My wife bought a different brand of hummus last week. It had a stronger “chickpea” taste than the usual brand; I love good hummus, but loathe chickpeas. The ingredients included citric acid instead of lemon juice, so I liberally doused it with lime juice on a whim. Ouila! Instant improvement. Didn’t taste like lime, just added some tartness, and took all the nastiness away.
So, what’s going on here? Is the funk in chickpeas a base, and it’s being neutralized? If so, how come the citric acid didn’t do the trick? Or is it just a coverup? Also, I’m aware that lemon juice does a great job taking the “gamey” taste out of meats like lamb chops - same thing?
That one I can do, the OP, I cannot. I think his is a matter of taste receptors, not chemical interactions in the food itself.
Ceviche, however, works because at its core, cooking meat is about denaturing proteins. Proteins are long chains which loop around and make little molecular balls like twine after a kitten’s gotten to it. When we cook protein, we’re breaking some of the bonds that make those little loops and we’re causing other bonds to form, causing the protein to change shape. That’s called “denaturing” the protein. It’s what makes meat yummy.
Aside from denaturing the protein, of course, we need to kill off any bacteria that’s living on it. One way to do both of these jobs at once is with heat, of course. But another way is with the addition of acid. Acid will both denature proteins and kill harmful bacteria. And, voila! Fish “cooked” with citric acid.
Proteins are chains of amino acids that fold up to form complicated three-dimensional structures. Heat (cooking) messes up these structures and makes the proteins easier to digest. Low pH (acidity) has a similar effect, it makes some of the proteins in the fish meat unfold and clump together.
