Pyrolysis, Maillard and Caramelization

[Alejandro Trambauer]

Hi to everyone in this mailing list!
I'm new to the group and i applied to start exchanging ideas and discussing many thing that I'm trying to understand, mainly in the food science subject.
I apologize in advance if the terms and vocabulary I use is not the appropriate, I have some scientific formation (electrical engineer dropout) but I'm a Chef now, so I'll make a lot of mistakes.
Also I would appreciate any correction on things I type that are not correct, there is no offense in education, and I'm not owner of the truth.

About the subject, I tried to google about this subject but I couldn't find much information about it.
My concern today is that many of us don't fully understand the differences of those three things, so i want to start this discussion to get some facts here.

Those are essentially the three kinds of non-enzymatic browning reactions we see in a kitchen, but I remember my science food teacher telling us that all browning was maillard and that caramelization was the same, and interchanging these terms in any imaginable way.

For example, i was always told to look for a nice Maillard (or caramelization) on that nice steak I was cooking, but from recent researches I found that meat browning is neither caramelizing nor Maillard reaction, but protein pyrolysis (for the most part).

I think I have an idea of the differences between each one, but I would like to know what you think about this.

Thanks

Alejandro

[Cape chef]

You may want to read pages 778/779 & 657 of Harold Mcgee's On food and
Cooking.
Good luck
Brad

[BN, Krines, Claudia]

You can probably make that easier, if you don't want to get into too much detail... what differentiates the terms (at least in my world and understanding), is whether the reaction is due to/caused by
- sugar and heat (caramelisation, requires quite high temperatures, depending on the type of sugar (for regular sugar it's about 160°), flavour and colour can be influenced by acid or alkali conditions),
- reducing sugar + protein + heat (Maillard, the exact starting point of that reaction is quite frequently discussed, but for sure it'll start at 130/135°C),
- pyrolysis, which is due to heat only and refers to the structural changes caused by heat.

All reactions will cause similar products, which cause the flavour and browning, in slightly different compositions. The question is what you can try to do with the knowledge, e.g. try to promote browning of e.g. vegetables or poached fish by adding such a reaction, try to increase browning at lower temperatures by adding a source of a reducing sugar, etc....

Claudia

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Von: molecular-...@googlegroups.com [mailto:molecular-...@googlegroups.com] Im Auftrag von Cape chef
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 4. September 2008 02:07
An: Molecular Gastronomy
Betreff: [MG] Re: Pyrolysis, Maillard and Caramelization

[Alejandro Trambauer]

Thanks Cape for the info, i did a quick reread of those pages to check them.
But my point is still that nobody talks about pyrolysis... When i finish reading those pages I get the picture that Maillard is the only responsible of meat browning (for eg).
And from what i have been reading lately this is not 100% true..
So, i'm wrong? What's the deal with pyrolysis?

Alejandro
 
p.d: sorry for any mistakes in composition, still learning english..

2008/9/3 Cape chef <brad...@optonline.net>

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I gave pyrolysis only as an example. There are MANY chemical processes that can make brown products.

Indeed, to get the brown color, you can either have dissolved pigments, or agregates, such as melanoïdins (a broad category).

« pigments », ie molecules that absorb light and agregates can be formed in many ways, as I told.

best

 

 

 

 

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De : molecular-...@googlegroups.com [mailto:molecular-...@googlegroups.com] De la part de Alejandro Trambauer
Envoyé : jeudi 4 septembre 2008 04:58
À : molecular-...@googlegroups.com
Objet : [MG] Re: Pyrolysis, Maillard and Caramelization