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Complements which are local, not global
Several of you might have heard of this excellent philosophical time waster before, but it's new to me (apparently it was first devised by Wilfrid Sellars):
Identify three foods A, B, and C such that any two of these are complementary (taste good in combination) but the trio does not. So A and B must be complementary, B and C must be complementary, and A and C must be complementary, but A, B, and C must be foul when combined together. (It's harder than I thought!)
Here are some possible answers. I opt for Coke, Merlot, and Chicken. The pointer is from Ananda Gupta.
Addendum: In the comments, Stephen Dubner nails it.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on March 16, 2007 at 07:04 AM in Food and Drink | Permalink
Comments
me,my ex and her father.
Posted by: sa at Mar 16, 2007 7:44:36 AM
Coke and Merlot? Chicken with either I can see, but Coke and Merlot together I don't. :)
Posted by: billb at Mar 16, 2007 7:51:45 AM
I agree. did Tyler just overlook that?
Posted by: josh at Mar 16, 2007 8:35:05 AM
http://www.foodreference.com/html/artchinesewine.html
"Drinking merlot with coke may revolt a western wine enthusiast, but to a Chinese, sweet and alcoholic means more than fruity and dry. Some even add a few cubes of ice to cool it!"
Posted by: John Goes at Mar 16, 2007 8:43:08 AM
Well, I'll be a monkey's unlce. Although, if they tast good together, I doubt that they would ruin chicken.
Posted by: josh at Mar 16, 2007 8:54:30 AM
Chocolate, cayenne, and orange, perhaps?
Posted by: Grant Gould at Mar 16, 2007 8:58:29 AM
(A) Cranberry sauce; (B) Turkey; (C) Milk. A+B are great; B+C are fine; A+C are lethal.
Posted by: Stephen Dubner at Mar 16, 2007 9:35:27 AM
the problem with Coke, Merlot, and Chicken is that it makes an assumption about quantity. it wouldn't be too sweet if you scale the coke and merlot in the right amounts. If you don't allow quantity balancing, then you could just say brown sugar, white sugar, and nearly any other food, since doubling the optimium amount of sugar will make anything too sweet.
Likewise habanero pepper, naga pepper, and X; sea salt, iodized salt, and X; etc.
Posted by: DK at Mar 16, 2007 9:35:46 AM
peanut butter and bananas= a Graceland delight
peanut butter and Pork= a tasty thai dish (sort of)
pork with banana sauce= actually quite good.
peanut butter, bananas and pork= less than appetizing
Posted by: josh at Mar 16, 2007 10:01:48 AM
Stephen Dubner's answer does not meet the conditions of the problem.
-dk
Posted by: Dick King at Mar 16, 2007 10:42:06 AM
DK is right. Dubner's answer is invalid. And you can talk about Coke and merlot all you want - I'm not buying it.
Posted by: Bernard Yomtov at Mar 16, 2007 10:52:14 AM
DK is right.
What I find interesting, is that the answer is probably more scientific than it appears (there is a limited set of taste buds and textures, and there is probably a limited amount of extreme odors from foods in those conflicting categories - not that it helps me come up with anything, but I would think the new molecular chefs would ahve a field day with this.
Posted by: theCoach at Mar 16, 2007 11:02:30 AM
How about Orange, Cream & Vodka?
Orange & vodka => screwdriver
Orange & Cream => yummy orange-cream thing
Cream & vodka => White Russian
Orange & cream & vodka => yeech
Posted by: liberty at Mar 16, 2007 11:05:35 AM
Re: the update, Dubner doesn't nail it. He doesn't even understand the rules. A and C are supposed to work well together, it's A+B+C that's bad.
Posted by: Brock Landers at Mar 16, 2007 11:07:50 AM
To get an idea of how hard this is, check out the link below and click a bit through the images. They sound weird, but I've eaten most of them, and most of them are delicious. And of course this is just one example of the genre...
http://www.cafeatlantico.com/miniBar/images.htm
Posted by: JW at Mar 16, 2007 11:14:59 AM
A) Lamb
B) Jelly
C) Peanut Butter
A+B - Typical American dish, especially with mint jelly
B+C - Again, typical American sandwich
A+C - A decent thai concoction
A+B+C? Horrible
Posted by: C L at Mar 16, 2007 11:34:48 AM
I had this martini
Orange & cream & vodka
just a week ago. it was delightful.
Posted by: anonymous at Mar 16, 2007 12:00:49 PM
This is the best I can do for now:
Chocolate & Mint - popular dessert combination
Mint & Cumin - popular flavor combination for salads and meat dishes (like meatballs)
Cumin & Chocolate - found in mole` dishes and in spicy hot chocolate, some upscale chocolates
Chocolate & Mint & Cumin - this doesn't sound good to me, but I'm skeptical that some talented chef couldn't make something of it.
In part, a problem with the question is that it does not specify whether the three items are to be considered in combination only with one another or rather if it is permissible to consider them as ingredients in a recipe along with other ingredients.
Posted by: JW at Mar 16, 2007 12:05:30 PM
I'm not sure this can be done.
Posted by: josh at Mar 16, 2007 12:05:40 PM
The other day my wife was drinking tea of lemon, honey and garlic for her cold. I thought it tasted pretty nasty although lemon+honey, honey+garlic and lemon+garlic go well together
Posted by: neil at Mar 16, 2007 12:11:00 PM
Yeah, if orange, cream and vodka is actually good and chocolate, mint & cumin might be good (I would believe that someone on Food Network chef could pull it off) then I bet Lamb & PB & J could also be well done by a good chef. It might indeed be impossible.
Posted by: liberty at Mar 16, 2007 12:13:08 PM
Pickled Ginger, bacon, vanilla ice cream
or,
Green Jello, Entemanns Chocolate Donuts, Scallops.
Posted by: Doug Byrne at Mar 16, 2007 1:00:27 PM
Drugs and sex and rock n' roll.
Posted by: triticale at Mar 16, 2007 1:31:20 PM
I agree that my above comment (9:35 a.m.) didn't meet the conditions of the question. I was just trying to offer a variation (an easier one, to be sure) of the same problem, one that I've found to be extremely memorable. Should have stated explicitly that I was only riffing.
Posted by: Stephen Dubner at Mar 16, 2007 1:37:02 PM
The problem with the Lamb, Peanut Butter, and Jelly answer is that the jelly used in lamb + jelly is not generally the same kind as that used in a PB & J. They are both jellies, but one is generally mint-based, and the other is usually fruit preserves of some kind.
Posted by: Ian at Mar 16, 2007 2:14:50 PM
