It is the desire for meat, the incense of smoke, the art of cooking that makes bacon such a food so haunting and addictive.
There is hardly anything more tempting in this world than bacon. Just smelling that fragrance is like some mysterious force holding you by the nose and luring you into the kitchen. Eggs, chocolate, vegetables, or anything else fresh can't match it.
Bacon is fresh, unique, and unlike any other food. Even vegetarians may be tempted by it to "break the vows". What is the mysterious magic that makes bacon so delicious? Is it possible to make a vegetarian "stand-in" with the same flavor?
【What kind of baguette will not disappoint when eaten?】 】
In spice chemistry, sometimes you just have to find a molecule to get a certain taste. For example, the almond flavor mainly relies on benzaldehyde, and the banana flavor relies on isoamyl acetate, of course, to really reduce these flavors 100%, it still requires a lot of other added ingredients. Similarly, there is no way to simply replicate the flavor of bacon with one ingredient. However, its flavor comes from the pork itself – cured pork is smoked and then sliced, and that's the fascinating bacon.
Food experts say the taste produced after the fat of pork is destroyed is one of the main sources of bacon flavor. It's not just about the white grease. The cell membranes of muscle tissue contain fatty acids, which are broken down during the ripening of pork, producing a large number of flavored compounds such as aldehydes, furans, and ketones. As a result, some molecules have their own flavors or aromas – furans are sweet, nutty, and caramel, aldehydes have a grassy scent, and ketones are buttery – but the wonderful combination of these compounds is the key. If there is no molecular compound in the bacon, you will find that it tastes strange.
The fat-lean ratio of pork also affects the taste of bacon
Also, how the pig's diet and nutrition are, will make the fatty acids in the pork different, so that the molecules after the fatty acid decomposition will also be different. In fact, why do meat and meat have different tastes? It is because the fat structure in the cell membrane of muscle cells is different. Where you play, lamb has a smell, which is caused by the fat structure.
In addition, different cured meat salts will also make the flavor of the bacon different, because it will cause different chemical reactions in the fat, which will block part of the chemical reaction process and divert some molecules.
After the marinated pork is smoked, the compounds it contains change again. Tobacco wood releases both bitter phenols and sweet compounds – including a substance with a very vivid name called maple lactone (methylcyclopentenolone). The combination of bitterness and sweetness creates a true smoky taste.
There is also a very important process about how bacon is "made", that is, the "Maillard Reaction", that is, when the bread or bacon is baked, the temperature rises, and the sugar and amino acids produce a wonderful chemical reaction, forming new molecules, including furan, pyrazine and thiazole...
The name is too esoteric, right? It doesn't matter, it's all kinds of compounds anyway. These compounds have a nutty flavor and caramel flavor. In this chemical reaction, the cocoa ingredients in the chocolate also contribute to the formation of the fragrance. However, whether it is because of these chemical reactions that make bacon chocolate bars so delicious is not particularly clear. Yes, the taste matching thing is really tricky, it can be described as a variety of opinions, it is difficult to decide.
Unexpectedly, bacon and chocolate actually have similar chemical compositions
There are also many "vegetarian bacon" on the market, and how much this taste is similar is also a matter of opinion. If you can't use smoked pork, then what should you use to copy the "bacon flavor"?
Jelly Belly is best at making candy in all flavors, but until now, they haven't made bacon candy beans, and they don't seem to have any intention of trying it. Their spokesperson said: "You will never know exactly what new flavors we are developing. But he also said, "The bacon flavor is too complicated, but it can make a very close flavor." It depends on the food ingredients, it will still be the flavor of the furan compound after the Maillard reaction, the phenolic compound after smoking and the salt. "The three ingredients don't sound very complicated, and that's just the beginning." And then you add a little bit of aldehydes..."
It seems that trying to make a completely authentic bacon flavor without marinating pork is really a difficult and vast project. ■
(This article is the work of the Enjoy Global Compilers Program.) Original from the BBC, by Veronique Greenwood, compiled by Zhang Laoji)
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