Cooking has two major components; science and chemistry. The science is using temperature and pressure to change the state of food products. The chemistry of cooking is the reaction of biological and non biological components to heat creating colors, tastes, aromas and textures. And that is what this post is about. It’s called the Maillard Reaction, and, it’s an essential chemical reaction needed to create delicious, visual dishes that arouse the senses
The Senses
We like to say that a certain dish tastes great or is delicious, but taste, is the last of the senses you use. The first thing you do is smell the food, the aromas, the scents, then you see the food, how the food looks on the plate, then the hear it (although, if it’s sizzling on the way to the table, the ears come first), the sound the food makes when you cut into it, and lastly, you taste the food, that’s when you put what’s on the fork into your mouth. All of these sensory inputs are controlled by the Maillard Reaction
The Science
This is where science comes into play, however, it’s a little more complicated than that, we also have to factor in heat, time and space, and everything is controlled by the chef. It’s like the conductor of an orchestra, all the instruments playing in correct time to create a symphony.
Although we’ve been doing it since we started cooking, science caught up with it in 1918. Louis Camille Maillard was a French physician and chemist. He studied the reaction between amino acids and sugars at elevated temperatures, and, then in 1953, John E Hodge, a chemist with the Dept. of Agriculture, actually documented the entire chemical process. It is absolutely essential to our cooking, affecting both flavor and color.
It’s why a roast looks like, well, a roast. A pot pie has a delicious crispy cover. Why cookies have their color, and bread a crust. And it starts to happen at a very specific temperature range. This process gives us color to the dish, but, also it affects the flavor profile. As the various proteins, fats, sugars and spices interact chemically creating millions of flavor combinations. It’s why it’s essential that when a recipe is created that gives the desired flavor and texture and color combination, it has to be followed exactly. It’s one of the principles of French cooking. In fact, that effect is so great, and can easily be seen when the same food is cooked in two different ways. Boiled potatoes v’s oven baked fries are an easy example
Heat
I had mentioned factors that control the effects of the Maillard Reaction, those are heat, time and space. Firstly, heat. There are many outcomes to the Maillard Reaction, but the cooking temperature is very important. The reaction starts to happen at 280-330 degrees. That’s when the the amino acids start too react with the sugars in whatever is being cooked. That’s why we cook at 350+ to get the roast to look like a roast and the cookies to brown off. Searing a pork chop cannot be done without heat.
Time
The next factor is time. How long you’re cooking something for, be it in the stove or the oven. The Maillard reaction has a starting point and an ending point. Eventually whatever you’re cooking burns, so time is a factor. A recipe will state to cook something for 10 minutes or 15 minutes. This is the optimal point in the cooking process, past that point it begins to burn, creating an acrid burnt flavor that is not nice at all. But, this is always where the chefs experience comes into play. You’re watching the onions brown, and know when they’re done.
Space
Finally, I need to mention space. Space in cooking is very important, the food needs room to cook. The idea is to not over crowd the pan, allow each ingredient to contact the pan’s surface. When sautéing onions, spread them over the whole base of the pan, make sure you’re using a pan big enough to cook the dish. An example is when cooking pork chops in a skillet, each chop has it’s own space, no overlapping. This does not apply to the sautéing onions part, but there still has to be enough room for the onions to touch the bottom of the pan so they can take advantage of the heat. This will allow the Maillard reaction to happen and those wonderful flavors and colors to develop.
And there you have it, a little about the science of cooking. It is science, but it’s controlled by you the chef. How long to cook something, and how much heat to use. There are a million different outcomes to cooking, and each of us likes it “just so”. Hope this is a little helpful to understand a few of the things going on in the pan as you make dinner.