Essays on Flavor and Fragrance: 27 posts

Have you ever tasted civet? Civet essence is obtained from the perineal glands of a mongoose-like creature, and it has a penetrating, warm, sweet odor. Pure civet tincture smells fecal and cloying, but diluted, it has a radiant, velvety scent. A discreet touch of civet can give incredible warmth and diffusion to the simplest floral accords. Natural civet has been slowly phased out, having been replaced by synthetics, yet nothing can truly duplicate the natural essence. If you compare Chanel No 5 made pre-1998 (when natural civet was replaced by its man-made analogue) with the perfume available today, the difference is clear. There is an ineffable richness and opulence that makes the rose and jasmine accord of No 5 seem shimmering.

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Perfumes enchant us when they create an illusion of transporting us to a place, real or imaginary. Yet, while traveling spatially and temporally is an important part of fragrance’s allure, there are times when teasing the senses and creating certain impressions is what perfume does best. Given the strong link between olfactory and gustatory perceptions, one would not be surprised to discover the smells of food appearing in fragrances. The gourmand trend initiated by Thierry Mugler Angel is certainly not novel–in 1956 Edmond Roudnitska created Diorissimo to counter the contemporary preference for the heavy, sweet notes. Nevertheless, Angel opened up new vistas and expanded the concept of gourmand. The exploration I offer below takes a somewhat different approach in trying to illustrate the more abstract gourmand ideas in fragrance. …

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“The best way to find a perfectly ripe tomato has little to do with its shape, color or size. It is the unmistakable scent of salty caramel that demonstrates a tomato is at its peak. While green tomatoes can be reddened with ethylene gas, furaneol, the compound that gives tomatoes their distinctive aroma, accumulates only when a fruit is allowed to fully mature on the vine. Strawberries and mangoes share the same compound, and other fruits contain analogous aromatic molecules when fully ripe…”

Zester Daily, a publication devoted to food and drink, has published my article Cooks, Follow Your Nose. In it, I share how understanding the role of aroma and the power of our nose is essential for eating well, despite the fact that most cookbooks and food shows rarely acknowledge this.  Hope that you enjoy it!

Every year I anticipate the strawberry season with much impatience. I love the scent of strawberries, which is a combination of milky sweetness, caramel richness and apple blossom freshness. While for the first couple of weeks I am glad to enjoy the juicy berries with nothing much besides a dollop of sour cream or yogurt, as days go by and the berries get more plentiful, I devise new ways to enjoy this seasonal favorite. Admittedly, my perfumery experiments significantly influence my culinary adventures, such as when I worked to juxtapose strawberry notes with an orange blossom accord, which resulted in a fragrant wild strawberry (fraises des bois) effect. Or when I discovered that strawberry pairs beautifully with anise notes, producing an interesting warm and cool effect. Perfumery and gastronomy are tightly linked, after all. Below are some of my favorite ways to enjoy strawberries, inspired by both classical pairings as well as my own flavor-fragrance explorations.

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I always carry a small notebook to write down any impressions or observations, particularly as they pertain to sensory memories—interesting scents, unusual flavors, striking combinations, or sometimes just memories that I want to retain. There is so much more to exploring scents than just a perfume bottle. It could be something as simple as finding a fragrant bush of dog roses on my way to the office or a delicious new fruit I encounter during my expeditions to the Chinese or Indian shops. As I look back at some of the notes, I find they comprise a diary, tracing my discoveries and new sources of inspiration. The 2010 highlights below come from the notes I have taken over the course of the year. While my travels over the past year have taken me as far as India, New York City provides me with just as many interesting discoveries. It is on this journey that I would like to take you as I look over my 2010 diary notes. Perhaps, it can inspire you as well.

The political upheavals in Central Asia following the collapse of the Soviet Union have resulted in the immigration of its Jewish community to the United States. Almost 50 thousand Bukharian Jews, who mostly come from Uzbekistan, live in New York’s Rego Park and Forrest Hills areas. A strip along 108th Street in New York’s Rego Park is called Bukharian Broadway for a reason—it offers an interesting cluster of Bukharian businesses, from stores and butcher shops to bakeries and restaurants. The food of the Bukharian community is vibrant and piquant, inspired by intricate Persian traditions, nomadic rustic simplicity, and the boldness of Chinese flavorings. The black cumin, lamb and star anise of lagman (noodle soup,) the verdant intensity of bakhsh (rice with spinach, coriander and dill cooked in a cotton bag,) and the savory richness of mai birion (fried fish marinated in garlic sauce) are only a few of the interesting dishes one can try. I love the cumin and onion marinated lamb kebabs and flaky samsa (lamb and onion pastries) served at the Tandoori Bukharian Bakery (99-04 63rd Rd). The cumin flavored non toki, a uniquely Bukharian flatbread, should not be missed either. Nagila Market (63-69 108th St) is run by Iranians and offers many unique foods, including Uzbek sundried apricots, Iranian tart dried barberries and the famous Fergana valley devzira, the red rice used in traditional plov.

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