Golden brown: The Maillard reaction
Press play : Bangers and browning are good partners
Chicken cooked above 90°C
Chicken cooked above 150°C
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When food is cooked there are a number of reactions which occur which transform the raw food which you started with, to the final product which tastes looks and smells completely different. there are 2 main browning methods; caramelisation and the Maillard reaction. Apart from creating the flavour, the Maillard reaction also gives some foods their brown appearances, it does this by rearranging amino acids and sugars in ring formations to reflect light to give a brown appearance. Dryness and temperature are important factors with regards to the Maillard reaction. Cooking food at a high temperature will speed up the reaction, this is due to the fact that it will evaporate some moisture from the food as well as generally increase the rate of which chemical reactions occur. As the moisture in the food evaporates the amount of enzymes and sugars will increase in concentration which in turn will quicken the reactions occurring. As you can see from the images to the left, both of the chicken breasts have been cooked with different methods and therefore had the Maillard reaction occur differently.A simple change in the temperature will make the texture and flavour of the exact same ingredients become completely different. This is the Maillard reaction ocurring differently during their cooking stages yet both the chickens are cooked.
Try the activities below for information regarding the Maillard reaction works in grilling!
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