Perfect Pairings & Recipes for
Toum

Discover the best flavour pairings for toum based on data analysis of thousands of recipes. Find perfect ingredient matches & delicious recipes.

Toum instantly conjures the evocative embrace of garlic and the bracing kiss of sulfur, but beneath its bitterness lies a complex symphony of subtle flavour notes, such as onion, oleic acid, and hints of mustard, giving it remarkable depth. The key to a beautiful pairing lies in understanding how these elements interact and harmonise.

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 analysis reveals, for example, how rump steak's proteolytic tones cut through toum, and how chicken thigh's gallinaceous notes create a surprising synergy with its pungent aroma.

An ingredient's flavour stems from its core characteristics, such as herbal, vegetal, or nectarous, 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 Flavour Code

To understand exactly which flavours harmonise, we compiled a database of over 50,000 ingredient pairings commonly used in cooking. We then analysed these pairings, identifying the specific flavour notes that frequently appear together.

The Flavours That Harmonise With Garlic Notes

Our analysis shows that the flavour of garlic is strongly associated with the flavour of poultry. This suggests we should look for ingredients with a chickeny flavour, such as chicken thigh, when pairing with the garlicy aroma notes of toum.

The recipe below provides inspiration for pairing toum with chicken thigh.

Harmonious Flavours Of Toum

Just as our ingredient analysis revealed that garlic and ironny flavour notes harmonise well, we can identify the full profile of flavours that harmonise with each of the flavours present in toum. For instance, the sulfurous flavours of toum are strongly associated with starchy and wheaty accents.

The aroma notes complementary to the various aroma accents of toum can be seen highlighted in the pink bars below.

Matching Flavour Profiles

The flavour profile of rump steak offers many of the accents complementary to toum, including proteolytic and glutamic aroma accents. Because the flavour profile of rump steak has many of the of the features that are complementary to toum, they are likely to pair very well together.

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

Recipes That Pair Toum With Rump Steak

Linked Flavour Notes

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

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

What To Drink With Toum

The glutamic notes in pecorino make it a perfect pairing with toum. Likewise, the glutamic flavours in sake create a match made in heaven. Explore a variety of ingredients below that beautifully complement the unique character of toum 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., Toum), analyse its detailed flavour profile, and accurately reveal its complementary flavours and perfect ingredient partners.