Raw and Cooked Textures The texture of
raw meat is a kind of slick, resistant
mushiness. The meat is chewy yet soft, so that
chewing compresses it instead of cutting
through it. And its moisture manifests itself in
slipperiness; chewing doesn’t manage to
liberate much juice.
Heat changes meat texture drastically. As
it cooks, meat develops a firmness and
resilience that make it easier to chew. It
begins to leak fluid, and becomes juicy. With
longer cooking, the juices dry up, and
resilience gives way to a dry stiffness. And
when the cooking goes on for hours, the fiber
bundles fray away from each other, and even
tough meat begins to fall apart. All of these
textures are stages in the denaturation of the
fiber and connective-tissue proteins.
Persistent Colors in Cooked Meats
Thoroughly cooked meat is usually a dull,
brownish-gray in appearance due to the