Sweet Mad Science

In my cooking adventures, I have come to a realization. I have a thing for weird flavor combinations. I can't just have one flavor in something, it has to be some interesting combination to make it memorable and delicious. Sweet, savory, sour, spicy, bitter, rich, light, I love them all and I want my flavors to be friends. The second I taste a new flavor I'm instantly looking for what it goes with and where I can use it.

People tend to think that science and art are somehow in opposition, but I beg to differ. I am very passionate about science, but my second love has always been artsy things. Theater, music and dancing were all things I enjoyed along with my love of zoology, botany, and ecology. Depending on what context a person saw me in, I've had equal numbers of people say "you must be left-brained" and "you must be right-brained" (which further shows that the idea of left-brained and right-brained is a myth). When I cook, I use an approach that is both scientific and artistic.

I use the science to create the art. Combinations of ingredients can make different experiences, and altering that combination can drastically change the outcome, like an experiment. There is a science to flavor combinations and why we like what we do. Sweet and salty, rich and bitter, sweet and savory, the right combination should be greater than the sum of its parts. It's a very delicate science to find that magic combination that creates the desired flavor experience. But there is also a large element of artistry. The ability to think outside the box of what "should" work opens the door to some of the most memorable combinations. After all, someone had to be the first to make it work. Did the first person to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich know what they were starting? Probably not. I'm not trying to be the next peanut butter and jelly here, but I am constantly trying to find a combination that works in a way that most people wouldn't anticipate. It's my own mad science experiment.

Frequently, my strange combinations are fueled by my having something left from another recipe. This one is no exception. Last week, I made two kinds of fancy popcorn for a movie night with my friends. Popcorn is a great vehicle for both sweet and savory flavors, so I did one of each. The sweet was a white chocolate lemon popcorn that tasted like a lemon bar. However, the recipe made way more lemon glaze than the popcorn actually needed. Using it all would have been way too sweet. So I had lemon glaze. The savory popcorn was a rosemary, garlic, and Parmesan popcorn. Also delicious. But I still had some fresh rosemary left, and it's a sin to waste such a useful ingredient, especialy since herbs can be expensive. So, I sought to combine my lemon glaze and fresh rosemary in a delicious way. Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to find a rosemary shortbread recipe in no time and baked a batch of them. Shortbread was not something I made growing up, but the process is an easy one. Now, if I had just made the cookies, they wouldn't have had a blog post, because they're not that interesting. Not very sweet, nice texture, good herbal flavor, but, in my opinion, bland. They need something. That's where the lemon glaze comes in. A drizzle of that intense, sweet-sour glaze and the flavors were bound together in holy matrimony. The smell was divine, and the taste was worthy of a fancy tea party. This was something greater than the sum of its parts.

Such dainty little morsels. Serve with tea and a butler for extra fancy.

And now, on to my recipe. Here's my base cookie:

http://www.kitchme.com/recipes/rosemary-shortbread-cookies

I pretty much followed the recipe for this one. For the lemon glaze I started from the recipe, but then  I did whatever I want, so it's basically my own. Here it is:

Ingredients:
-1 T melted butter
-splash of milk
-few drops of lemon juice (more if you want a more tart glaze)
-1/4 t lemon flavoring (yes, you need both, it doesn't taste right otherwise)
-powdered sugar until the texture is correct for drizzling
-few drops of yellow food coloring if you want the bright yellow color

Mix all other ingredients, then add powdered sugar slowly until the desired consistency is reached. Drizzle over cookies.

You don't have to be a scientist to experiment, and you don't have to be an artist to create something beautiful. Just don't be afraid to try something new and maybee you'll end up with your own mad science sweets.