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Color of the meat

lelferreira

I've been running some tests on meats now, sirloin and ox-hump in particular. They come out of the bath perfect, but the color inside the meat is a bit pale, even when I let the oxygen do his work for a couple of minutes (or even more). Why is that? Is there something I could do to improve the redness fo the meat?

Thanks,

Duda

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Chris_Young_80640

Hi Duda:

I would need to know about cooking time and temperature to give you a better sense of why. But the pigment in question is myoglobin. It's a protein in muscle cells that can bind oxygen, and when it does so it has a red hue. Over time, at high temperatures this protein is denatured and it loses its ability to provide that red color to meat. The higher the temperature or the longer the time the more true this is.

Chris

lelferreira

The temperwture was 57.7C for both of them. The sirloin I left for an hour in the bath and the ox-hump for 36 hrs. Strangely enough, the ox-hump was a bit more colorful than the sirloin.

At what temperature do you cook your steaks?

Thanks

Duda

Chris_Young_80640

I would expect that the ox-hump would be more colorful, even after the longer cooking time. That is a very powerful muscle and has a very large concentration of myoglobin to begin with.

At 57-58 °C I would expect very little myoglobin denaturation. Did you, by chance, presalt the meat? Are you certain that the meat supplier didn't add a "tenderness enhancing" solution of calcium salt to the meat (this is far more common than people realize, many super market steaks have had this treatment). The combination of salt and heat will definitely affect the myoglobin and leave your steak gray.

Chris

lelferreira

I did seasoned the meat before cooking. About the calcium salt, i doubt that it was the case here, because the meat is from the best butcher shop here in Brazil.

So do you recommend seasoning the meat always after the bath? What about brining? I've got a brined short rib cooking now. Does that mean it will be pale as well?

Sorry about the english... Hehe

Duda

Chris_Young_80640

Plain salt (sodium chloride) will promote the oxidation of myoglobin in meat, which can cause it to go brown even at a low cooking temperature. I'm in agreement with Grant, unless brining the meat is my goal, I always prefer to salt my meat after cooking it sous vide.

I like to use fine salt so that it will dissolve quickly onto the surface of the meat. I might then use a coarse salt like Maldon or fleur de sel as a finishing salt so that you get bursts of saltiness as you chew the meat.

Chris