Prepared Foods - October 2008 - (Page 51)

culinary creations @ISTOCKPHOTO Cooking with Flavors Cooking foods is an art that leads to delectable dishes. Roasted, braised and sautéed flavorings contribute taste appeal and also enhance the appearance of quality in meats, seafood and vegetable dishes. Matt Hutchinson, Contributing Editor any people like to wake up to a fresh cup of roasted coffee. Perhaps they also like toast with their breakfast. For lunch, dropping in at the local Chinese place for a stir-fried cashew chicken may sound good. For many people, the convenience of coming home to the smell of a pot roast with vegetables and flavorful gravy that has been simmering all afternoon provides an easy end to a long day at work. Many others look forward to enjoying a lazy summer afternoon, while cooking some smoked brats with caramelized onions outdoors over the grill. Cutting across all these examples of meals, cuisines, flavors, foods and methods of cooking runs a common thread… the flavors of cooking. Ever since Prometheus taught man the secret of fire, mankind has been cooking his food. Cooking makes foods easier to digest, makes many nutrients easier to absorb, preserves foods for longer storage and destroys harmful pathogens. Cooking also makes most foods more palatable to downright delectable. It is hard to believe this vast variety of foods, from coffee to meat to vegetables to nuts, and cooking methods, from roasting to toasting to sautéing and braising to grilling, all owe many of their vast variety of flavors to only two complex chemical reactions—the Maillard reaction (also sometimes called the browning reaction) and caramelization. Caramelization and Maillard reactions are both nonenzymatic browning reactions that occur in food chemistry. Enzymatic browning reactions, such as the cut surface of an M apple turning brown or a bruise on a banana, are generally undecooking method in many sirable, as they are seen as a sign Asian cuisines, is similar of damage. This is not true with these non-enzymatic browning to sautéing. It requires reactions, as they are desirable cooking food at a high signs of quality and enhance the appearance, aroma and taste heat for a short time to of foods. Although these two maintain food texture. reactions are distinctly different (as described later in this article), they are often confused, as they sometimes occur simultaneously. Depending on the food, their intermediates can interact, and some of the end products are the same. Add to this complexity the variables of temperature and pH, and it becomes clear how “only” two reactions can lead to a variety of flavors across so many different foods and cooking methods. Stir-frying, a common Caramelization and Maillard Reactions Caramelization is a complex reaction involving sugars upon the application of heat (pyrolysis). To distinguish it from Maillard browning, it does not involve amino acids, and it cannot occur at room temperature. The reaction generally does not begin with most sugars until 320°F (160°C) is reached. As heat is applied, disaccharides decompose to monosaccharides. These monosaccharides begin to react with each www.PreparedFoods.com ● October 2008 51 http://www.PreparedFoods.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Prepared Foods - October 2008

Prepared Foods - October 2008 Contents Hitting the Shelves Winning Way—Spirit of Innovation Award Winners—Foodservice and Retail MarketWatch Novel Ingredients for Sports Nutrition Products NutraNews The Flavors of Cooking On the National Menu A Matter of Balancing Taste Solving Problems with Dairy Ingredients Colorings: Will I Be Blue? Coloring with Confidence: Inclusions R&D Applications Seminar: Answers for Dairy and Confectionery Applications R&D Applications: Naturally Vibrant Colors R&D Applications: Healthy Foods with Flavor Abstracts

Prepared Foods - October 2008

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