Transglutaminase ✦

Transglutaminase

What it is

The enzyme cross-links glutamine to lysine, and it was first pulled from guinea pig liver, which kept it a laboratory curiosity priced beyond any kitchen until a fermentation route from Streptomyces mobaraensis was worked out in the late 1980s. Your own blood carries a relative of it, Factor XIII, doing exactly the same welding to fibrin every time a cut closes.

In the kitchen

Dust on a barely visible film, press the two cut faces together, roll tight in cling film and leave four to six hours in the fridge — it works cold, and more powder gives a rubbery seam rather than a stronger one. Wear a mask while you dust it, and cook the join through: the bond holds to about 70 °C, above which the enzyme is dead anyway.

Goes with

Chicken Scallop Pork Salmon Lamb Squid Prosciutto di Parma

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