The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

flank that keep the animal breathing. Slow-twitch muscle is
characterized by robust flavor and a very tough texture with
lots of connective tissue that needs to be cooked for an
extended period of time to break it down. With slow-twitch
muscle, the tenderness of the finished product is dependent
not only on the temperature at which it’s cooked, but also
on the length of time it is cooked. Beginning at around
160°F, the tough connective tissue collagen begins to break
down into tender, juicy gelatin. The hotter the meat, the
faster this breakdown occurs.
To put it simply: With fast-twitch muscle, temperature is
the most important factor when cooking. With slow-twitch,
both time and temperature affect the final product.
Whether we’re talking pork shoulder, pot roast, braised
turkey legs, or any other meat, the temperature ranges at
which moisture expulsion and connective tissue breakdown
take place are nearly identical. But exactly how long does it
take collagen to break down into gelatin at a given
temperature? I decided to find out.
Using a vacuum-sealer and a temperature-controlled
water bath I cooked cubes of pork shoulder at 160°, 175°,
190°, and 205°F, keeping track of exactly how long it took
to fully tenderize the meat at each temperature, and found
that the amount of time needed to tenderize a piece of meat
increases exponentially as the temperature is lowered. At
205°F (nearly as hot as a piece of meat can get), the cooking
time was a mere 3 hours, while at 160°F, it took a full day
and half!
If higher temperatures lead to faster breakdown of
connective tissue, shouldn’t you just blast your pork