When it comes to food, there are endless cooking methods
that we can utilize to create a great meal. Frying,
steaming, roasting, making, stewing, grilling are some
examples of food preparation techniques. However, there
is no denying that certain foods are better suited to
particular cooking methods. For example, roasting meat
over an open fire ___1___
its flavor while gently simmering vegetables for short
periods of time keeps them crisp, colorful, and
nutritious without detracting too much of their natural
vitamins. When food is heated, it goes through three
central changes in appearance, structure and flavor.
This is because chemical reactions ___2___
within the food. Different methods of cooking produce
different reactions, due to the simple fact that foods
are cooked at a variety of temperatures.
All foods brown at temperatures higher than 154oC.
This is ___3___ as
the Maillard Reaction. It generates the distinguishing
color and aroma of foods cooked over a flame, in the
oven, or in oil. The Maillard Reaction was discovered in
1912 by the French chemist Louis Camille Maillard. It
takes place when sugar molecule and amino acids are
heated together. The reaction produces a cluster of
highly flavored molecules ___4___
for the brown color, smell and taste of cooked meat.
But not all cooked food turns brown in color. For
example, when you boil something in water, the
temperature of the food never ___5___
the boiling point of water which is 100oC.
Therefore, it does not get hot enough for the Maillard
Reaction to take place. However, deep-fried food does go
brown because oil boils at over 154oC. |