Flavor Profiles
A flavor profile is the taste and eating experience of a food or dish, defined by top, middle, and bottom notes, the taste and aroma of foods prepared in a particular style, whether it be Caribbean, soul food, or German; created by a combination of ingredients and cooking techniques.
A food’s flavor profile describes its flavor from when guests get the first whiff of its aroma until they swallow the last morsel. Flavor profiles are convenient ways to articulate and evaluate a dish’s sensory characteristics and identify contrasting or complementing items that could be served with it. Chefs use flavor profiles as a tool to develop new dishes.
A food’s flavor profile consists of one or more of the following elements:
Top Notes or High Notes
The sharp, first flavors or aromas of foods such as citrus, herbs, spices, and many condiments. These top notes provide an immediate impact and fade quickly.
Middle Notes
The second wave of flavors and aromas. More subtle and lasting than the top notes, the middle notes come from dairy products, poultry, vegetables, fish, and meat.
Low Notes or Bass Notes
The most dominant, long-lasting flavors. These flavors consist of the primary flavors (especially sweetness, sourness, saltiness, and umami) and come from foods such as anchovies, beans, chocolate, dried mushrooms, fish sauce, tomatoes, most meats (especially beef and game), and garlic. Alternatively, lower notes can be created by smoking or caramelizing food sugars during grilling, broiling, and other dry-heat cooking processes.
Aftertaste or Finish
The final taste that remains in the mouth after swallowing; for example, the lingering bitterness of coffee or chocolate or the pungency of black pepper or strong mustard.
Roundness
The unity of the different flavors of the dish is achieved through judicious use of butter, cream, coconut milk, reduced stock, salt, sugar, etc.; these ingredients cause other flavors to be retained without necessarily adding to their dominant flavor or taste.
Depth of flavor
The broad range of flavor notes in a dish.
These expressions can be applied to any dish to describe its sensory characteristics. For example, Lavender and Spice-Crusted Duck Breast with Apricot Compote has a flavor profile with top notes of lavender, coriander, and fennel. Its middle notes are the main flavors of the duck breast, and its low notes are from the crispy skin. There is an aftertaste of the combined flavors. The sauce adds acidic and sweet notes to the duck, creating a dish with a great depth of flavor.
An experienced chef is able to taste and evaluate a dish, adjusting flavors, ingredients, and cooking techniques as needed to create a pleasing balance of flavors.