CONCEPT 2: HIGH HEAT DEVELOPS FLAVOR Flashcards
Who first described Maillard reaction? When?
French scientist Louis-Camille Maillard in the early 1900s
Does high heat change flavor of meat?
Yes
Explain Maillard reaction.
Heat causes amino acids to react with certain types of sugars (“reducing sugars,” like glucose and fructose) to create new, distinct flavor compounds. These compounds react with more amino acids to form more compounds, multiplying rapidly on both the surface of the food and cooking vessel. Ultimately, very large molecules called melanoidin pigments are formed.
In Maillard reaction, compounds formed after amino acids react with “reducing sugars.”
Dicarbonyls
Responsible for deep brown hue on the crusts of roasted and grilled meats.
Melanoidin pigments
What affect do different amino acids and sugars have on Maillard reaction?
Depending on specific amino acids or sugars present, different compounds can be created.
What sulfur-containing amino acid is abundant in red meat?
Cysteine
What complex compounds produce the “roasted meat” flavor? How are they formed?
Thiazoles and thiophenes, which are produced when cysteine reacts with reducing sugars under high heat.
Why do browned steak and browned chicken have different flavors?
Complex compounds that are formed between the reactions of different sugars and amino acids produce different flavors.
Surface temperature needed for Maillard reaction.
Excess of 300 degrees.
Can boiling water brown food?
No, the surface temp cannot exceed 212ºF
Does moisture affect Maillard reaction? Why?
Yes, moisture of food will steam–lowering the temp and slowing the speed of the reaction.
Substitute for Myrin.
Equal parts white wine or sake and sugar.
Classic choice of red meat for stir-fry.
Flank steak because it’s relatively inexpensive and flavorful. Sirloin tip steaks and blade steaks.
Why cook food in batches?
Pan stays hot and creates more browning.
What stoves were woks designed for?
Pit-style stoves where flames come in contact with both the sides and bottom of the pan.
Skillet or Wok for sir-fry?
Depends on the stove top. If it’s a western style stove top the skillet is better for higher heat.
What protein dictates the color of meat?
Myoglobin, a protein which serves to store oxygen in muscle tissue.
Color of myoglobin when meat is freshly cut.
Deep purple
When the exterior of raw meat is exposed to oxygen myoglobin converts to what?
oxymyoglobin
Color of oxymyoglobin.
Bright red.
Inside the meat, where less oxygen can penetrate, myoglobin converts to what?
Metmyoglobin
Do color changes from myoglobin, metmyoglobin or oxymyoglobin affect flavor?
No, they are merely cosmetic except, perhaps, when meat turns brown with age.
Besides cooking, what influenced the color of meat? Why?
Age and use; the level of myoglobin increases with age. This is also why the most-exercised parts of the animal (think chicken leg vs breast) is much darker.
How does cooking affect myoglobin?
As myoglobin is heated, the protein denatures and unfolds, and the portion of the molecule responsible for the color, called heme, is converted again to metmyoglobin, producing the gray color on cooked meat.
One way to help grilled food brown faster.
Remove moisture.
What is chimichurri used for? What are its origins?
Grilled meats; Argentina.
Chimichurri ingredients.
Finely chopped parsley, minced garlic, olive oil, oregano, and white or red vinegar.
Method to increase cooking time for smaller cuts of meat; pick up more smoke flavor and browning.
Rub with cornstarch and salt, stick in freezer.
Can freezers be used as dehydrators for meats? How?
Yes, placing meat in the freezer for a short period of time will yield a drier and firmer product because of surface dehydration.
What does rubbing salt and starch on meat do?
Salt draws out moisture and starch absorbs it. Starch also adds fuel for Maillard reaction.
What happens when adding oil to hot grates (same as cast-iron pan)?
The oil vaporizes almost instantly leaving a black, web-like residue. As the oil heats up fatty acids chains form polymers creating a crisscross pattern over the metal’s surface.
Will one layer of polymers successfully create a “non-stick” surface?
No, you need successive coatings.
Does the grill need to be reseasoned every time it’s used?
Yes, the polymers affect is only temporary.
Color of wild salmon vs farm raised
Wild salmon had rosey-pink hue; farm raised was lighter pink.
What is a carotenoid?
Organic pigments that are found in the chloroplasts and chromoplasts of plants and some other photosynthetic organisms like algae, some bacteria, and some fungi.
Can carotenoids be manufactured by species in the animal kingdom?
Carotenoids generally cannot be manufactured by species in the animal kingdom so animals obtain carotenoids in their diets, and may employ them in various ways in metabolism.
How do wild salmon attain their color?
Absorbing a cartenoid called astaxanthin from a krill-based diet.
How do farm-raised salmon attain their color?
Eating fish feed supplemented with various sources of astaxanthin to enhance their color.
Texture and flavor of wild salmon.
Taste lean with buttery texture and a sweet, fresh flavor.
Do farmed or wild salmon get less exercise? Which eats more fat?
Farmed
Texture and flavor of farmed salmon.
Taste fishy with slimy, soft flesh and musty, fatty aftertaste.
Host of factors that cause variations in flavor and texture of salmon.
Species, season and origin.
Gray matter on salmon is rich in what?
Omega-3 fatty acids
Thick white fish with a meaty texture.
Halibut, cod, sea bass, red snapper.
What disaccharide is table sugar made of?
Sucrose
What monosaccharides make up sucrose?
Fructose and glucose
How does sugar help brown fish without drying out protein?
When sucrose is exposed to high heat it quickly breaks down into fructose and glucose. Fructose begins to rapidly caramelize around 200ºF - a temp the fish easily reaches within a minute of hitting the hot pan.
Do “dry” scallops have chemical additives?
No
Describe color and feel of “dry” scallops.
Ivory or pinkish and feel tacky.
Tacky (adjective)
Not completely dried and slightly sticky to the touch.
Describe color and feel of wet scallops.
Look bright white and feel slippery.
What should be removed from de-shelled scallops?
The tendon
Solution for wet scallops.
1 quart cold water, 1/4 C lemon juice, 2 TBSP salt - 30 minutes.
The richness of cream and butter is balanced well with bolder flavors such as…
White wine vinegar, cayenne.
How can you tell if scallops are “wet?”
They’re sitting in a milky white solution.
Why is it easier to brown big scallops?
More time before they dry out.
Test to determine whether scallop is wet or dry.
Place scallop in center of a paper towel. Microwave on high for 15 seconds; dry scallops will exude very little water - sizable ring of moisture with wet.
How to dry scallops before cooking.
Sandwich scallops between two kitchen towels for 10 minutes.
For Maillard reaction, why start with oil and add butter later?
Butter contains milk proteins and the reducing sugar lactose that can enhance the Maillard reaction.
What have “wet” scallops been treated with?
STPP (sodium tripolyphosphate)
What does STPP do to scallops?
Lends a disagreeable flavor and helps retain moisture; horrible for browning, great for retailers - more weight.
Can you eliminate STPP from scallops?
No, the phosphate form a chemical bond with the proteins that are so strong they prevent STPP from being washed away.
TEST KITCHEN: Removing STPP from scallops.
3 batches of 0, 30 and 60 minutes. STPP was only reduced around 11%.
Best solution for scallops and STPP removal?
Buy “dry” or mask it by soaking in lemon juice, water and salt.
Is the structure of fish different from meat or poultry? How? What does is do to texture?
Yes…shorter muscle fibers, delicate connective tissue, and fat that is rich in unsaturated fatty acids; combination makes fish more flakey and tender.
Why is meat so dense and fish so flakey?
Different fibers in the flesh.
Describe muscle fibers in meat.
Muscle fibers in meat are long and very thin–they can be as much as 10 centimeters in length.
Describe muscle fibers in fish.
Constructed of very short bundles, up to 10 times shorter than the long muscle fibers in meat.
Why does fish tend to flake?
The flesh is separating into its short fibers.
What are fish scales composed of?
Same form of calcium carbonate as mammals’ teeth.
Describe fish skin.
Thick and often rich - filled with connective tissue and fat. Often covered with scales, a strong layer of protection, which vary in size and thickness.
Which has more connective tissue, meat or fish?
Compared with meat, fish only contain a small fraction of connective tissue.
At what temp does connective tissue of fish break down to gelatin.
123 to 130ºF
Does connective tissue of fish run parallel or perpendicular with tissue?
The small amount in fish sits in very thin sheets perpendicular to the muscle bundles.
Which is more delicate, fish or meat collagen?
Fish collagen is much more fragile and easily converted into gelatin than meat.
Why does fish never benefit from long cooking?
It has almost no collagen which is why many fish are delicious raw or lightly cooked.
Collagen
A group of naturally occurring proteins found in animals, especially in the flesh and connective tissues of vertebrates; it is the main component of connective tissue, and is the most abundant protein in mammals.
Oily fish like salmon contain about the same amount of fat per pound as what?
Ice cream
Name some fish with dark flesh and high oil content.
Mackerel, tune, anchovies.
Describe fish bones
Delicate and distinctive, often consisting of a backbone and ribcage, with either bones leading out to fins, or many small pin bones supporting connective tissue.
Cooking fish with bones promotes what?
Moisture and flavor.
What should you look for when choosing a seafood market.
Close to the water, within an hour, and high volume - this equals high turnover and ensure freshness.
What should a fish market smell like?
The sea, not fishy.
Should fish steaks be cut to order or precut?
Cut to order
Fish stored at what temp keep twice as long as the typical 40 degrees?
32 degrees
How do you store a fish at 32ºF?
Put fish in a zipper-lock bag on ice or cover with ice packs and put in back of frig. Remember to chill immediately after you get home.
Do fish always taste better fresh?
No
Comparing frozen to fresh: delicate, thin fish.
We found with fish like flounder or sole it was almost impossible to tell the difference.
Comparing frozen to fresh: firm types of fish.
With halibut, snapper, tilapia and salmon, frozen versions were great when cooked beyond medium-rare. Cooked any less, they were dry and stringy.
Fish you shouldn’t freeze
Haddock, cod, sea bass, swordfish and tuna.
How to transport fish in a car.
Use a cooler.
Describe perfectly cooked tuna.
Rare at 110ºF with only the outer layer opaque and the rest translucent.
Describe perfectly cooked salmon.
Medium-rare (125ºF) with the center still translucent.
Describe perfectly cooked white fish.
Cooked medium (140ºF)–the flesh should be opaque but still moist and just beginning to flake.
