Sweetness disappearing with long cooking times?

[Anonymous Modernist 12008]

I apologize if this is a dumb question. I regularly cook pork ribs sous vide for extended periods of time (24 hours @ 150F+), I tend to use a rub that includes a fair amount of sugar (I have tried a few different kinds), but I've noticed that when cooked for that length of time that I lose a lot of (ie. almost all of) the sweetness. The heat (cayenne, various types of chili pepper) tends to mitigate a lot as well, but the pungent spices (pepper, celery seed... especially the damned celery seed) tend to stick around pretty well. Is this a common problem? Is there a particular type of sugar that tends to survive high temperatures for an extended duration or is there a fundamental concept that I'm missing? Thanks.

[Anonymous Modernist 3840]

I have done a lot of pork ribs this way and i sear them and then rub them. Could the sugar simply be dissolving in the juices and thus not staying on the ribs? I have not noticed this problem as i grill and put sauce with the sugar on after that.

[Anonymous Modernist 12008]

Thanks, yeah, the more I think about it, the more likely it is I'm suffering a physical problem rather than an ingredient breakdown problem, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything obvious.

I'm trying to avoid doing as much faffing after cooking as possible (I regularly get talked into cooking for 50+ people), but I have a few other things I think I can try to keep the flavor in there.

[Anonymous Modernist 12008]

Is there any ingredient I could add to the rub that would make it less mobile at higher temperatures?

Xanthan Gum? Something like that maybe?

[Anonymous Modernist 17467]

I really agreed with you. I also noticed that any thing if we cooked it for long time then it lost its original flavor.