Chemical Transformations in Cooking: Maillard Reaction, Caramelisation and Protein Denaturation
Students will explore simple chemical changes that occur during cooking, such as changes in color, texture, and smell (e.g., browning, boiling).
Key Questions
- Construct a mechanistic outline of caramelisation (enolisation, dehydration, fragmentation, polymerisation), explaining why temperature and pH critically determine the ratio of furanone-based versus pyranone-based flavour compounds.
- Explain protein denaturation in terms of selective disruption of non-covalent interactions (hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic interactions) and covalent disulfide bridges, and relate the irreversibility of thermal denaturation to the thermodynamics of refolding.
- Distinguish the Maillard reaction from caramelisation in terms of substrate requirements, temperature onset, and flavour/colour outcomes, and evaluate how food scientists control these competing pathways through formulation and processing parameters.
MOE Syllabus Outcomes
Suggested Methodologies
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