In alt.food.barbecue, Edwin Pawlowski > wrote:


Thanks for the repost, Ed. Kit taught me pretty much everything I know
about the process of how meat cooks. And he makes a hell of a homebrew...


> Kit Anderson wrote this

> Collagen




> Meats are made of muscle, connective tissue, fat and bone. Muscle contains
> proteins and glycogen. As the temperature of the meat increases, glycogen, a
> long chain sugar, is reduced to simple sugars. This caramelizes and is
> responsible for one of the flavor components.



> Proteins (flavorless) are denatured to amino acids, which not only have
> flavors themselves, but also undergo Maillard browning reactions which adds
> another flavor component.



> While bone adds no flavor itself, the marrow is rich in methyglobulin and
> other proteins. This reacts with smoke nitrites to give us the smoke ring.
> You may have heard that "the sweetest meat is next to the bone". The
> proteins are reduced to amino acids. Nutrasweet is an amino acid.



> Fat is very simple cells which breakdown to sugars, fatty acids, and
> triglycerides at low temperatures.



> Collagen is proteins that have lots of side chain bonds. This makes them
> elastic. It takes more energy to denature them than the simpler proteins of
> muscle tissue. Energy in the form of heat will denature these proteins into
> the flavorful amino acids.



> If the temperature is too high, the water in the muscle cells and the fat is
> rendered out before the collagen melts. This results in dry, tough meat. Too
> low and you risk bacterial activity.



> Tough cuts of meat like brisket and pork butts benefit from low temperature
> cooking as the collagen adds flavor to the meat. Less tough, more expensive
> cuts do not need this phase and can be cooked at high temperatures for
> shorter periods. That is why ribs take only a few hours and briskets take
> 20.



> Kit Anderson



--
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so
certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
-- Bertrand Russel