Perfect Pairings & Recipes for
Squid

Exquisite squid flavour pairings and recipes, revealed through data science.

Squid instantly conjures the evocative embrace of brine and the kiss of iodine, but beneath its saltiness lies a complex symphony of subtle flavour notes, such as glutamate, seaweed, and hints of protease. These are the notes that lend it such remarkable, resonant depth. The key to a beautiful harmony lies in knowing how these accents harmonise and interact.

To illuminate these harmonies, we embarked on an ambitious journey, analysing thousands of ingredients. Each was meticulously deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, allowing us to pinpoint precisely which notes complement in both classic and unexpected ways. Our findings reveal, for instance, how flat-leaf parsley's leafy tones can carry squid, or how chlorophyll's hexenal notes create an unexpectedly harmonious bridge with the salty character.

An ingredient's flavour comes from its core characteristics, like maillard, earthy, and nectarous, 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 Saline Notes

Our analysis shows that the flavour of brine is strongly associated with the flavour of grass. This suggests we should look for ingredients with a grassy flavour, such as chlorophyll, when pairing with the briney accents of squid.

The recipe below provides inspiration for pairing squid with chlorophyll.

Harmonious Flavours Of Squid

Just as our analysis shows that brine and grassy flavour notes are harmonious, we can identify the full profile of flavours that harmonise with each of the flavour notes present in squid. Similarly, the oceanic notes of squid frequently pair with asparagus and hot flavours.

The notes complementing the various aroma accents of squid can be seen highlighted in the pink bars below.

Matching Flavour Profiles

The flavour profile of flat-leaf parsley offers many of the accents complementary to squid, including leafy and grassy notes. Because the flavour profile of flat-leaf parsley has many of the of the features that are complementary to squid, they are likely to pair very well together.

The chart above shows the unique profile of flat-leaf parsley across 150 dimensions of flavour, while the recipes below offer inspiration for bringing these flavours together with squid.

Recipes That Pair Squid With Flat-leaf Parsley

Linked Flavour Notes

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

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

What To Drink With Squid

The grassy notes in sauvignon blanc (bordeaux) make it a perfect pairing with squid. Likewise, the grassy flavours in sauvignon blanc (loire valley) create a match made in heaven. Explore a variety of ingredients below that beautifully complement the unique character of squid below.

Which Fruit Go With Squid?

Choose fruit that cut through its oceaniness or lift its salty character. Green tomato offers vibrant, clean counterpoints, its verdant freshness lifting the palate. Plum tomato add a gentle, oniony brightness, while gooseberry introduces a sophisticated, anise-tinged elegance.

Alternatively, embrace fruit that harmonise with squid's metallicity. The addition of grape tomato, with its subtle solanum notes, can complement the iron beautifully. Avocado bridges earthiness and citrus zest, while red bell pepper lends a fresh aroma.

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