The term “flavor profile” is great for describing the unique characteristics of a certain cuisine or dish. Thai food has a different flavor profile than Mexican food. The term refers to the combinations of tastes, aromas, and textures that make food unique. The kind of spices and other ingredients that are typically used determine the flavor profile. When tasting a dish, a flavor profile might refer to list of tastes that the person is experiencing. It’s not a very necessary term but it can at least have specific uses, if you like to sound like you speak corporate. However, chefs seems to love the tack the word “profile” onto flavor in a completely unnecessary way, as in, “This ice cream has a great flavor profile.” When used in this way the term is just a pretentious affectation and the word “flavor” used alone would suffice.
When chefs taste a dish and refer to it’s flavor profile when they could just say “flavor” they are trying to sound impressive. It’s not even necessary and useful when referring to the development of a dish. Is there a difference between saying “I’m developing a dish with a unique flavor” and “I’m developing a dish with a unique flavor profile?” Not really. They both mean the same thing. It’s the individual tastes that make up the flavor so tacking on the word “profile” is not necessary.
Sometimes, the word “profile” is joined with “flavor” in uniquely meaningless ways. I’ll give an example. Writing in The Flavor Thesaurus, an informative and interesting book, author Niki Segnit writes:
Lime & Cinnamon: These are cornerstones of cola flavor, in which it’s fairly common for cinnamon to appear in the form of cassia, a related spice with a harsher, more strongly flavored profile and a good match for lime’s own pugnacious qualities. 1
This translates to “…it’s fairly common for cinnamon to appear in the form of cassia, a related spice with a harsher, stronger flavor…” If you’re wondering how lime is “pugnacious,” well, it escapes me too.
On the other hand, here is an example of a sensible way to use the term flavor profile:
My menu may read as unusual, but everything is really just a slight flip on a traditional flavor profile. If I pull out one acid, I replace it with another. If I make a tagine traditionally, it will have preserved lemon. Then I’ll ask, “Would it work with lime or orange juice?” It is still the same flavor profile in that it will still have a cutting acid – just maybe not the one that would be used traditionally. —Brad Farmeri, Public (New York, NY) 2
The flavor profile doesn’t refer to the final flavor, but informs it. It refers to the unique lineup of ingredients or flavors and how they harmonize with one another. The chef is saying that he plays with this lineup and thus slightly alters the flavor profile without making it a completely new dish.
If I were to list the type of aromas and tastes a certain plant food has, I might list these qualities:
- herbal
- citrus
- bitter
- sulfurous
Here, I have listed the “flavor profile.” All of these tastes and aromas contribute to the plants “flavor.” To say “These tastes contribute to the plants flavor profile” is an unnecessary way to tack on the word profile.
As Wayne Gisslen explains in Professional Cooking:
The most important flavors of a given preparation are those of its main ingredients. A grilled beef tenderloin should taste like beef, green beans should taste like green beans, tomato soup should taste primarily of tomato. Plain, unseasoned foods, however, usually taste a little bland and one-dimensional, so it is the cook’s job to add interest by combining ingredients to build depth of flavor. The harmony of ingredient flavors and an aromas the cook creates by combining ingredients skillfully is sometimes called a flavor profile. 3
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- Segnit, Niki. The Flavor Thesaurus: A Compendium of Pairings, Recipes and Ideas for the Creative Cook. United States, Bloomsbury USA, 2012.
- Dornenburg, Andrew, and Page, Karen. The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America’s Most Imaginative Chefs. United States, Little, Brown, 2008.
- Gisslen, Wayne. Professional Cooking. United Kingdom, Wiley, 2010.