Meat... and the science behind it

Hello dear readers! Welcome to another entry on Food Tech and this time around we will be talking about one of our favourite and most popular food sources, meat! Meat is one of the main components of our daily diet (excluding vegetarians of course) and hundreds of dishes all around the world are based around it as the main star of a dish or a supporting ingredient for another dish. However, most people don't really know what it really is. Meat is mostly the muscle tissue of an animal which is made up of mostly water, protein, fat, carbohydrates and assorted proteins.

When an animal is slaughtered, blood circulation will stop and the muscles will use up the oxygen supply of the animal's body. After death, it is imperative not to freeze the animal's carcass immediately as it will bunch up all the proteins together making the meat itself tough. However, if one allows the carcass to age a little, it will allow the enzymes in the muscle cells to break down the overlapping proteins to make the meat tender.

The muscles of the animal are made up of actysin and myosin which are fibres. For example, when cooking a steak we need to look at the tissues at certain temperatures. Between 130 - 155 F, the myosin fibre within the steak will begin to unfold itself. Thea Actin however, has not begun to unfold just yet making this a rare medium steak. If a steak is cooked, some of the protein in it is denatured or has unfolded itself which makes it less chewy or contains less texture. If the steak is cooked till it is well done, some people will complain that it is too dry and tough which suggests that it has reached the stage where almost all of the protein has been denatured in the cooking process and become insoluble which makes it unable to retain its moisture. Therefore, achieving a state whereby some of the protein is denatured is more suitable as compared to having it being completely denatured. So remember, dear readers, never overcook your steak!

References:
Images from:
 http://foodsafety-ta03grp2.blogspot.com/2011/03/think-that-medium-rare-steak-is-nice-it.html
http://foodslashscience.blogspot.com/2010/11/cooking-meat-thermodynamics-and.html

Priest, C. (2010, November 3). Cooking Meat: Thermodynamics and Biochemistry. Retrieved from Food/Science Better cooking through chemistry (and biology, and physics...): http://foodslashscience.blogspot.com/2010/11/cooking-meat-thermodynamics-and.html

Science of Meat. (n.d.). Retrieved from The Accidental Food Scientist: Science of Cooking: http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/meat/kitchenlab.html