What is the Maillard reaction?

The Maillard reaction is a chemical process between amino acids and sugars that occurs when food is heated above roughly 285 degrees Fahrenheit. It produces hundreds of new aromatic compounds responsible for the flavor and brown color of seared meat, bread crust, roasted coffee, and more.

Why does cooked food taste better than raw food?

Heat triggers the Maillard reaction, which assembles hundreds of new flavor compounds that did not exist in the raw ingredient. A single seared steak can generate over a thousand of these molecules, giving cooked food a depth and complexity raw food lacks.

What is the difference between the Maillard reaction and caramelization?

Caramelization involves only sugar breaking down under heat, with no protein required. The Maillard reaction requires both a sugar and an amino acid reacting together. Most browned foods involve a little of both processes happening at the same time.

Why does bread go stale if it's sealed in a bag?

Sealed bread still goes stale because staling is not about losing water to the air. It is caused by starch retrogradation, in which the starch molecules recrystallize and squeeze out water internally, stiffening the crumb even though no moisture has left the loaf.

Why does toasting stale bread make it soft again?

Toasting heats the bread past about 54 to 60 degrees Celsius, which melts the retrograded starch crystals that formed on cooling. The starch chains loosen and reabsorb the trapped water, briefly restoring a fresh, soft texture until the crystals reform on cooling.

Does keeping bread in the fridge keep it fresh longer?

No. The refrigerator actually speeds up staling. Cold-but-not-frozen temperatures near a fridge's range accelerate starch retrogradation, so bread stales several times faster there than on the counter. Freezing solid stops staling entirely.

Why does mint feel cold even though it isn't?

Menthol, the compound in mint, binds directly to a cold-sensing protein in your nerves called TRPM8. Binding forces the channel into the same open shape that real cold would, so it fires an identical cold signal to your brain even though no temperature change has occurred.

What is the TRPM8 channel and what does it do?

TRPM8 is an ion channel in nerve endings that acts as the body's main cold detector. It begins opening when temperatures fall below about 26 degrees Celsius, and it can also be forced open by menthol, which is why mint produces a convincing chill.

Does menthol actually lower your body temperature?

No. Menthol does not cool anything in a thermal sense. The chill is pure sensation produced by tricked nerve sensors, and by dilating blood vessels near the skin, menthol can even leave the treated area slightly warmer over time.

Why do onions make you cry?

When you cut an onion, you rupture its cells and mix stored sulfur compounds with enzymes. This produces a volatile gas, syn-propanethial-S-oxide, that drifts to your eyes, reacts with moisture to form a mild acid, and triggers a protective flood of tears.

How do you cut onions without crying?

Chill the onion first to slow its enzymes, use a sharp knife to crush fewer cells, cut near running water or a fan to disperse the gas, and leave the root end intact since it holds the most sulfur compounds.

Are tearless onions real?

Yes. Researchers identified the enzyme responsible for the tear gas, lachrymatory-factor synthase, and have bred low-pungency and tearless onion varieties that release far less irritant, some by around half, while aiming to preserve much of the flavor.