Durian’s aroma is a mixture of several families of molecules, and each family smells different. A laboratory measures how much of each a durian holds, by gas chromatography. In the kitchen, four families do the work.
The Compass answers which families. Its four arms are the four families, and any ingredient can be placed on it. The more of a family it holds, the further out it sits. The durian sits at the centre, and its shape is its own smell drawn: long arms where it is loud, short where it is quiet. Musang King reaches far on savoury and creamy; Black Thorn far on fruity, and not at all on creamy.
The Pyramid answers when, the part a flat map cannot show. A smell unfolds in time. Light, fast molecules reach the nose first (the top), then the body of the smell (the heart), and last the heavy, slow ones that linger (the base). This is how a perfumer, a whisky blender or a cigar maker builds a bouquet, in top, heart and base notes. Read this way, durian is heavy in the heart and the base: its mass sits low and it lingers. Put the two readings together, which families and when they arrive, and you have what a chef builds on.
You are not stuck with the raw fruit. Cooking changes its smell and shifts it across the compass. Ferment it and it turns sour and savoury. Caramelise it over fire and it gains the caramel family the raw fruit lacks. Roast and smoke it for a deeper savoury. Freeze it to keep the fresh, fruity smell. The chef picks the technique that reaches the family the dish wants.
This is where the compass earns its keep. Partner ingredients live on the same map: garlic and aged cheese sit far out on the savoury arm; pineapple and champagne on the fruity arm; butter and custard on the creamy arm; caramel and dark chocolate on the caramel arm. An ingredient that reaches along the same arm as the durian shares that smell, and shared smell is the basis of a classic pairing. So to pair, read the durian’s longest arms and look at what else sits on them. Durian is loud on savoury, and so are cured fish, aged cheese and roast duck, so they belong together. (For tension instead of harmony, choose a partner on an arm the durian is quiet on.) Then check it two ways: whether the two share smell-molecules at all, and whether the pair gives a savoury umami lift, the deep-savoury effect behind a good dashi. In the Compass view, tap an arm to watch the durian and its partners reach along it together.
A new dish begins from the reading. The Compass and the Pyramid show what durian is loud in (a savoury-and-fruit heart and a long finish) and what it lacks (a bright top and any acidity). From there the chef has three moves. Harmonise: pair on a note it already sings. Complete: add the top and the acid it lacks. Transform: use technique to carry the fruit to a new note, whether by fermenting, caramelising, freezing or smoking. Every course in the dinner is one of these three, and set in order from savoury to sweet, they become the menu. The “Build a dish” view walks the whole method, and “New profiles” takes the same reading further, using durian’s own molecules to reach ingredients it has never met and profiles no one has cooked.