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What is it about the smell of cooking bacon that makes it so tempting? I鈥檝e recently been trying to lose weight and am rather pleased with the results. But the craving for food becomes so agonising when I pass a food stall serving bacon sandwiches that I鈥檝e changed my route to work to avoid it. Why does bacon do this to me?
鈥� I am familiar with these aromas and their effects on the senses. I was once a product development manager in a small ham and bacon processing company in Victoria, Australia.
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We frequently offered freshly cooked samples of our products to customers in many of the retail outlets we supplied. Demonstrators were instructed to fry small pieces of bacon, replacing them once they began to look overcooked. This ensured the delectable aroma of freshly cooked bacon was always emanating from the pans.
But why is the smell so good? Cured solid meat products, such as leg and shoulder hams, sides of bacon and beef silversides, to mention just a few, are saturated with a 鈥渃uring brine鈥�. This is a solution of salt, nitrite, phosphates, hydrolysed corn starches and sundry flavouring ingredients.
Many saccharides present in hydrolysed corn starches are reducing sugars, which, at the high temperatures of a frying pan or grill, combine with some of the amino acids in the meat in what is known as the . This is analogous to the caramelisation of sweetened condensed milk when it is heated for long enough.
The products formed in the early stages of these Maillard reactions frequently have pleasant aromas and tastes. As the reactions continue, however, the aromas and tastes of the compounds they produce begin to decline and become quite unpleasant. Demonstrators were instructed to replace well-cooked bacon with fresh to avoid this.
A visual indication of this is when the attractive golden-brown colour gives way to darker colours. These Maillard-derived colours, flavours and aromas are not limited to bacon, although those derived from pork products seem to be much more attractive than those from other meats. For example, ham steaks release very much the same attractive flavours and aromas when they are cooked, but because slices of bacon are thinner and therefore heat through more rapidly, they develop and release their aromas faster than do ham steaks. Thin slices of cured pork sausages also yield similarly attractive flavours and aromas when they are cooked.
鈥淔lavours derived from Maillard reactions tend to be more attractive in pork products than other meats鈥�
Dan Smith, Traralgon, Victoria, Australia
鈥� I have never knowingly eaten bacon, and when I鈥檝e smelled it cooking I haven鈥檛 felt any craving. Likewise, friends who have never eaten it tell me they don鈥檛 find the smell particularly enticing. So I would suggest it is not something intrinsic in the smell of cooking bacon that makes it irresistible but, rather, that the smell evokes memories of having eaten it. I assume it must taste delicious.
Yonatan Silver, Jerusalem, Israel