López-Alt's treatment of the Maillard reaction goes beyond the basic explanation (browning above 140°C) to the precise conditions that accelerate or inhibit it — surface moisture, pH, sugar content, protein content, and temperature. This granular understanding allows deliberate manipulation of browning rather than hoping it happens.
The chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that produces hundreds of new flavour compounds when food is heated above approximately 140°C at the surface. It is not caramelisation (which involves only sugars) but a reaction requiring both protein and sugar simultaneously.
THE FOOD LAB (continued) + THE DUCHESS BAKE BOOK