Meat Science and Ribs

"Thinkers get headaches. Worriers get ulcers." Meathead To achieve Amazing Ribs, or any amazing meat for that matter, we need to know what goes on inside the cooker and inside the meat. As meat begins to heat, it undergoes physical and chemical changes. And that's the magic. This article addresses some of the concepts of meat science by focusing on ribs, but there are important lessons for all kinds of meat.

Buying meat
There are a few days right after slaughter when rigor mortis makes the meat tough, but that usually goes away by the time the meat arrives in your market. So usually, the fresher the better. Try to avoid frozen of thawed meat. Muscle fibers contain a lot of liquid. Have you noticed what happens when you thaw frozen meat? All those juices? That's what happens when the juices form ice crystals which break open meat fibers. More juices escape and there's no way to get them back in. Moral of the story: Fresh meat is usually juicier than frozen meat.

White meat or dark meat?

According to food scientist Harold McGee in his definitive book On Food and Cooking, meat is muscle fiber made mostly of water and protein interspersed with fat for storing energy and connective tissues made of collagens. Red meat is made of "slow-twitch" muscles designed for slow steady movement and endurance. White meat is mostly "fast-twitch" muscle, designed for brief bursts of energy. Muscle fibers need fat and oxygen for fuel. The fat comes from fatty acids in blood, and the oxygen is carried by the protein hemoglobin in blood. The hemoglobin hands off the oxygen to a close cousin, myoglobin, a protein liquid which travels through the muscle and passes it to the fibers. In general, the more exercise a muscle gets, and the older the animal, the greater

the need for myoglobin, and the darker the color of the meat. Red meat holds moisture better and is more flavorful than white meat. White meat contains less myoglobin and fat, and it dries out more easily when cooking. Farm raised chickens and turkeys spend most of their lives on the ground or in coops, and their breasts are mostly fast-twitch muscles. Modern chickens and turkeys have been bred for large breasts because white meat is more popular in this country (and I for one, can't understand why). The legs and thighs of chickens and turkeys get more exercise standing, walking, and running, so they have lots of slow-twitch muscles, more pigment, more fat, and more flavor. They are slightly more forgiving when being cooked. Ducks and geese are designed for flying and swimming and they get more exercise, so they have mostly slowtwitch muscles and red meat. Small fish swim with quick darting motions have mostly fast-twitch muscles and white meat, but tuna swim long distances with slow steady tail movements are so they are mostly red meat. Modern domestic pigs have been bred to have less intra-muscular fat for a health conscious society, and they don't get much exercise, so they have become "the other white meat". All this also means that, when you serve a rare steak, the bright red juices that come out are not blood. The blood is drained from the animal when it is killed. The red juices are myoglobin.

Meat temperatures that matter

Here's what's going on inside your meat as it rises in temperature. These temps are approximate. Other variables come into play such as the age of the animal, acidity, salt content, type of heat, etc. Click here for a complete guide to target cooking temperatures. 40-140F This is the microbial "danger zone" in which bacteria grow most rapidly, doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes. 95110F Fats start to melt. Enzymes accelerate tenderizing. 120-130F Protein denaturing starts. Some fluids get milky. Sugars move to surface. 130-140F Fats begin to render. 130-140F Target temp for medium rare chops and steaks, the temperature at which they are at optimum tenderness, flavor, and juiciness. 140F Collagens begin to contract and squeeze juice from muscle fibers. Juices begin to turn clear and bead on the surface. 150-170F Collagens melt. 155F Most microbes killed. 212F Water boils, meat surface begins to brown. 225F Ideal cooking temp. 250F Pork fat begins to smoke. 300F Maillard reaction (browning) accelerates.

How altitude changes things

Here's a good question from a reader: "Where I live, boiling temperature is about 203F due to altitude (4670'). Does the temperature at which collagen melts also change with altitude? Does high altitude cooking mean I should be keeping the smoker temperature at a different temperature than if I were at sea level?" Boiling temp varies with altitude because the air pressure is different and the amount of energy to convert liquid water to gaseous water is less. Air pressure, however, does not affect melting temps or combustion temps. As to cooker temp, 225F is a good number at sea level because moisture in the meat will not evaporate much at that temp because the meat is colder than the air around it. Since boiling temp is about 9F lower where you are, you could take the cooker down to 216F to help preserve moisture. Click here for a boiling point temperature converter.

What causes properly cooked pork and poultry to be pink, even if it is not smoked?
Several factors: Gases in the atmosphere of an oven can react with hemoglobin in meat and turn it pink, especially on the outer edges. They occur in all ovens, especially those that heat by combustion such as gas, charcoal, or wood. They even are present in electric ovens. When grilling or smoking, there are more of these gases. They more easily penetrate the thinner skin and fat layers of younger animals, so age of the animal is also a factor. Also, meats with high levels of naturally

occurring compounds such as myoglobin, hemo-protein, and cytochrome C are more likely to turn pink. Nitrites in meat can also cause pinking. Nitrites are converted from nitrates in feed and water by microorganisms that are in the animal. The best way to test for doneness of any meat is to use a food thermometer. Color is not a reliable guide. Click here for a buying guide to food thermometers.

Sous-vide: Low & slow gone wild

Low and slow retains moisture and concentrates flavor, so that's why sheeshee chefs are cooking with a new method called sous-vide. That's French for "under vacuum" and it means putting the meat in a vacuum sealed plastic bag and immersing it in water at about 140F for as many as 24 hours! The process also prevents liquids from escaping, and some chefs add butter or sauce to the bag to build more flavor. Sous-vide is tricky, and if you do it wrong you die of botulism. So don't try this at home.

Why is red meat sometimes bright red on the outside and dull gray on the inside?
Fresh cut meat is purplish in color. Oxygen reacts with oxymyoglobin, the pigments in red meat, to form the bright red color of meat in the grocery store. The interior of the meat may be gray or brown because oxygen has not penetrated into the muscle. If, however, all the meat in the package has turned gray or brown, it may be spoiling.

A different kettle of fish

Fish live in a practically weightless

Read the fine print when you shop. Try to avoid meat labeled "enhanced", "flavor enhanced", "selfbasting", "basted", "pre-basted", "injected", or "marinated". They can have 10-15% by weight salty fluids injected. Why pay so much for salt water? Worse still, many pumped meats feel mushy to me when cooked. You do not need these additives if you prep and cook the meat properly. If you cannot find a butcher who sells unenhanced meat, ask if he or she can special order it for you.

It helps to learn about meat and how it is butchered, but this is complicated stuff. The more you know, the better, but here's the best tip I can give you: Get to know your butcher. Knowing a good butcher may be more important than knowing a good stock broker. That's my favorite butcher at right wearing an AmazingRibs.com cap, Dario Cecchini in his 200-year-old butcher shop in Panzano-in-Chianti in Italy.

environment, so their muscles are very different, with very little connective tissue. That's one of the reasons why it never gets tough. But it can dry out because there is not much collagen to moisturize the fibers. The texture of fish varies depending on the life it leads. Flounder, which lives on the bottom, has delicate flaky flesh, while topredos like swordfish, have firmer, darker flesh.For these reasons, and others, fish can spoil within days of being caught while red meats keep much longer.

If you shop at a grocery store, the head butcher is usually on duty early morning through early afternoon. Stop at the counter and ask for the head butcher and the assistant. Find out their names. Chat them up. Swap recipes. Tell them about AmazingRibs.com! Ask them about their favorite cuts and what they think are some of the best meats they get. Ask about delivery dates. Big grocers get fresh meat every day, but some don't. Unless you're on the coast, fish is usually not delivered daily and freshness in fish is more important than any other meat. Then, one day, bring in a slab of ribs you're proud of and leave it there for them to enjoy with lunch. Show them you've got the goods. Soon after you meet them, while they still remember you, call ahead with an order so they can pull the best cuts out for you or cut things specially for you. Don't be in a hurry. Be willing to pay full price for the best cuts. Even so, my butcher has been known to set aside the pick of the litter for me even when it is on sale.

Anatomy of a slab of pork ribs

Meat is a complex system of muscle fibers, connective tissues, fat, and fluids. Muscle fibers. The muscle cells are about the thickness of a human hair and are surrounded by diaphanous connective tissue that attaches the muscle fibers to each other. Muscle fibers are mostly protein and water. These fibers are found in bundles surrounded by connective tissue. Connective tissues. Connective tissue is mostly a protein called collagen. More connective tissue creates ligaments and cements the bundles to the bones. It is mostly elastin. As the animal ages, grows, and exercises, muscle fibers get thicker and tougher. So do the connective tissues. When you cook, collagen begins to melt at about 160F and turns to a rich liquid, gelatin. This gives meat a lot of flavor and a wonderful silky texture. What food scientists call

mouthfeel. When cooking tough cuts of meat with lots of connective tissue, like pork ribs and pork shoulder, it is important to liquefy collagen. The goal is to get ribs to about 180F slowly so the collagens can melt. Fat. Scattered among the fibers are fat cells which store energy for the muscles. Meat with lots of fat amongst the muscle is called marbled because it has a striated look similar to marble. Lean meat, such as loin meat from the back of the pig, is typically about 75% water, 20% protein, and only 3% fat. Rib meat, depending on what part of the rib cage it comes from, the age of the pig, the size of the pig, the gender of the pig, and how it is trimmed, is more like 65% water, 20% protein, and 15% fat. Click here for definitions of the different rib cuts (baby back, spareribs, country ribs, St. Louis cuts). Fat is crucial to meat texture. Waxy when it is cold, fat does not evaporate when you are cooking as does water. At about 130-140F fat starts to melt and lubricate the fibers as they are getting tougher under the heat. Fat is also the source of much of the flavor in meat. It absorbs and stores the aromatic compounds in the animal's food. As the animal ages the flavor compounds build up and get stronger. After the animal is slaughtered, the fat can turn rancid if stored improperly or too long. So we have a tradeoff. The muscle fibers and connective tissues get tougher as the animal ages and exercises, while the fat builds flavor. Because we have become health conscious fat haters, factory farmed pigs have much less fat than pigs bred prior to 1980. Fluids. It is important to understand that the reddish color in meat and its juices is not blood. That was pretty much all drained out in the slaughter house. The ruddiness comes from a pigment called myoglobin.

What happens as you cook

At about 120F, some of the fluids begin to get milky. Enzymes shift into high gear and tenderize the meat. As the meat gets approaches 140F, cell walls begin to break open and release liquids. This is what makes meat juicy. Raw meat isn't very juicy because the cell walls are all intact. After the fibers break down the juices release more easily as you chew. That's why a rare steak is juicier than raw steak. At about 140F red meat begins to turn pink as the myoglobin begins to change. As the temperature rises and the myoglobin changes, the juices go from pink to clear, and the meat turns tan. Also at about 140F, the heat causes the sheaths around the muscle cells to shrink rapidly and squeeze out moisture much like wringing out a wet wash cloth. It can happen suddenly at high heat, and the meat will rapidly shrink, stiffen, and become chewier. Juices will bead and pool on the surface. That's why medium rare steak cooked to about 130F is much juicier than well-done steak cooked to 160F. This drying process even happens when meat is boiled. You would think that boiling meat would keep it moist, but boiled meat can get as dry as cardboard. Poaching or braising meat by submerging it in liquid below 212F, the boiling point, will not drive off the moisture as rapidly.

As the hot air circulates in an oven (and all covered grills, smokers and outdoor cookers are ovens), the moisture on the surface runs off and evaporates. The lower the oven temp, the less evaporation, and the juicier the ribs. Evaporation is not a problem with a big roast like a pork butt. If the exterior is a bit dry and crusty on a pork butt or brisket, no sweat. The interior is so far away that the moisture cannot escape. But when it comes to ribs, the secret to moist meat is to cook it low and slow. But low and slow has benefits for even thick cuts. It seems to allow more flavor to develop. Further cooking transforms more of the compounds in the meat. Some of them begin to escape as enticing aromas. This is no great loss. We smell powerful scents even if some aromatic compounds are as low as a few parts per billion. These aromas can cause a problem however. It will attract the neighbors. Ladies, if you want to catch a man, forget the expensive perfumes and implants and get a smoker! The melting of collagen really starts to accelerate as the meat hits 160F and it continues rapidly on up to 180F. By now lean meat like steak or pork loin is well done and beginning to dry out. On collagen and fat laden cuts such as pork ribs, pork shoulder, or beef brisket, although the muscle fibers are drying and toughening, the collagen that held them together as bundles begins to turn to liquefy; the meat gets easier to chew and the gelatinous collagens makes the texture more pleasing. Meanwhile the fat is softening, rendering, spreading through the meat to lubricate it, and dripping out. As it softens, fat absorbs the aromas and flavors from spices in the rub, marinade, or brine if you used them. Most important, the fat absorbs the smoke flavor if you are using a smoker. If the meat gets too hot, all the fat will render out and rob the meat of much of their flavor and texture. That's why, if you use a paprika based rub, you've probably noticed that the drippings are bright orange. They're loaded with the rub. The Maillard reaction and caramelization. As the surface of meat heats above the 212F boiling point, it starts to brown, a process called the Maillard reaction, and it develops a richness and depth of flavor, not to mention crunchy texture, called "Mr. Brown" or "bark" in barbecue speak. Sugars also begin to caramelize, contributing to the complexity. If you are cooking ribs for a stew, as in my Mexican Ribs recipe, browning them in the beginning adds flavor, as it does for any stewed meat.

The moisture thing

As moisture evaporates, the meat begins to shrink. A slab of pork ribs can lose 20% or more of its weight in cooking due to shrinkage. So we are faced with a problem. To liquefy the collagen we need to cook the meat to about 180F. But by then it is well past well-done and the muscle fibers are drying out. As a result, we need to add moisture. The water pan. I'm a big fan of putting a water pan above the coals. It pumps moisture into the atmosphere and that helps prevent evaporation from the surface of the meat. Some of the moisture will even condense on the cooler meat basting it. Water pans also help develop flavor and the smoke ring as described below. Steaming. Another method of adding moisture is to cook the meat in very high humidity by wrapping it in foil with a little water or juice for part of the cook. This keeps moisture from

escaping and some vapors penetrate the meat. This method is called the Texas Crutch. Do it right, and it works great. A lot of competition cooks use the Texas Crutch. Saucing. Another method to get moist meat is to serve it with a sauce. But you knew that. This site has recipes for all the important regional barbecue sauces with which you can experiment. Just click here. Thin sauces penetrate the meat more easily than thick sauces and bring more moisture to the party. Injecting. Another method is to pump up the meat with moisture prior to cooking. You could use a hypodermic with flavorful marinade, and that is a great idea for this cuts like pork shoulder and beef brisket, but it's not very practical to inject between each rib. A bit tedious, and the result doesn't taste like pork. Marinating. You can marinate meat. Marinating works well on leaner meats like chicken, but the fact is that most marinades do not get very far into the ribs because of the fat. You could marinate for several days, but that will also pull out much of the pork flavor. Brining. Brining adds a significant amount of moisture, it helps retain moisture during cooking, contributes noticeable flavor enhancements, and it's relatively quick: One hour for ribs. Max. It works great, but most of the time I just don't bother. For more on the subject, click here. Mopping, basting, spritzing. A popular method is to mop, baste, or spritz the meat with flavored water, oil, beer, marinade, vinegar, or fruit juices frequently while cooking. This helps cool the exterior, and it is essential on an open grill that is running higher than 240F because it can replace evaporated moisture, but it really doesn't help a lot on closed ovens, and the problems it causes can outweigh the benefits. Muscle fiber and fat do not absorb a lot of liquid, especially when they are partially cooked. But the real problem is caused by opening and closing a cooker. This just pours oxygen onto the coals. So you dump heat out of the smoker when you lift the lid, the temp dives, and then the coals get excited when they see daylight. When you close the lid, the chamber warms up quickly, and then zooms way beyond the target temperature. So you close the dampers to starve the fire and the chamber cools and begins to die. So you open a damper to get it back up, and finally, about the time it is stable, you need to add more coals or mop again. The result is a constant yo-yoing of temperature. Mops were invented by cooks working over an open pit where the fire is hot and the meat needs to be cooled. But they are a bad idea on a closed smoker, especially a charcoal or wood smoker. The die-hard traditionalists love the game of fiddling with the vents and the meat. They call it the essence of barbecue. They love barbecue, the verb. But I love barbecue the noun more, so I skip the mop. Put the meat on, bone side down, close the lid, and go drink a beer. Just go away. Leave. It. Alone.

The proper temp

The ideal cooking temp for tough cuts with lots of connective tissue such as pork ribs, pork shoulder, and beef brisket is about 225F, hot enough to brown the surface and get a bit of a bark, but not so hot that a lot of moisture evaporates. You can cook at a lower temp, but

it will take longer for the meat to hit 180F and you risk drying out the meat. At 225F temp it takes about 3-4 hours to cook a slab of baby backs and about 5-6 hours to cook a slab of St. Louis cut ribs. The precise time is hard to gauge because each slab is different, and cooking temperatures tend to yo-yo a bit. Another problem is that it is very hard to measure the temp of a slab or ribs, especially since the temp can vary from edge to middle, surface to center. So I rely on the clock and some doneness tests. When I think it is done, I try to back down on the temperature to about 180F and hold it for 30 minutes. This is tricky on some cookers. But the important thing to remember is that speed kills.

Pink is beautiful
Many smoked meats develop a smoke ring, a bright pink color just under the surface. Some people think the pink color means the meat is raw, but nothing could be further from the truth. There is a picture of a pork rib with a smoke ring at the top of this page. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is among the compounds formed in the high heat combustion of wood, charcoal, and even propane. As these compounds land on the surface of meat, especially cool moist meat from the fridge, some, including nitrogen dioxide, are moved deeper into the meat as cells lower in the smoke compounds pull them in with a diffusion and absorption process. The cells are simply seeking equilibrium. The process is the same as when someone lights a cigar in a room. All the smoke starts out near the cigar, but eventually it spreads throughout the room as it achieves equilibrium. After a while it penetrates clothes, furniture, and even food. Because it is water soluble, cigar smoke will get into wet things first, like your wife's eyes. Before long you and your cigar will be seeking equilibrium in the garage. The smoke ring in meat is caused by four things: 1) low temperature cooking, 2) combustion of the wood at high temperatures to form nitrogen dioxide, 3) nitrogen dioxide, and 4) moisture on the surface of the meat to help move the water soluble nitrogen dioxide into the meat. When these conditions are met, nitrogen dioxide in wood smoke reacts with the pigment myoglobin in meat to form nitrites and nitrates. These are the same compounds added to hot dogs and other cured meats to preserve them and they also give them their pink color. When smoke roasting, the moist meat absorbs smoke. Less smoke is absorbed as the cooking continues because the surface of the meat begins to seal and becomes saturated with smoke. For this reason putting a pan of water in a smoker helps create a smoke ring. In fact some smokers, called water smokers, have water pans built in. Most of the smoke flavoring occurs in the first hour or two of cooking so adding wood to the fire late in the cook doesn't create as much flavor. It also allows moisture to escape. It's better to just leave the door closed. A faux smoke ring can also develop without smoke if you cook low 'n' slow. When meat is cooked fast, the proteins in the muscle and myoglobin denature at the same time and combine

to turn brown. When cooked slowly, the muscle proteins finish denaturing before the naturally pink myoglobin denatures and so the meat remains pink. You can occasionally see this phenomenon in braised meat like a beef stew. It may have been cooked for hours in a liquid at low temps, yet the meat will still be slightly pink inside. On the other hand, some meats cooked low and slow in a smoky environment in an electric smoker will not develop a smoke ring. That is partially because the wood smolders at a low temp in electrics. Experts at cooking in electric smokers will add a charcoal briquet as well as wood chunks to create the correct atmospheric conditions for a smoke ring.

Are they ready yet?

The only way to know for sure if thick cuts of meat are cooked properly is with a meat thermometer. The problem with ribs is that it is hard to get an accurate meat thermometer reading because the meat is thin, it curves, and touching the bone with the thermometer can give you a false reading. Click here to learn how to know when your ribs are ready. Even so, you need a good oven thermometer. The one that came with your cooker is probably inadequate. I highly recommend the Maverick ET-73, a Meathead Hot Stuff Award winner. The Thermoworks ThermaPen is another winner. Click here to read more about thermometers.

Heat sources
Some purists cook with hardwood only, but more often than not, that produces meat that is too smoky, pungent, bitter, and reminiscent of an ashtray. Gas, electricity, wood pellets, and charcoal are better fuels for the backyard chef, and you can get the smoke flavor with wood chips, chunks, pellets, or sawdust. Charcoal comes in two flavors: briquets and lump. Lump charcoal produces a bit more smoke, but it burns hot and fast. I love it for steaks and lamb, but for ribs, I prefer briquets.

Enough is enough
One of the biggest mistakes we frequently make is using too much smoke. Too much smoke can make your meat bitter or taste like an ash tray. Smoke is like salt. You can always add more but you can't take it out. Do not try to cook with wood. It is too hard to control the temp and the amount of smoke. When you become an expert, you may be able to cook with wood only, but at the outset stick to charcoal, propane, or electricity. I cannot give you a precise amount because each cooker is different and the amount of wood to get the right flavor will depend on the volume of the cooking chamber, the airflow, leaks, how often you peak, the kind of wood you use, and of course, your preferences. You will need to experiment, but a good rule of thumb is start experimenting with about two ounces of wood, regardless of the cut or weight. For dense, thick cuts of meat such as pork butts for pulled pork or beef brisket, you can

double or triple the amount of smoke. If the results are not smoky enough, you can add more wood on your next cook.

Smoke cold meat

There is some evidence that meat right out of the fridge absorbs smoke more readily than warm meat, so add you wood when the cooker gets up to the target temp. Try to get all your wood on in the first hour.

Keep your lid on

Some folks like to baste the meat and others like to spritz it with apple juice or beer or wine. Fogeddaboudit. All this does is let hot air and moisture out of the oven and cool down the surface of the meat. Bad idea. If you're burning charcoal or wood, the rush of oxygen is like pouring gas on the fire. Worse idea. Keep the lid on your grill until the meat is ready. Remember, if you're lookin', you ain't cookin'.

Sauce late
Sweet sauces can burn if you add them too early in the process and they can prevent the smoke from penetrating the meat. For the best saucing strategies, click here.

Seek balance
The secret to Amazing Ribs is to achieve balance between flavors. For barbecued ribs, there should be a distinct pork flavor, a smoke flavor, and a seasoning flavor from a rub or sauce. Balance is the key in cooking ribs.

Bottom line
Take your time and have the following on hand: a cooker with good heat control, a good thermometer, a comfy chair, a good book, and a great beer. This page was revised 10/5/2009