Perfect Pairings & Recipes for
Squab

Analysing hundreds of thousands of recipes uncovers squab's optimal flavour pairings.

Squab conjures the evocative embrace of glutamate and the kiss of game. But look beneath its obvious umaminess and you'll discover a captivating symphony of softer notes, a whisper of iron, a hint of protease, and subtle accents reminiscent of barnyard, contributing remarkable depth. The alchemy of the kitchen unfolds when we pair squab 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 thyme's thymic tones awaken squab, and how bay leaf's laurelled notes create a surprising synergy with its savoury richness.

An ingredient's flavour stems from its core characteristics, such as maillard, carnal, or earthy, combined with layers of subtle flavour notes (outer bars). For a balanced dish, pair ingredients with a variety of core flavours, and choose complementary aroma notes for harmony.

The Art of Flavour Pairing

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 Glutamic Notes

Our analysis shows that the flavour of glutamate is strongly associated with the flavour of bay leaf. This suggests we should look for ingredients with a bay leaf flavour when pairing with the glutamic notes of squab.

The recipes below provide inspiration for pairing squab with bay leaf.

Harmonious Flavours Of Squab

Just as our analysis highlighted that glutamate and bay leaf flavour notes are often associated, we can identify the full profile of flavours that harmonise with each of the flavours present in squab. For instance, the ironny flavours of squab are strongly associated with violic and tomatoey notes.

The accents complementary to the various aromas of squab can be seen highlighted in the pink bars below.

Matching Flavour Profiles

The flavour profile of thyme offers many of the aroma accents complementary to squab, including thyme and leafy notes. Because the flavour profile of thyme has many of the of the features that are complementary to squab, they are likely to pair very well together.

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

Recipes That Pair Squab With Thyme

Linked Flavour Notes

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

The left side of the chart above highlights the aroma notes of squab, 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 squab.

What To Drink With Squab

The violet notes in margaux (bordeaux) make it a perfect pairing with squab. Likewise, the violet flavours in crème de violette create a match made in heaven. Explore a variety of ingredients below that beautifully complement the unique character of squab below.

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., Squab), analyse its detailed flavour profile, and accurately reveal its complementary flavours and perfect ingredient partners.