“Taste comes from proteins, sugars and aromatics in fat tissue,” Post told Discovery News in an e-mail. “It is very complex and incompletely understood. There are likely up to 800 components in the protein and fat fraction that contribute to the taste.”…

It’s not just taste, but texture that is hard to mimic, said Janeal Yancey, professor of meat science at the University of Arkansas.

“There are the proteins that contribute to texture, but you also have connective tissue, or gristle, that contributes to the mouthfeel, or texture experience,” Yancey said.

That mouthfeel changes with the way the meat is cooked, and how much “char,” or carbonization, is present.