Perfect Pairings & Recipes for
American IPA

Top flavour pairings and American IPA recipes, revealed through the hidden methmatics of flavour.

American IPA is defined by the unmistakable accents of hop and pine. But look beneath its obvious bitterness and you'll discover a captivating symphony of softer notes, a whisper of grapefruit, a hint of resin, and subtle accents reminiscent of cedar. These are the notes that lend it such remarkable, resonant depth. The epicurean alchemy unfolds when we pair American IPA with ingredients that let these nuances sing.

To map these harmonies, we analysed thousands of ingredients, breaking each one down across 150 flavour dimensions, identifying which notes complement and contrast. Our analysis reveals, for example, how pork shoulder's porcine tones enrich American IPA, and how Parmesan's proteolytic notes create a surprising synergy with its grassy aroma.

An ingredient's flavour comes from its core characteristics, like acidic, woody, and floral, combined with its unique aroma notes (outer bars). When pairing ingredients, aim to include a broad variety of core characteristics for a balanced dish. And choose aroma notes that complement each other for a harmonious combination.

The Flavour Code

To understand how flavour notes harmonise, we analysed more than 50,000 popular ingredient combinations. By exploring these pairings, we identified specific flavour notes that frequently occur together, indicating they share a harmonious relationship.

The Flavours That Harmonise With Hoppy Notes

Our analysis shows that the flavour of hop is strongly associated with the flavour of protease. This suggests we should look for ingredients with a fermented proteins flavour, such as Parmesan, when pairing with the hoppy notes of American IPA.

The recipe below provides inspiration for pairing American IPA with Parmesan.

Harmonious Flavours Of American IPA

Just as our analysis revealed that hop and oystery flavour notes are harmonious, we can identify the full profile of flavours that harmonise with each of the flavour accents present in American IPA. For instance, the piney notes of American IPA are strongly associated with porky and fatty flavours.

The aroma accents linked to the various accents of American IPA can be seen highlighted in the pink bars below.

Matching Flavour Profiles

The flavour profile of pork shoulder offers many of the notes complementary to American IPA, including porcine and ovine aroma notes. Because the flavour profile of pork shoulder has many of the of the features that are complementary to American IPA, they are likely to pair very well together.

The chart above shows the unique profile of pork shoulder across 150 dimensions of flavour, while the recipes below offer inspiration for bringing these flavours together with American IPA.

Recipes That Pair American IPA With Pork Shoulder

Linked Flavour Notes

Looking at the aroma notes that are most strongly associated with the various flavours of American IPA, we can identify other ingredients that are likely to pair well.

The left side of the chart above highlights the aroma notes of American IPA, along with the complementary aromas associated with each note. While the right side shows some of the ingredients that share many of the aroma notes complementary to American IPA.

How Flavonomics Works

We've pioneered a unique, data-driven approach to decode the intricate art of flavour pairing. Our goal is to move beyond intuition and uncover the science of why certain ingredients harmonise beautifully. This rigorous methodology allows us to provide you with insightful and reliable pairing recommendations.

Our analysis begins with over 50,000 carefully selected recipes from acclaimed chefs like Galton Blackiston, Marcello Tully, and Pierre Lambinon. This premium dataset ensures our model distils genuine culinary excellence and creativity.

Each ingredient from these recipes is deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, creating a unique numerical "flavour fingerprint." This quantification allows us to apply advanced analytical methods to identify complex patterns between flavour notes.

We identify popular ingredient combinations that frequently appear in our recipe database. Regression analysis is then performed on these pairings to statistically validate and pinpoint truly harmonious flavours.

These insights drive our predictive model, which allows us to take any ingredient (e.g., American IPA), analyse its detailed flavour profile, and accurately reveal its complementary flavours and perfect ingredient partners.