There are few food experiences as beloved as frying bacon, from its oh-so-familiar sizzle, to its smell wafting up from the pan to fill the room, if not your entire home.

Now, a graphic chart recently released by Compound Interest, a blog by a graduate chemist and teacher in the United Kingdom, examines the chemistry and chemical reactions people encounter in daily life, and deconstructs the chemical processes behind the mouth-watering scent to explain what makes the particular aroma produced by cooking bacon so irresistible.

According to compoundchem.com, scientists set out through a previous study to discover the compounds that give frying bacon its aroma, by comparing it with the aromas released when cooking pork loin.

The research group fried and minced the meat and then passed nitrogen gas over the cooked food, in order to collect any volatile organic compounds released.

The gaseous compounds that rose from the cooking food were then passed through a gas chromatograph, which separates the various components in a gas mixture, and a mass spectrometer, which analyzes the molecules and atoms of materials in order to identify what the bacon strips were emitting.

The research determined the compounds collected were produced from a process called the Maillard reaction, where sugars in the foods are broken down through reaction with amino acids when heated.

As well with bacon, other gaseous compounds are released through the thermal breakdown of fat molecules.

In the case of smoked bacon, the nitrites used in the meat's curing process are also capable during heating of reacting with the fatty acids and fats in bacon -- thereby creating a higher percentage of nitrogen-containing compounds than in standard pork meat.

All that considered, the research resulted in a very long list of the volatile compounds found when bacon is cooked.

It was discovered hydrocarbons, alcohols, ketones -- organic compounds containing carbon -- and aldehydes -- chemical compounds comprising carbon, oxygen and hydrogen linked with secondary substances -- were present in large quantities in the bacon and pork aromas.

The study group also found some compounds present exclusively in the bacon, which appeared to play a major role in its scent.

The additional compounds were all nitrogen-containing compounds, which included 2,5-dimethylpyrazine, 2,3-dimethylpyrazine, 2-ethyl-5-methylpyrazine and 2-ethyl-3, 5-dimethylpyrazine.

The researchers found that none of the extra compounds individually excreted the exact smell of bacon, but combined with each other and with other gaseous compounds, and were most likely the reasons for bacon's delectable aroma.