How do food molecules change after they are cooked?
I’m sure there are more times when one cooks without thinking and imagining what happens exactly with the food they are roasting, frying, baking and steaming at its molecular level. Yet, I can’t help wondering sometimes if scientists or anybody for that matter needed or bothered to do a research based on this.
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Oh my yes, it’s been studied exhaustively. Where to begin…
There’s the incredibly complex transformations that happen when foods that contain amino acids and sugars are exposed to intense, dry heat (as in broiling). These are called the Maillard reactions, and give rise to very aromatic compounds. These compounds account for the difference in flavor between broiled and boiled beef, for instance.
Also, proteins change their shape when exposed to heat, which is what causes eggs to solidify and meat to firm up.
Starches gelatinize when moistened and heated, expanding and forming networks that thicken liquids by entrapping them.
And so much more.
Actually there is a tv show that I used to watch would break that down for you. It is called Good Eats, if you go to Hulu.com you can actually watch the show, its pretty amusing.
It’s called molecular gastronomy when chefs do it. It’s really interesting stuff, there are actually all sorts of scientists who research this. I used to be apart of Experimental Cuisine Collective at the NYU Chemistry chemistry department. So… I missed Chef Ferran Adria of elBulli this March. Yeah, moving away from nyc was a big mistake.
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