Flavor Divorce

          So I often personify my flavors (yeah, you can tease me if you want). Strawberry is like a girl that is always the center of attention, she is sweet but a bit sharp and dominating. Flavor personalities that go well with her, can't compete for the palate spotlight and instead act as back up flavors; think strawberries and cream, the cream is mellow and cuts the strawberries tartness.

Perfect Couples and Best-friends: Flavors that are made for each other and are often seen together; one precedes the other.
-Chocolate & Hazelnut
-Butter & Honey
-Lime & Cilantro

Odd Couples: Unconventional or unintuitive matches that go great!
-Cheese & Fruit
-Salt and a Margarita

A Friend Group: A group of flavors that goes well together but any two individual flavors in the group aren't necessarily destined to go together.
-Curry
-Apple Pie

Divorced Flavors:

          I recently found a couple of flavors that are so awful together that they are forever divorced in my mind; Balsamic Vinegar and the Anise/Licorice flavor (fennel, anise, Thai Basil). Balsamic is like a sweet but really complicated person while, for instance, Thai Basil, is fresh but dominating and lacks the ability to appreciate the vinegar's complexity; as a couple the basil sours the balsamic and the vinegar turn the basil bitter. It's an awful, awful combo.

That's all, let me know what your observations on this concept are.

Miso-Mirin Caramelized Onions

          This is a quick and delicious way to prepare onions. I created this recipe while playing around with Japanese ingredients and it tastes amazing. They are fairly sweet and go great in sandwiches, on soba noodles, pizza and probably lots of other things that you can discover yourself.

                          Ingredients:                Equipment Needed: 
                          -Onion                        -Knife+Cutting Board
                          -Black Pepper              -Pan
                          -Oil                            -Spatula
                          -Mirin                         -Mixing Bowl+Spoon
                          -Miso

Preparation/Cook Time: 12 Minutes
Serving Ratio: 1/4 Onion is plenty for a sandwich
Difficulty Rank: Easy Peasy

          So a few things about the ingredients: first, mirin is a Japanese cooking wine that has sugar in it, this helps the caramelization process and if you use a different wine it will not caramelize or have the same  depth of flavor. Miso, is basically soybean paste that has a lighter and more delicate flavor than soy sauce. There are several types of miso, so you will have to decide which one you want; I believe the darker redder misos have fish in them too while the lighter ones don't, you can check for miso at an Asian supermarket. Also use canola oil since the flavor is mild and it won't smoke at high heats. I use a mix of canola oil with a little butter to add flavor.

In-a-nutshell Directions:
1. Slice the onions quite thin.
2. Heat the pan with oil and butter (optional).
3. When the pan is at medium-high heat, drop the onions in and add black pepper.
4. Let cook on one side till slight browning of edges.
5. Stir onions and continue to let brown.
6. Mix miso and mirin together and pour mix onto onions.
7. Let simmer till liquid turns thick and syrupy.

Detailed Directions:

1. Begin by slicing the onions thinly*. I used a serrated knife rather than a regular knife since the serration makes thin slicing easier*.

          *Slicing thinly allows them to cook quickly and            brown on the edges.

          *A non-serrated knife uses more pressure to                cut, whereas with a serrated knife it is more              about the "sawing motion".

2. Heat the pan to a medium high heat and place a thin layer of oil in the pan. I sometimes add butter to the oil for extra flavor, but do not use butter by itself because it will smoke at that high temperature. Using a high temperature is important because it allows the onions to crisp on the edges.

3. When the pan is hot, drop the onions in and add some black pepper on top. Make sure to spread the onions out, otherwise they will steam up rather than sear*.

          *This is why I only cook about 1/4 an onion at a time because too many onions in the pan will                     prevent the slices from searing and crisping.

3. Onions spread out.       6. Satisfactorily browned.

4. Let the onions stay on one side for a few minutes, they should brown a bit on the edges but don't worry, this is part of the process.

5. After they brown a bit on one side, stir them up a bit to allow the other sides to crisp up.

6. Mix a tiny bit of miso and mirin together in a bowl. I usually have a bit more mirin than miso in the mix. When the onions look satisfactorily browned, pour the mixture in the pan.

6. Miso-Mirin Mixture.           7. Caramelization.

7. The mixture will bubble briefly and then turn thicker and more syrupy, at this point the onions are done and will have a nice shiny gloss from the miso-mirin mixture.