this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2024
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Oh shit. That is so cool! I knew lye was used in making pretzels, but i didn't know it was to get the Maillard browning to happen faster. The wiki page says that one way to reduce the formation of acrylamide, a carcinogen, is by adding carbon dioxide, which ~~is actually released when baking soda is dissolved in water~~ will be released during cooking (edit: see reply chain below for discussion on this point)... IDK for sure if it's enough to really help, but I'm gonna just roll with it and say it is because delicious food is delicious.
Baking powder releases carbon dioxide. Baking soda just creates aqueous bicarb ions and a more basic solution (which is the key to a faster reaction).
Heating a solution of aqueous bicarbonate will release carbon dioxide, too. But since we have delicious onions and stuff in there too, let's walk through my thought process: Baking powder is baking soda + weak acid + cornstarch (to prevent premature reaction). Since the speed-up for the Maillard reaction works by deprotonating amino groups to make them more nucleophilic, the acid-base reaction that releases CO~2~ when using baking powder will still occur with just baking soda + food (ie: the protiens in the food are acting as the acid). You're probably right that using baking powder would produce more CO~2~, or at least produce it faster, but reducing carcinogenic side products for Maillard reactions via CO~2~ is a low-priority concern for me anyway. Just a fun curiousity that occured to me when reading the wiki page!
Sorry if my carbon dioxide subscripts don't work. I don't think my client supports all the fancy markdown, but i tried my best.