"Bubba" > wrote in message
> Ed,
> I use a remote thermometer on most any piece of meat thick enough to hold
> it, and I've never seen any time lag at any temperature.
>
> Bubba

This method is not for ANY meat, it is for barbecue. If you cook a pork
chop, chicken, yes, you are correct. Pork butt, brisket, cooked at a low
temperature, then you will see the lag. This is how you tenderize a tough
piece of meat that has a lot of collagen. Collagen breaks down a about 160.
It does not apply to grilling or most roasting.

This was written by Kurt Lucas, a professional chef.

STRUCTURE


Muscle Fibers;

Lean meat is composed of long, thin muscle fibers bound together in bundles.
These determine the texture or grain in a piece of meat. Fine-grained meat
is composed of small fibers bound in small bundles. Course-textured meat has
larger fibers.



Feel the cut surface of a tenderloin steak, and compare its smooth texture
to the rough cut surface of brisket or bottom round.



Connective Tissue;

Muscle fibers are bound together in a network of proteins called connective
tissues. Also, each muscle fiber is covered in a sheath of connective
tissue. It is very important for the cook to understand connective tissue
for one basic reason: connective tissues are tough.



1. Meats are highest in connective tissue if



a. They come from muscles that are more exercised. Muscles from the legs,
for example, have more connective tissue than muscles in the back.



b. They come from older animals.



2. Meats high in connective tissue can be made more tender by using proper
cooking techniques.

There are two kinds of connective tissue; collagen, which is white in color,
and elastin, which is yellow.



A: Collagen
Long slow cooking in the presence of moisture dissolves collagen by turning
it into gelatin and water. Of course, muscle tissue is about 75% water, so
moisture is always present when meats are cooked. Except for very large
roasts, however, long cooking by a dry-heat method has the danger of
evaporating too much moisture and drying out the meat.



Other factors also help tenderize collagen:

Acid helps dissolve collagen. Marinating meat in an acid mixture helps to
tenderize.



Enzymes are naturally present in meats. They break down some connective
tissue and other proteins as meat ages.



Tenderizers are enzymes such as papain (extracted from papaya), which are
added to meats by the cook or injected into the animal before slaughter.
Exercise care when using enzyme tenderizers. Too long an exposure at room
temperature can make the meat undesirably mushy.



B: Elastin
Older animals have a higher proportion of elastin than younger animals.



Elastin is not broken down in cooking. Tenderizing can only be accomplished
by removing the elastin (cutting away any tendons) and by mechanically
breaking up the fibers, as in

Pounding and cubing

Grinding

Slicing the cooked meat very thin against the grain.





The following is from Kit Anderson, Doctor, scientist, bbq aficionado



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