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What's Cooking? Show us Your Plated Food Photos!

Peas Beans and Bacon. And you have to include the bacon fat poured over.

A good honest Black Country dish.

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Looks great. Many would eat it as is but both my wife & I want "no pink". Why I own a propane torch, I guess: So it can be done like this for those that prefer it this way (by the way: a wonderful presentation), and we can brown our portion to our taste.
 
EJ3 said:
Looks great. Many would eat it as is but both my wife & I want "no pink". Why I own a propane torch, I guess: So it can be done like this for those that prefer it this way (by the way: a wonderful presentation), and we can brown our portion to our taste.
Click to expand...

When meat is cooked, the proteins transform something like this:

- <52C (blue): proteins are uncoagulated, iron is in its ferrous (Fe2+) form. Meat appears translucent and deep red.
- 52C - 55C (rare): proteins start to coagulate, iron remains ferrous. The coagulating proteins start to reflect white light, changing the colour to pink.
- 55C - 58C (medium rare): iron starts to change to Ferric (Fe 3+) form, changing colour from red to brown. The transformation is incomplete so meat remains pink. More proteins coagulate, turning the meat more opaque.
- >58C (well done): iron is now completely ferric, and proteins now completely coagulated. The meat is brown with no trace of pink, and opaque.

You can maintain pinkness by introducing Nitric salts which keeps iron in its ferrous form. Smoking does the same thing, which is why there is a pink ring on the outside.

A lot of people have an aversion to pink meat because they think it is not safe to eat. Food safety is a separate topic, it has nothing to do with meat colour. It has to do with whether the meat has been pasteurized, which is a function of heat and time. Low heat pasteurization requires more time.

And BTW, your propane torch will only brown the surface of the meat. It's still pink underneath.
 
Christmas Day smoked brisket. Cooked 2 - 6 pound flats in Pit Barrel Cooker. Took out of fridge at 0500 to sit for an hour. Finished trimming fat, coated with olive oil, and sprinkled with Stubbs barbecue powder. Hung them in smoker at 0700. By 1000 internal temp was 180 F with a great covering of bark. Triple wrapped in foil and transferred to convection oven set for 250 F. At Noon - temps at 205 F, let rest in oven - power off - for 1.5 hours. Result below!

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Keith_W said:
When meat is cooked, the proteins transform something like this:

- <52C (blue): proteins are uncoagulated, iron is in its ferrous (Fe2+) form. Meat appears translucent and deep red.
- 52C - 55C (rare): proteins start to coagulate, iron remains ferrous. The coagulating proteins start to reflect white light, changing the colour to pink.
- 55C - 58C (medium rare): iron starts to change to Ferric (Fe 3+) form, changing colour from red to brown. The transformation is incomplete so meat remains pink. More proteins coagulate, turning the meat more opaque.
- >58C (well done): iron is now completely ferric, and proteins now completely coagulated. The meat is brown with no trace of pink, and opaque.

You can maintain pinkness by introducing Nitric salts which keeps iron in its ferrous form. Smoking does the same thing, which is why there is a pink ring on the outside.

A lot of people have an aversion to pink meat because they think it is not safe to eat. Food safety is a separate topic, it has nothing to do with meat colour. It has to do with whether the meat has been pasteurized, which is a function of heat and time. Low heat pasteurization requires more time.
Click to expand...
Ok Pasteurization, in other words, just cooking it normally (to the proper temperatures.
In 68 years (including time spent in Australia) you are the first person to mention that word in conjunction with meat, to me.
I understand that it is technically correct.
But every interaction that I & anyone I know (I asked around), has had with a meat thermometer is just to cook to the correct temperature for the type of meat, fish or poultry that you are cooking. No one has ever heard the word pasteurization used in the same sentence as meat.
Thanks for the interesting word usage. Now I can use it to confound others. Somehow I doubt that it will become common usage, though.
I will have some fun with it, for sure.
I'm guessing that we all think of pasteurization as a process for liquids.
 
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