How Do I Choose Foods That Go Together?

Let’s try this analogy. When you’re choosing something to wear, you try to choose clothing that will compliment the season, your coloring, the shape of your body and so forth.

The same factors apply to food selection and preparation. Just as you wouldn’t wear shorts and sandals in a wintry, snowy climate…you wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) want to serve your guests’ ice cream sundaes or Popsicles for dessert on a frosty evening. Beginning the meal with a rich, creamy hot soup and ending it with a warm bread pudding would probably be more appreciated.

Although colors aren’t directly related to taste, a visually appealing dish plays an important role when revving up the taste buds. Just as you probably wouldn’t choose to wear orange from head to toe, it’s probably just as important to create a meal that doesn’t consist only of mashed potatoes, rice and pasta.

Think about how much more visually appealing it will be to enhance your mashed potatoes with dots of yellow butter and flecks of fresh green parsley to accompany a piece of orange salmon and green Brussels sprouts on the side. Or fluffy yellow rice topped with pink shrimp and garnished with green cilantro and thin strips of red and green bell pepper. And finally, white linguini pasta topped with little brown meatballs with grated orange cheddar cheese and snipped green chives on top.

Additionally, the shape of food must be complimentary. If your meal consists of string beans, French fries and hot dogs…you have a pretty boring plate made up of long, narrow foods. More complimentary choices might include string beans, a rib eye steak and a dollop of mashed potatoes. This combination includes our shape and color enhancement along with the following factor of texture.

Now we look at the texture of your food choices as we apply it to your attire. It’s highly doubtful that you’ll make an impressive fashion statement by wearing polyester from head to toe. The same concept applies when attempting to make a dramatic statement with food.

Using a variety of textures in your selection of foods, will not only be visually appealing to your guests, but will also have a pleasing affect on their taste buds. When you serve a soup starter, you usually serve crusty bread or a crisp salad to accompany it. Or with pie or cobbler, you’d serve a smooth and creamy whipped cream topping or ice cream, which is usually an excellent compliment when the pie or cobbler has been warmed. So you not only have a variety of texture, but also a variety in temperature, which is very pleasing to the palate.

I hope that these suggestions will be helpful in your meal preparation. Time of year, color, shape and texture are all-important psychological factors to consider when choosing foods that go together. These enhancements will take your tasty meal to the heights of a fabulous meal.

Always Enjoy!