10% or more, to have real weight But at that concentration, the sauce is quick to congeal on a cooling plate, and it can also cause the teeth to stick together (gelatin makes an excellent glue!) Gelatin Comes from Collagen Free gelatin molecules don’t exist in meat and fish They’re woven tightly together to form the fibrous connective-tissue protein called collagen (p 130), which gives mechanical strength to muscles, tendons, skin, and bones Single gelatin molecules are chains of around 1,000 amino acids Thanks to the repeating pattern of their amino acids, three gelatin molecules naturally fit alongside each other and form weak, reversible bonds that arrange the three molecules in the form of a triple helix Many triple helixes then become crosslinked to each other to form the strong, ropelike fibers of collagen Cooks generate gelatin from collagen by using heat to dismantle the collagen fibers For the muscles of land animals, it takes a temperature of around 140ºF/60ºC to agitate the muscle molecules enough to break the weak bonds of the triple helix The orderly structure of the collagen fibers then collapses and the fibers shrink, thus squeezing juices from the muscle fibers Some of the juices bathe the fibers, and single gelatin molecules or small aggregates may disperse into the juice The higher the meat temperature goes, the more gelatin becomes dispersed However, many of the collagen fibers remain intact thanks to the strong cross-linking bonds The older the animal and the more work its muscles do, the more strongly cross-linked its collagen fibers are Extracting Gelatin and Flavor from Meats The muscles that make up meat are mainly ...using heat to dismantle the collagen fibers For the muscles of land animals, it takes a temperature of around 140ºF/60ºC to agitate the muscle molecules enough to break the weak bonds of the triple helix The orderly... weak bonds of the triple helix The orderly structure of the collagen fibers then collapses and the fibers shrink, thus squeezing juices from the muscle fibers Some of the juices bathe the fibers, and single gelatin molecules... or small aggregates may disperse into the juice The higher the meat temperature goes, the more gelatin becomes dispersed However, many of the collagen fibers remain intact thanks to the strong cross-linking bonds The older the animal and the more work its