On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1502

moist,richqualitytomanyfoods,andtheir
highboilingpointmakesthemanideal
cookingmediumfortheproductionofintense
browning-reactionflavors(p.778).
Glycerol and Fatty Acids Though they
containtracesofotherlipids,naturalfatsand
oils are triglycerides, a combination of three
fatty acid molecules with one molecule of
glycerol. Glycerol is a short 3-carbon chain
that acts as a common frame to which three
fatty acids can attach themselves. The fatty
acids are so named because they consist of a
longhydrocarbonchainwithoneendthathas
an oxygen-hydrogen group and that can
release the hydrogen as a proton. It’s the
acidicgroupofthefattyacidthatbindstothe
glycerol frame to construct a glyceride:
glycerol plus one fatty acid makes a
monoglyceride, glycerol plus two fatty acids
makes a diglyceride, and glycerol plus three
fatty acids makes a triglyceride. Before it


bondstotheglycerolframe,theacidicendof
the fatty acid is polar, like water, and so it
gives the free fatty acid a partial ability to
formhydrogenbondswithwater.
Fattyacidchainscanbefrom4toabout35
carbonslong,thoughthemostcommonin
foodsarefrom14to20.Thepropertiesofa
giventriglyceridemoleculedependonthe

structureofitsthreefattyacidsandtheir
relativepositionsontheglycerolframe.And
thepropertiesofafatdependontheparticular
mixtureoftriglyceridesitcontains.
SaturatedAndUnsaturatedFats,Hydrogenation,and
TransFattyAcids

The Meaning of Saturation The terms
“saturated”and“unsaturated”fatsarefamiliar
fromnutritionlabelsandongoingdiscussions
ofdietandhealth,buttheirmeaningisseldom
explained. A saturated lipid is one whose
carbonchainissaturated—filledtocapacity