While walking the dog in the morning, I have been listening to Michael Pollan’s book, Cooked. Suddenly, he mentioned a \MY-yard\ reaction. What, I thought, was he talking about? And the dog wanted to know why I was mumbling to myself. Then it occurred to me. Pollan was referring to a Maillard reaction. I knew this because he was talking about browning meat. I remembered, then, flippantly telling Ray Rogers that I thought a Maillard reaction was what happened when you let the dogs loose near a duck pond. Okay, he got it, dumb joke that it was, even though the word is not pronounced \mal-erd\.
- Here are some pronouncing options over over at howjsay (be sure speakers are on).
- Here is how to say it in French over at Forvo (it is a French word, after all)
Now, when I give talks about the shroud, people won’t snicker at my mentioning what Mallard ducks do.
Sounds like quack science to me.