J. Agric. Food chem.: fried chicken with lemon fragrance

When International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (IFF) scientists studied the aroma compounds in fried chicken, they discovered that the fried chicken contained some thiophene volatile compounds and smelled of lemon These fried chicken didn't taste with lemon These aroma substances are produced in the cooking process The team of 35 thiophene formaldehyde derivatives (source: J agricultural Food chem.) IFF extracted all kinds of volatile components from fried chicken (the samples were extracted by removing the flour and the skin), and analyzed them by gas chromatography olfactory measurement It was found unexpectedly that some thiophene formaldehyde compounds in them smelled "lemon" Robert J cannon, the project leader, speculated that this kind of compound was formed during the degradation of cysteine caused by the frying process For example, 3-pentyl-2-thiophene formaldehyde smells like a flower or fresh lemon In order to explore the sensory properties of these compounds, researchers synthesized and purchased a total of 35 thiophene formaldehyde derivatives, which were used to pass the odor and taste tests Researchers observed significant differences in the odor and taste of compounds as the length of alkyl or alkenyl chains increased or as chains were moved to different positions on the thiophene backbone Among them, 3-butyl-2-thiophenaldehyde and 3 - (3-methyl-2-butenyl) - 2-thiophenaldehyde show strong citrus and citral flavor Citral (source: Baidu Baike) of course, these compounds are not enough to cover other aroma substances to turn fried chicken into lemon flavor The smell people feel is not a single compound but the interaction of many aromatic compounds, just like in pickles there are also fruit flavor compounds But these compounds may actually be useful Because before that, food chemists had already mastered the method of simulating lemon aroma: just add some citral The aroma of citral is really good, but its unstable nature also worries the producers Because citral is not stable enough in acid and high temperature environment, the flavor is easy to lose Researchers have found that these substances are more stable than citral, which may replace the latter as a new lemon flavor The IFF team's fried chicken recipe (source: Chemistry World) the IFF team also released their fried chicken recipe Put the chicken, salt and buttermilk in the refrigerator and marinate them overnight Wrap the salted chicken with the mixture of egg white and flour, put it into the mustard seed cold oil (completely cover the chicken), when the oil temperature reaches 163 ° C, fry for 25 minutes Keep the oil temperature between 143 ° C and 163 ° C throughout the cooking process Paper link: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.jafc.7b01371