On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 296

the pigments become vulnerable, there are few other proteins left to react with them, so they stay intact and the meat stays red The preliminary salting for making a confit (p 177) greatly accentuates this effect in duck meat Meats cooked over wood, charcoal, or gas flames — barbecued pork or beef, for example, or even poultry cooked in a gas oven — often develop “pink ring,” which reaches from the surface to a depth of 8– 10 mm This is caused by nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas, which is generated in trace amounts (parts per million) by the burning of these organic fuels It appears that NO2 dissolves at the meat surface to form nitrous acid (HNO2), which diffuses into the muscle tissue and is converted to nitric oxide (NO) NO in turn reacts with myoglobin to form a stable pink molecule, like the molecule found in nitrite-cured meats (p 174) Early Juiciness: Fibers Coagulate One of the two major contracting filaments, the protein myosin, begins to coagulate at about 120ºF/50ºC; this lends each cell some solidity and the meat some firmness As the myosin molecules bond to each other, they squeeze out some of the water molecules that had separated them This water collects around the solidifying protein core, and is actively squeezed out of the cell by its thin, elastic sheath of connective tissue In intact muscles, juices break through weak spots in the fiber sheaths In chops and steaks, which are thin slices of whole muscles, it also escapes out the cut ends of the fibers Meat served at this stage, the equivalent of rare, is firm and juicy Final Juiciness: Collagen Shrinks As the meat’s temperature rises to 140ºF/60ºC, more of the proteins inside its cells coagulate and the cells become more segregated into a solid core of coagulated protein and a surrounding ... molecules bond to each other, they squeeze out some of the water molecules that had separated them This water collects around the solidifying protein core, and is actively squeezed out of the cell by its thin, elastic...Early Juiciness: Fibers Coagulate One of the two major contracting filaments, the protein myosin, begins to coagulate at about 120ºF/50ºC; this lends each cell some solidity and the meat some firmness As the myosin... sheath of connective tissue In intact muscles, juices break through weak spots in the fiber sheaths In chops and steaks, which are thin slices of whole muscles, it also escapes out the cut ends of the fibers