Surprising Food Combos Taste Test

– Whose tongue is smartereraccording to science? – Let's talk about that.

(upbeat music) Good mythical morning.

– You ever wonder why PB&J tastes so good, or why orange soda andanchovies definitely do not? Well, according to believersof the flavor pairing theory, it all comes down to delicious, indisputable science.

– The flavor pairing theory claims that the reason certain foodspair better together is because they actually sharecertain chemicals in common, and through this idea, science has introduced some pretty bizarre food combos that theoretically should bematches made in culinary heaven but will our non-theoreticaltongues actually agree? It's time for This Tastes Like Science! – So the core conceptof flavor pairing theory is that the more aromatic compounds two foods have in common, the better they're gonna taste together, and this is based on the fact that 80% of our food and drink's flavor is determined by how our noses pick up what's called volatile aromatic compounds, such as dimethyl sulfide and cadaverine.

– Mm.

(laughs) – Two of my favorites.

– And decorated chefsfrom around the world have started utilizing this mad science, but not everybody believes in this theory, so we are gonna test it ourselves.

– Yeah, we're gonna tastesome odd combinations that science says shouldwork alongside one another, and also some weird unscientific ones that Josh and Nicole have made up and see if we can tell the difference.

– Whoever's got the most scientific tongue will win the covetedFirst Place Tongue ribbon.

– Ooh.

– Let's eat.

(upbeat music) – [Both] Round one.

– Okay, we're starting off with coffee.

According to the flavor pairing theory, one of these three ingredients is a scientific matchwhile the others are not.

Now, our options are bokchoy, mustard, and carrots.

– Bok choy, what's that?(laughing) Is this that, is thisstuff that floats in soup? – Bok choy is like one ofthe most pound-for-pound nutritious things thatyou can eat on the planet.

– You ever had it with coffee? – No, I'm not coming to any conclusions other than I think there's a reason why I haven't enjoyed those together before.

– Well I'll tell you rightnow, bok choy ain't creamer.

(crew laughs) – Coffee and carrots, theystart with the same letter.

(crunching) I love how you provided toothpicks for the carrots as ifwe couldn't grab them.

– You know, we're divas now, we don't like to actuallytouch the carrot.

– Ew.

(crew laughs) – Hmm.

All right, to me, there is a distinct pairing that brings both flavors more to life.

(claps) I got my chemistry, I'mseeing chemistry right now.

– [Stevie] You're gonnaput your coffee mug behind the bowl you think iscorrect in three, two, one.

– I think it's the mustard.

– Mustard.

– Okay, you agree? – And I actually kind of like it.

– Yeah, it's weird.

I'm tempted, you knowwhat, let's just do it.

– [Rhett] Let's just stir it in.

(crew laughs) – [Stevie] Guys, it's noteven the right answer.

You're both incorrect.

(buzzer buzzes) – It's not right?- Oh, it's not? – We like it.

– [Stevie] Don't you feel like fools now? – [Rhett] Then it's the carrots, isn't it? – [Stevie] Yeah, it's the carrots.

– Carrots was my secondchoice, I will say that.

– All right, so we both got it wrong.

– [Stevie] You can sharethat, but now I'm curious, you need to take a sip of your coffees and does it ring true? – I already did, it's horrible.

(crew laughs)- I love it.

– The scientific explanationprinted here on this card says that coffee and carrots match because they share 4-vinylguaiacol and 5-methylfurfural.

– Oh, I love methylfurfural.

(upbeat music) – [Both] Round two.

– All right, so we gotsome white chocolate, yum, plus (groans) caviar, seaweedsalad, and what is this? – [Nicole] That's unagi, also known as barbecued eel.

– Eel, yeah.

– Unagi? Man, I love some white chocolate.

– You really to ruin it? (crew laughs) Forever? – And these white chocolates they gave us, they have a nice little creviceto put caviar apparently.

– [Rhett] That doesn't, you know what? That's not a bad idea.

– I'm gonna put it in there because you know, it's a pairing.

– Um, that wasn't good.

(Link gags) – Especially it's so fishy, and salty.

– Well because it's- – It's so sea-y.

– It's the potentialof fish, is what it is.

(Link groans) – Now okay, so you've madeyourself a seaweed sandwich here.

Ugh.

– Similar thing going on.

I mean, y'all are beinga little tricky here, giving us three things from the sea.

– [Stevie] Well you did sowell with the first round.

– Right, we gotta make it hard for them.

– I mean, the seaweed wasn'tas pungent as the caviar, but it's the same experience.

– The part that's goodis the white chocolate.

Is that what we're deciding? I prefer the white chocolate.

– All right, but yougotta find the volatile.

– [Both] Aromatic compounds.

(crew laughs) – Um, I have an answer based on that and I do not want totaste any of them again.

(Link groans) So, I am ready.

– [Stevie] Three, two, one.

– I'm going for the caviar.

– I went with the eel.

– Even though it's a horrible experience, we've discovered that chocolatecovers a world of hurt.

– But white chocolateisn't even chocolate.

– But maybe, oh maybe it's plays together.

– [Stevie] The correct answer is caviar.

– Okay, but why? Rhett, you lost, you gotta say why.

– White chocolate and caviar match because they share multiple compounds, including trimethylamine, which coincidentally also causes the odor of some humaninfections and bad breath.

(upbeat music) – [Both] Round three.

– Okay, now we're tryingto find the scientific pair to strawberries.

– Mm-hmm.

– We're choosing between mushrooms, eggs, and just straight up garlic.

– But first, quick announcement, do you know what scientificallypairs with this episode? Josh and Nicole's new podcast, which is called A Hot Dog is a Sandwich.

I invite you to check it out.

Enrich your mind muchwith the soothing sounds of the pairs they engagein great food debates, and see their equally-soothing faces.

A video version of the podcast– – We have such soothing faces.

– That went live yesterday.

Which way would I point for yesterday? Yesterday.

– This way.

– All right, so, you'realready eating a strawberry.

– I can't help myself.

– Strawberry and a mushroom.

Oh look, it looks like a character.

Hey, I'm a guy with sunglasses on.

– You're seeing something that I'm not, let me just be honest with you.

Um, wow.

(crew laughs) – I'm seeing it.

– That um, that told me nothing.

– Mushrooms are, theydon't have a lot of flavor.

Now that's a weird worldthat I'm living in.

– [Rhett] That's abedeviled egg right there.

– What if that, what if thatthing came out of a chicken? You know, ooh you'realready on the garlic.

– I'd take it to the statefair and win something.

I got a strawberry-yolk-laying-eggchicken.

(they both grunt) I gotta say that out of one of those, on that first taste, Igot a strong association between two of the ingredients.

– You're obviouslytalking about the garlic because that's the only onethat have a strong flavor.

Everything else is kinda– – I didn't say a strong flavor, I said a strong association.

– Get out of my face, man.

– [Stevie] Three, two, one.

– I think it's the eggs.

So see– – The strawberry garlicthing was working for me.

– Did you like it? – Yes.

– What about this, this, and this?(Stevie giggles) – [Stevie] The correct answer is mushroom.

– No it's not.

– Oh, we both got it wrong? (crew laughs) It's mushroom, why is it mushroom? Strawberries and mushroomsmatch because they share oh, of course, I knew this, they share 1-nonanol(crew laughs) and methyl butanoate.

– But listen, I thinkgarlic shares two nonanols.

(upbeat music) – [Both] Round four.

– So we got some salmon here, some lychee, oh licorice, and then we've got hops.

– Why couldn't this be fun? I just, I thought it was gonna be fun.

– I know, two roundsago after we were done, I turned to Morgan and I waslike “does this get better?” and he says “it gets different.

” (laughing) – I was, I've been lookingforward to this episode.

– I know, guys.

– I want to discover things.

Y'all are like “howabout salmon and hops?” (laughing) – Science, man, science goes places that humans aren't willing to go.

– You're right.

– And then humans finallyshow up and they're like oh, you were right.

– Us doing this is likegetting to the moon.

– I'm gonna make mymouth into a moon shape.

– How are you gonna do that? I'm kinda doing it.

– You can't, what about that, you're talking about a crescent moon.

– It's a crescent moon.

– I was doing a full moon.

– Thank you for thetoothpick for the licorice.

– Now if I don't like salmon or licorice? – Maybe you'll like both of them together.

Can you just eat hops? (crew laughs) – Yeah Nicole.

– Did y'all look into this? – How's this normally work? – [Nicole] Uh, I don't know, just do it.

(laughing) – Don't ask questions, just do it.

– I love the honesty.

– What in the world? I don't think you're supposed to do that.

– It's very bitter, talk about aromatic.

– I got a guess based on that.

– [Stevie] Okay here we go.

– I had a good experience at one point.

– [Stevie] Three, two, one.

– With the lychee, it really, this really worked together.

– I like lychee, but thought that the hops and the salmon actuallycomplemented one another.

– The hops? – And also salmon when they'retrying to get upstream, they hop.

– [Stevie] The correctanswer was licorice.

(giggles)(buzzer buzzes) – Really? Man, I mean, science is on its own today.

– Okay, I will say, when I tasted those two, I was like “I kinda like this, ” but I thought it's justbecause I like licorice, and just was like “theyjust threw that in there “to throw me off.

” I gotta just get out of y'all'sheads and get into my head.

– Get into science's head.

– Okay.

– [Science] Well get intoscience's card and read it please.

– Oh.

– Oh.

(crew laughs) – Salmon.

– Salmon and licorice matchbecause they both share the x, hal, hexanal.

– The property hexanal, which is a six-sided anus.

(laughing) (upbeat music) – [Both] Round five.

– I kinda just want to forfeit.

– Liver, man.

Your nemesis.

Also my nemesis, but is it great when you pair it with matcha powder, what is this? – [Rhett] It's jasmine tea.

– [Link] Jasmine tea or cognac? – Um, why? – Science, if you're listening, we hate you.

– If this is what it takesto get man back on the moon, I don't want to go there.

Listen, we went there, we put a flag, it's just a bunch of dust.

There's no people there.

– [Link] Let me dust you.

– Don't dust my liver.

Okay.

– Dink it.

– Why are we gonna suddenly dink it? (crew laughs) Why you gonna do a last round dink? – It'll make it better.

(groans) And sink it, it's therhythm of it that helps me.

– That is bad in all kinds of ways.

– I mean, the matcha does help you.

– The matcha's strong.

– Matcha beats liver, it'sstronger, so it does help.

– That's not what we're measuring.

– Okay, so now I'm gonnatake another piece of liver.

– You're gonna pour tea over it? I'm not gonna–(crew groans) No, I'm not doing that.

There's that metallic taste.

(gagging) (spits) Oh gosh, I regret, listen.

(Link yells) I just feel like I've been hoodwinked.

– Of all the stuff we've eaten, it doesn't make liver more palatable.

Oh this, this should help.

Okay so let me get.

– Get a little bit of liver, then.

(crew laughs) (Link gags) – We still doing this, okay.

– What I thought was gonna happen is I thought we were gonna findall these cool combinations.

– Wow, this is amazing, youshould try this at home.

– What I was secretly hoping, I didn't tell anybody, is that I was gonnatake these combinations and I was gonna have a party at my house.

(crew laughs) And I was gonna invitethe coolest people I know and I was gonna be like “mm-hmm, taste these two things together, ” and then I was gonna be– – So well-liked.

– They would be like “oh, you gotta go “to the McLaughlins' house, they just combine things “and it's crazy.

” I'm not having that party.

You're all not invited to theparty that I'm not having.

– Let's vote.

All right.

– [Stevie] Here we go, three, two, one.

– I think it's the ma, oh whydo you think it's the tea? Because that's the onething that didn't help.

– Because there was ametallic-y taste in there that I thought I was getting from the tea.

– Did one of us at leastget one of these right in this whole exercise? – You already got one right.

– I don't even remember.

(crew laughs) – [Stevie] The correct answer is jasmine.

(bell dings) – Yeah! – All right so you got this right.

– Finally.

– Liver and jasminematch because they share multiple compounds including indole, which is defined as, quote, “a crystalline organic compoundwith an unpleasant odor “present in coal tar and in feces.

” – Yeah, makes all kinds of sense.

Hey, come over to my house, we're having feces tea.

– Did I win? – No, we tied, you got your own.

(laughs) You want me to tongue you? – No, I'll do my own.

(crew laughs) – Okay, all right.

(muttering) – All right, thanks forsubscribing and clicking the bell.

– You know what time it is.

– Hi, I'm Emily.

– And I'm Riley.

– And we're about to try Pennsylvania white-tail deer testiclefor the very first time.

– [Both] And it's time tospin the Wheel of Mythicality.

– Well that was quite anawkward bonding moment.

– Uh, that was a full ballthat they held up at first, I thought they were gonnabite into it like an apple.

– Yeah, I know.

– Click the top link to watch us guess which candy bars were melted and then paired togetherin Good Mythical More.

– And to find out wherethe Wheel of Mythicality is gonna land.

– That said, if I went to a restaurant and they said the soupof the day is chili, I would feel just as misled if the soup of the day wasa bowl of Frosted Flakes.

– No you wouldn't, you're just lying to lie.

No, that's, okay, no, Idon't agree with that.

.