea + lemon = good

tea + milk = good

lemon + milk = buttermilk

tea + lemon + milk = Boudica weeps.

daxfohl• 10 years ago

Anything that would kill you 3/3 but would be arguably palatable for all 2/3?

SilasX• 10 years ago

If we're posting solutions...

Peanut butter + jelly = traditional snack

Jelly + cream cheese = common on pastries

Peanut butter + cream cheese = good cracker spread

Peanut butter + cream cheese + jelly = ???

late2part• 10 years ago

equals yum!!!

mbil• 10 years ago

my girlfriend willingly eats the last combo

joseph3• 10 years ago

Having eaten at a few Michelin three star restaurants, I have come to realize that flavor incompatibilities are all in your head. Seafood flavored ice cream doesn't sound too good, but maybe it is, if you aren't thinking about where the flavors originate. Also, what tastes good is just, like, your opinion man.

empath75• 10 years ago

Before eating at a Michelin star restaurant, I'd have suggested sea urchin, raw beef and meringue as an incompatible triad.

wheat7420• 10 years ago

So you thought they would taste good paired but terrible with all three?

tptacek2• 10 years ago

Squid ink ice cream is a thing, isn't it?

js2• 10 years ago

Many ice creams have carrageenan in them. It's a thickener / stabilizer derived from seaweed, ergo...

joseph3• 10 years ago

I haven't tried it but Google says it is a thing.

archagon• 10 years ago

I think flavor in general is very contextual. I routinely enjoy funky, fermented, strong-tasting foods that in a blind tasting with novice participants could probably be mistaken for garbage. As long as I have "culinary permission" to enjoy a food, it's unlikely that I'll find it disguisting, almost regardless of what the ingredients are!

eliasbagley• 10 years ago

I like your use of "culinary permission", as I'm the same say. If someone tells me a food is safe to eat, I'll give it a chance regardless of how strange it seems.

joseph3• 10 years ago

Yeah, and a nice presentation goes a long way towards removing the context you normally put around a particular food. If something looks appealing, you're more likely to try it, and then you discover flavors you never thought to combine.

wldlyinaccurate• 10 years ago

Am I missing something here? What about bread, cheese, and tomatoes? Even the Strawberries/Chocolate/Brie example in the article would not sound horrible to some people — I've had chocolate with cheese on many occasions.

someones_acct2• 10 years ago

I like caprese on toast, and also just cheese-on-toast with a slice of tomato under it. Both are better with the usual seasonings (basil & olive oil or pepper respectively) but neither are horrible without them.

I agree strawberries/chocolate/brie doesn't sound that horrible, though. That's just a fondue party with two pots, isn't it? Or is that cheating?

lifeformed• 10 years ago

How is grilled cheese dipped in tomato soup not delicious?

eridius• 10 years ago

Bread, cheese, and tomatoes sounds like a perfectly delicious sandwich.

lucideer3• 10 years ago

Pizzas are also a pretty popular food I think

zem• 10 years ago

bread, cheese and tomatoes are practically a canonical sandwich!

_cbsz• 10 years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruschetta

KC8ZKF• 10 years ago

An apple pie without the cheese, Is like a hug without the squeeze

_raoulcousins• 10 years ago

I learned this many years ago as the Borromean food problem, after Borromean rings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borromean_rings

sweeneyrod• 10 years ago

When I heard about this, I wrote a Python script to search allrecipes and find solutions (see here: https://github.com/sweeneyrod/three-food-problem). Unfortunately they seem to have changed their website format, so the code doesn't currently work. The most recent generated solutions I can find are: cheese, red wine, rump roast; corn, tart, dill pickle; hot pepper, cocoa, bun; apple, spinach, cup; cheddar, paprika, brown rice; split, tomato paste, maple syrup; crescent roll, cream cheese, apple pie; taco, pie, peanut butter; sour cream, honey, cup; vanilla, maraschino, grape;

As you can see, there are some problems with what things WordNet classes as foods.

sporkologist• 10 years ago

crescent roll, cream cheese, apple pie

That one just looks awesome... well, a crescent roll is similar to pie crust anyway

tptacek2• 10 years ago

I feel like red wine and tough beef get you "braised beef", and braised beef and parmigiano is a thing.

Cheddar, paprika, and brown rice also sounds kind of conventional.

failrate2• 10 years ago

Hot pepper, cocoa, bun has me positively salivating in anticipation.

gweinberg• 10 years ago

It seems to me this is more a chemistry question than a math question. Ignoring the subjectivity element, why is it ever the case that two things that taste good separately taste bad together? Maybe it's because they have a chemical reaction. So maybe what we should be looking for is chemicals that don't react as a pair (or react so slowly you don't notice), but will react in the presence of a catalyst which is pretty inert by itself. So I think one ingredient should be Platinumschlager (which is like Goldschlager except stupider).

Mathnerd314• 10 years ago

There are multi-component reactions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-component_reaction

The Hantzsch reaction looks promising (producing pyridines which are apparently pretty nasty); from looking at which foods contain which compounds, the obvious ones are cinnamon (cinnamaldehyde), apples (malic acid, which links to keto acid, which is linked from β-keto ester... I didn't take organic chemistry), and aged cheese (glutamate, a nitrogen donor).

Apple-cinnamon and apples+cheese are both well-known pairings. The only question is cinnamon cheese, and surprisingly enough there's a review: http://www.thekitchn.com/cheese-review-trader-joes-cinn-1307.... It's apparently pretty good. But, when eating the cheese with the apple, "the cinnamon flavor didn't really enhance the cheese, ironically enough, and so I opted to eat the cheese separately from the fruit." I guess that means this question is solved...?

throwa34567• 10 years ago

This was a popular conversation among friends of mine years ago. The best answer a friend of mine had was "tequila, tequila, tequila"

fibbery• 10 years ago

spinach, peanut butter, celery

spinach + peanut butter = pra ram (this assuming the ingredients can be cooked)

raw spinach + celery = a salad

raw celery + peanut butter = a common child's snack

spinach + celery + peanut butter together, whether cooked or raw....:/

hasenj• 10 years ago

Sesame paste, salt, molasses.

The paste with salt makes tahini sauce, the paste with molasses makes a dessert. All three together sound horrible.

michaelsbradley• 10 years ago

canned sardines, pink bubblegum flavored ice cream, fresh pineapple

The Incompatible Food Triad

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