This may well sound silly to some, but I am puzzling over the best way to develop the same kind of flavor and aroma memory that is such a part of my cooking. Okay, I have made many, many batches of brews (all grain), enjoyed the aromas of the malts in the bags, and made some great ales of several types, but the ability to know in my mind what each malt component would add is still elusive. In most cooking, I know exactly what the individual spice or ingredient will taste like in combination with every other ingredidient. With the many types of malts, even after reading the detailed descriptions, and having used them, this is still eluding me. Why important...because I think this would help my blending and creating new styles. One idea is to order small quantities of the many that I use and simply boiling them each into a solution to REALLY get to know it by it many characteristics....maybe even to the point of doing blind tasting and smelling to the point that I can appreciate what makes it what it is. Somehow, this mental memory would seem very valuable in my mental formulation and mixing.