Transglutaminase

Transglutaminase is an enzyme that catalyzes a bond between glutamine and lysine residues on separate proteins, cross-linking them into a stable connection that resists breaking down during cooking; in the kitchen it functions as a protein-bonding agent, popularly nicknamed meat glue, that lets a cook fuse separate pieces of protein into one unified piece. Chef Heston Blumenthal is credited with bringing the enzyme into modern fine dining, and chef Wylie Dufresne later used it to bond a dish that was more than ninety-five percent shrimp into a pasta-like form. Transglutaminase remains permitted in food production and, because regulators classify it as a processing aid rather than a retained additive, it is not required to be declared on a label.