myoglobin can escape in the meat juices; denatured brown myoglobin has bonded to other coagulated proteins in the cells and stays there.) However, there are a number of oddities about myoglobin that can lead to misleading redness or pinkness even in wellcooked meat (see box) And it’s also possible for undercooked meat to look brown and welldone, if its myoglobin has already been denatured by prolonged exposure to light or to freezing temperatures If it’s essential that meat be cooked to microbe-destroying temperatures, then the cook should use an accurate thermometer to confirm that it has reached a minimum of 160ºF/70ºC Meat color can be misleading The pigments in cooked and cured meats Left to right: In raw meat, the oxygen-carrying myoglobin is red; in cooked meat, the oxidized, denatured form of myoglobin is brown; in meats cured with nitrite, including corned beef and ham, the myoglobin assumes a stable pink form (NO is nitric oxide, a product of nitrite); and in uncured meats cooked in a charcoal grill or gas oven, traces of carbon monoxide (CO) accumulate and produce another stable pink form Heat and Meat Texture The texture of a food is created by its physical structure: the way it feels to the touch, the balance of solid and liquid components, and the ease or difficulty with which our teeth break it down into manageable pieces The key textural components in meat are its moisture, around 75% of its weight, and the fiber proteins and connective tissue that either contain and confine that moisture, or release it ... cooked in a charcoal grill or gas oven, traces of carbon monoxide (CO) accumulate and produce another stable pink form Heat and Meat Texture The texture of a food is created by its physical structure: the way it feels to the touch, the. .. balance of solid and liquid components, and the ease or difficulty with which our teeth break it down into manageable pieces The key textural components in meat are its moisture, around 75% of its weight, and the. .. key textural components in meat are its moisture, around 75% of its weight, and the fiber proteins and connective tissue that either contain and confine that moisture, or release it