A colleague of mine has introduced me to this problem which combines mathematics and food. The challenge, as stated by George Hart, is to find three foods that do not go together well but every pair of them does.
In his statement of the problem, George Hart sais that they should not go well together “by any reasonable definition of foods going together”. But I think that this is so subjective that it would be almost impossible to agree on a reasonable definition for this. For instance, I have a bet with another friend in which I claim that if I like a given food alone then there is a way in which I can combine it with chocolate and still like it. However I realize that this wouldn’t mean that other people who are not chocoholics, would like the mix…
In fact, it is quite difficult for me to think of 3 foods that wouldn’t go together under any circumstance. So far, for every combination suggested in George Hart’s website, I can find a way of cooking them or picking the right proportions such that the combination would taste good to me. But I guess some would say that I would just eat anything…
In that sense, it is even more difficult for me to think about the complementary problem: find 3 foods that go great together but such that every pair of them does not.
Even though I believe it is probably impossible to solve this because of difficulty in agreeing on what goes together well and what doesn’t, it is still a good conversation starter for a lazy afternoon and if you do come up with some ideas please post them in the comments of this post. I’d be happy to accept the challenge of finding a recipe that combines all 3 ingredients and eating it 
.
11/01/2010 at 08:39
How about:
egg + potato: pretty common in breakfasts
egg + honey: innumerable desserts
potato + honey: Gnocci with a honey based sauce
I can’t think of a way to squeeze the three together though.
I think Spirits may also be an easy out:
tequila is notoriously hard to mix with more than a couple of ingredients, especially when they are strong flavoured. I suspect grenadine or cointreau may be a pretty good 2nd ingredient but I’m struggling for a third for either
11/01/2010 at 09:50
Gnocchi with honey? I need to try that soon, sounds great!. About a recipe with potato, eggs and honey, some kicnds of cakes use potato in the dough, so perhaps one could find something there. I just did a google search and something called “potato bread” came up. Also apparently there is a jew thing called “challah” that has those 3 ingredients.
You’re right: tequila with grenadine AND cointreau sounds pretty bad. But apparently such a cocktail exists and has a name!
http://www.barnonedrinks.com/drinks/i/ice-breaker-2-2648.html
Perhaps with another 3rd ingredient? What about tequila, grenadine and chocolate? I’m not sure about the pair grenadine-chocolate though…
01/05/2010 at 12:57
My gnocchi recipe calls for eggs, potatoes, and flour…..
28/01/2010 at 17:34
As you said, it is quite hard to agree on what goes with what. Different people will have different opinions.
But, I don’t think many people would be too happy if they were served something that contained honey, prawns and feta cheese. (right?)
Any two of those though go well with each other.
28/01/2010 at 17:47
That sounds like a very good candidate triad! I’ve never had prawns with honey, but just googled some recipes that I’m gonna have to try very soon. Indeed, nothing seems to come up with the 3 of them together.
28/01/2010 at 20:10
Regarding prawns with honey, you can imagine some sort of sweet and sour sauce. Or a teriaki one, which is what I usually have. (although it’s better with maple syrup, but for the sake of the argument…)