From Pan to Plate: The Secret Science Behind Flavor
What if I told you that you’re more of a chemist than you think?
While science might seem like a distant world to my friends in business, political science, or psychology, I’d love to share a different perspective: one where chemistry is all around us. Today, we’re starting in the kitchen.
Introducing the Maillard reaction: a cascade of small, interconnected reactions that are often responsible for the aromas of your morning coffee or the flavors in your favorite steak dish. If you have ever seared, browned, or roasted your favorite veggies or meat, it turns out you have likely done chemistry at home. Who knew?
More specifically, this reaction occurs when you heat a dish that has both sugars and amino acids (proteins). But this doesn’t mean to simply start seasoning your burgers with cane sugar to get a rich flavor. Instead, the Maillard reaction requires “reducing sugars”, which are found in meat, the starches in your potatoes, or the lactose in milk and dairy products. Once you add heat to the mix, you trigger a reaction that creates a variety of molecules which enhance the flavors and aromas of a dish.
But that’s not all the Maillard reaction accomplishes. Imagine this: you’re sitting in your room after getting home from class, when all of a sudden you smell your roommate cooking in the kitchen. Almost immediately, you realize you’re hungry. Well, it turns out there is a chemical explanation behind your sudden hunger. The Maillard reaction actually makes aroma compounds that communicate to your body that the food being made in the kitchen is something that you can readily digest (due to heat breaking down complex molecules to simpler ones) in order to get the nutrients you need. That is one of the reasons why a raw potato doesn’t taste or smell as appetizing as a pan-fried one.
Finally: a note on health.
A recent study by the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) summarized current knowledge on the Maillard reaction and its products, called MRPs. The specific MRPs made depends on many factors, such as what you are cooking and at what temperature. While many MRPs actually serve as antioxidants and antiallergenics, some potential byproducts such as acrylamides can be carcinogenic. That’s why, beyond pure curiosity, it’s actually important to learn the science behind your cooking: to keep you safe!
If you’re ever curious to learn more about the Maillard reaction, caramelization (a kind of sister reaction to the Maillard), or the chemistry of cooking in general, I recommend Serious Eats, a website for cooking nerds who want to understand the science behind their food. Trust me, once you start learning about the science of your everyday meals, you’ll never go back!