speaker notes for Steakology III https://speakerdeck.com/steyblind/steakology-iii

gistfile1.txt

welcome to Steakology! 

muscle is most of what we eat, along with water.

deep tissue exploration to set the table for the conversation

concentric bundles of fibers wrapped in connective tissue. The tiny filaments at the ends are what we care about the most. Proteins Actin and Myosin (esp). If you leave with any knowledge today, let it be about the presence and behavior of proteins.

besides the muscle tissue, we care a lot about this. It carries with it some water, active aromatic compounds, and provides us with natural moisture in a variety of processes.

role: fat is a fuel for the muscles.

lubrication. liquid suspension.
Water helps us smell, connective fats contain active aromatic compounds that get released when the fat breaks down. These combine with water from the steak for super smelly smells. Usually this is good.

transforming meat into steak.

the act of converting meat into a meal.
it can be affected by many things. Minerals, time, bacteria, physical force, heat, etc.
We could go on, but for the sake of time, heat is what we’ll focus on.

actin doesn’t denature until higher temperatures. for the sake of steak, we’ll stick with myosin.

For culinary purposes, the reaction generally becomes noticeable around 310°F / 154°C, although the reaction rate depends on pH, chemical reagents in the food, and amount of time at any given temperature. 

…the molecules produced keep reacting in ever more complex ways that generate literally hundreds of various molecules.

it should be called “the flavor reaction,” not the “browning reaction.” The molecules it produces provide the potent aromas responsible for the characteristic smells of roasting, baking, and frying.

maillard reaction + caramelization (caramelization is pre-pyrolysis, as opposed to reaction with amino acids.)

This reaction hardly occurs below 325 F
https://www.inkling.com/read/cooking-for-geeks-jeff-potter-1st/chapter-4/time-and-temperature-cookings

note the brown color + the char. Let’s talk about 3 sources of these: caramelization, pyrolysis, and the Maillard reaction.
Caramalization is the result of sugars breaking down
Also, take note of the color. When heat is applied, amino acids and simple sugars rearrange themselves in such a way that reflects light differently, making them look brown.

we sum up all of these as ‘taste’. Think about the color, the texture, the smell, and how these all play together on the plate and in the mouth. The crunchy, silky bite of perfectly-cooked steak.

you eat with your eyes. color.

You’re going to source your aromas from the meat, essential oils in herbs.

specifically, volatile aromatic compounds located in a special kind of fat. Take grass-fed beef, for example. What the cow eats leads to volatile compounds being embedded in the meat, which leads them to your nose during the cook.

examples of volatile aromatic compounds & their effects: Citronellal (lemony), Monosodium Glutamate (savory, umami), Eugenol (clove), 

Texture.
We’re getting close. 
We can prepare the meat by cutting into steaks and tenderizing/aging it.
We can render fat, which lubricates the meat and releases volatile aromatic compounds
We can apply enough heat that our myosin is denatured (but not coagulating)
We can apply enough heat to caramelize the exterior of the meat & to encourage a Maillard reaction 
Ideally, your entire steak is cooked to one temperature, and a thin layer of the exterior will be browned nicely.

At the end of the day, we want to taste beef. We don’t want to taste seasoning (though it should be present), we don’t want compound butter or Marchand de Vin (mär-shä d v ). 

Everything else we’ve talked about will up your game and compliment this basic notion.

so now we’ve taken this simple thing, looked under the hood to see how it works, and have a generally better idea of what’s going on when we throw a steak in the pan.

There’s much more to learn of course, but for now, you’re equipped to be a more technical cook