Cook, Taste, Learn: How the Evolution of Science Transformed the Art of Cooking by Crosby Guy

Author:Crosby, Guy
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: CKB041000, Cooking/History, CKB023000, Cooking/Methods/General
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2019-12-10T00:00:00+00:00

FIGURE 5.3

The author operating a high-performance liquid chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer at Framingham State University in 2011.

One variant of the Maillard reaction that has received very little attention involves the reaction of the oxidation products of fats and oils with amino acids and proteins in roasted meat. The oxidation of fats and oils in cooked meat creates much of the delicious flavor through the formation of volatile aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, and a variety of other products. But these oxidation products are also capable of reacting with the abundant amino acids and proteins in meat to form new flavor molecules and colored pigments in a way very similar to the reaction of simple reducing sugars like glucose in the Maillard reaction. One aldehyde in particular, 2,4-decadienal, is formed in relatively large amounts by the oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids and has been shown to produce a number of compounds responsible for the flavor of roasted meat via the Maillard pathway. The oxidation of fats and oils requires fairly high temperatures and dry conditions on the surface of the meat, conditions similar to those necessary for the Maillard reaction. Fats and oils that are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, such as those in poultry and grass-fed beef, are more easily oxidized and therefore more reactive with amino acids and proteins than saturated fats are. Although cattle fed cereal grains are higher in total fat, grass-fed cattle contain about five times more unsaturated fat and therefore will produce roasted meat with a flavor profile that is quite different from the meat of cattle raised on cereal grains during the last 120–150 days before slaughter. Rubbing unsaturated cooking oil on the surface of a steak or roast or on the skin of chicken or turkey will enhance both flavor and color.

Vegetables are another food in which flavor can be manipulated for better or worse. There are about thirty-six cruciferous vegetables, now more commonly called brassicas, consumed around the world. These include such common vegetables as kale, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, broccoli rabe, and kohlrabi, as well as others less commonly associated with this group, such as arugula, horseradish, and wasabi. They all have one thing in common: their rather sharp, pungent, often bitter flavor when eaten raw. The surprising fact about all these vegetables is that the raw vegetable actually contains no flavor at all—at least not until the cells of the vegetable are damaged by cutting, chopping, slicing, or chewing. When I give lectures on the science of taste, smell, and flavor, I often hand out samples of fresh arugula leaves and ask members of the audience to smell them. If the leaves are fresh and undamaged, there is no odor. Then I ask them to hold the leaf just under their nose and quickly tear the leaf. All of a sudden there is a burst of pungent aroma that surprises them. What happened? When the leaf is torn, cells are ruptured, releasing a compartmentalized enzyme called myrosinase that very rapidly reacts with compounds present in the cells called glucosinolates.

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