CONCEPT 6: SLOW HEATING MAKES MEAT TENDER

Question 1

What enzyme is released due to gentle heat of slow warming?

Answer 1

Cathepsins, which produce more tender meat.

Question 2

Juiciness is almost entirely determined by what two factors?

Answer 2

Marbling and internal temperature.

Question 3

What is a sweet and sour sauce from Italy called?

Answer 3

Agrodolce

Question 4

Common French sauce similar to Agrodolce.

Answer 4

Gastrique

Question 5

How is Agrodolce made?

Answer 5

Agrodolce is made by reducing sour and sweet elements, traditionally vinegar and sugar.

Question 6

What was found, regarding sweetness, when extra honey was added to a chicken pan sauce?

Answer 6

The sauce because saccharine or overly sweet.

Question 7

Does corn syrup contain as much sugar as other sweeteners?

Answer 7

No, it contains about half as much.

Question 8

What are the sweeteners in corn syrup?

Answer 8

Mostly glucose and larger sugar molecules that are much less sweet than table sugar.

Question 9

What does corn syrup do for moisture?

Answer 9

Glucose in corn syrup has an affinity for water, which means it helps hold moisture in a glaze, making the overall dish seem juicier.

Question 10

What does corn syrup do for a glaze?

Answer 10

Adds moisture, gloss and thickens the glaze.

Question 11

Why fresh OJ turns sour.

Answer 11

When cell are ruptured during the juicing process, the compound LARL reacts with juice to form a bitter compound called limonin.

Question 12

What stops bitter flavor in store bought OJ?

Answer 12

Pasteurization process stops this reaction. However, in freshly squeezed juice the reaction will continue unabated.

Question 13

LARL

Answer 13

Limonoate A-ring lactone

Question 14

How long should you freeze chicken. Test results?

Answer 14

No more than two months. 2-month-old chicken was nearly as tender as fresh. Over that was about 15% tougher.

Question 15

What is a Warner-Bratzler shear devise?

Answer 15

Measures tenderness by quantifying the force required to cut meat.

Question 16

Does fish create same amount of fond as meat?

Answer 16

No, fish contains very little natural glucose, which is required to undergo the browning reactions with protein.

Question 17

What are cathepsins?

Answer 17

any of a class of intracellular proteolytic enzymes, occurring in animal tissue, especially the liver, spleen, kidneys, and intestine, that catalyze autolysis in certain pathological conditions and after death.

Question 18

What is an enzyme?

Answer 18

Any of various proteins, as pepsin, originating from living cells and capable of producing certain chemical changes in organic substances by catalytic action, as in digestion.

Question 19

At what temp does cathepsin activity stop?

Answer 19

122 degrees Fahrenheit

Question 20

Example of great quality meat due to cathepsins.

Answer 20

Dry aged steaks.

Question 21

Regarding cathepsins, why is slowly bringing meat to temp a good idea?

Answer 21

While our steaks are slowly heating up, the cathepsins are working overtime, in effect “aging” and tenderizing our steaks within half an hour.

Question 22

What is the best temp to warm steak at in an oven? Why?

Answer 22

275-degree (more cathepsin activity at lower temp) oven before searing to release excess surface moisture helping the steak to brown faster.

Question 23

Does tempering meat really make a difference?

Answer 23

No, not really.

Question 24

Does warming meat in a ziplock bag before cooking help browning? Why?

Answer 24

No, the moisture has nowhere to go and turns to steam when meat is thrown in a pan.

Question 25

Do cathepsins work faster at higher temperatures?

Answer 25

Yes

Question 26

What does gentle roasting do to exterior of meat? Think of searing after.

Answer 26

Creates a thin, arid layer that will crust up faster when seared.

Question 27

When should you season meat with salt? Why?

Answer 27

45 minutes before cooking. Salt draws moisture up through osmosis then reverses back into the meat.

Question 28

Secret weapon for cooking meat.

Answer 28

Time.

Question 29

What are enzymes? What is their function in living animals?

Answer 29

A type of protein. In living animals, one of their functions is the turnover and reprocessing of other proteins around them.

Question 30

Enzymes important role in catalyzing change.

Answer 30

Increasing rates of chemical reaction, affecting food’s consistency, texture and color.

Question 31

Two important enzymes at work when dry-aging beef.

Answer 31

Cathepsins and calpains.

Question 32

What do calpains do to meat?

Answer 32

Break down the proteins that hold muscle fibers in place.

Question 33

What do cathepsins do to meat?

Answer 33

Break apart a range of meat proteins, contracting filaments, and supporting molecules, and even weaken the collagen in the muscles’ connective tissue.

Question 34

Calpains and cathepsins have the ability to create what flavor? How?

Answer 34

Umami taste by encouraging the formation of amino acids and peptides as muscle breaks down.

Question 35

The activity level of calpains and cathepsins is based largely on what?

Answer 35

Temperature.

Question 36

Why is a full 30 days of dry-aging needed for meat?

Answer 36

Because enzymatic activity is very slow between 32 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Question 37

Good enzyme analogy for calpains and cathepsins.

Answer 37

Cathepsins and calpains are like saws.

Question 38

What happens to enzymatic action after 122 degrees Fahrenheit.

Answer 38

It stops.

Question 39

TEST KITCHEN: Two beef roasts - enzymatic activity.

Answer 39

One for 48 hours in sous vide at 120 the other an internal temp of 120 after two hours. Held with tongs, weight added to bottom. 48 hours tore immediately; 2 hours took 15 seconds.

Question 40

Temperature at which collagen breaks down into gelatin.

Answer 40

140

Question 41

Low-temperature tenderizing is meant for which types of meat?

Answer 41

Slightly tough cuts of meat with little connective tissue; roasts from top round or sirloin.

Question 42

Is low-temp tenderizing necessary for tender cuts tenderloin?

Answer 42

No

Question 43

How do you dry-age steaks at home?

Answer 43

Wrap them in cheesecloth and store in the fridge for four days.

Question 44

Is a home refrigerator more humid than commercial?

Answer 44

No, commercial is more humid.

Question 45

Why wrap dry-aged steak in cheesecloth at home?

Answer 45

To prevent excessive dehydration while allowing air to pass through.