For tender meat
The example of the egg is a fascinating one, not only because it enables us to enjoy an
interesting new gastronomical treat ("the discovery of a new dish does more for humankind
than the discovery of a star" wrote the gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin) but also
because anyone who knows how to cook an egg can also cook meat and fish to perfec-
tion, as explained below.
The interior of the meat's muscular fibres is tender to begin with and the "skin" of the fibres,
(known as the collagen) is hard. Fish contains very little collagen and the flesh is initially ten-
der, as for certain "grillable" meats, and your fingers sometimes slide inside as if into butter.
In terms of cooking, the challenge for these "grillable" meats and these fish lies in preserv-
ing the tenderness. When the flesh contains very little collagen, it is just like the egg white,
and cooking at a low temperature keeps them tender. Most importantly, the water should
never be allowed to evaporate. A temperature below 100°C is a key condition but the
meat should be lightly cooked to avoid surface evaporation of the water.
And for succulent meat
But what about tough meat which is the least expensive but often the most succulent. It may
be cheap, but it is virtually inedible unless it is properly braised over a long period.
For such meat, low-temperature cooking is the only option since the
collagen slowly dissolves in water when heated. And the flesh does not harden for the same
reason as cited previously. Finally, the cooking juice is enhanced by the addition of gela-
tine which makes the dish tastier still.
If you have a properly regulated oven capable of low-temperature
cooking of a piece of meat coated with melted butter or oil (in order to avoid hardening
and water evaporation) then you are really in for a treat. Everything which adds to the
flavour is worth remembering: seaweed to wrap fish, raw ham wrapped around meat,
rosemary, thyme, and so on. Turn up the creativity...at low temperature.
Isn't anything that takes a long time to cook surely out of the question for busy people? Far
from it: put your meat in the oven in the morning before leaving home, set the oven for low-
temperature cooking and when you get home in the evening, all you have to do is serve
it up: the well regulated oven (without flaring) will have done all the work for you. All that
remains is to sit down and tuck into a succulent joint of meat!
Hervé This
INRA physical chemist, INRA molecular gastronomy group,
Laboratory of molecular interaction chemistry (professor Jean-Marie Lehn),
Collège de France, Paris.
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