<p>I like to tenderise red meat in a solution of vinegar, copious amounts of sugar and salt, herbs and spices, let it marinade in my fridge for 24-48 hours, then wash off the excess solution and let the internal vinegar evaporate over a hot pan (then proceeding to fry/roast/etc.) Only usually in the process my red meat browns. Is it an acid-catalysed Maillard reaction?</p>
<p>Tried to google this, and if you search for raw meat + vinegar, you just get lots of recipes about pickling. If you add the word “brown”, I get lots of stuff about oxidation and unpleasantness instead. Uh???</p>
<p>I’m no expert, but I would venture to guess that it is due to the same type of reasons meat turns brown when you cook it. I would guess it probably has something to do with the proteins of the blood being denatured by the heat and/or pH.</p>
<p>Well why it turns brown during cooking is kinda like a combination of pyrolysis and caramelisation processes, right?</p>
<p>I don’t see why lower pH would promote oxidation of Fe2+ … would it promote hydrolysis of the iron-nitrogen bond in Heme? </p>
<p>Whereas the Maillard rxn is essentially esterification … plausibly catalysed by several days of acid… the meat turns a light shade of brown, so prolly without the removal of water via frying the rxn doesn’t proceed to completion. That’s my guess? Not even Google Scholar is helping, but I feel this is like a really simple topic.</p>
<p>I guess an experiment would be to try to use vinegar without the sugar and see if the same process occurs. (Though meat has its own carbohydrates…so if it’s Maillard we’d predict it’d occur more slowly.) </p>
<p>Btw, what are the “safe points” for sugar + salt in marinades? I imagine that if you add sugar and salt, but not enough, you may actually promote the growth of microbes? 1 tbsp of salt and 2 tbsp of sugar for every cup of solution?</p>
<p>I’ve been overshooting with the amount of vinegar (I use about a 3 parts vinegar, 2 parts water dilution) /salt/sugar intentionally, playing it “safe” so I don’t undershoot accidentally, but the meat comes out saltier / more sour than I’d like it, even after washing and letting most of the vinegar boil off. (Mainly the salt actually – the sourness is fairly mild compared to the amount of salt that ends up in the meat!) The sour goes fairly well with green-style curries, tamarind, etc.</p>
<p>Muscle is a complex tissue, and it is hard to attruibute its color change to only one process. Simplistically speaking, the red color of meat is due to the presence of myoglobin which changes color dependent on its exposure to oxygen (pH affects its oxygen binding):</p>
<p>Hope this helps and doesn’t gross you out. Acid also denatures and partially hydrolyzes the proteins in your meat, and therefore has a tenderizing effect.</p>
<p>McGee says that marinades containing wine or vinegar can also tenderize the surface of the meat–their acid denaturates the surface protein. Nothing about why specifically it turns brown.</p>
<p>And if you don’t already own “On Food and Cooking”, you need to get yourself a copy.</p>
<p>I wonder what happens if you combine vinegar, then dry and salt later. What have I been doing when I add salt to the vinegar brine? I guess a saturated salt solution is not as effective? Also what happens when you include glutamate (yeah if you add some MSG) among the salt? Is the glutamate too large to diffuse in? Does it promote or inhibit denaturation? (Which surprises me – is it a membrane potential thing? I thought Na+ and Cl- weren’t very good ligands…) </p>
<p>btw, I just realised how silly the idea of acid-catalysed Maillard is… lol. (though I just discovered two days ago that you can acylate a protonated amine with an activated acid chloride – this side reaction prolly is what’s preventing benzene and alanine from being DEA List I chemicals?)</p>
<p>I saw a video on youtube where some guy added baking soda to his onions to speed up Maillard (he also did a control) … he also says it tastes sweeter, more complex, etc. Does that work? (In taste, I mean? I don’t doubt the chemistry.)</p>
<p>The PVC film that supermarkets use to wrap meat is specifically formulated to allow oxygen to diffuse into the package and keep the meat red. If you do anything to exclude oxygen, the meat turns brown. Hemoglobin with oxygen is red but the chemistry is more complex than just that. </p>
<p>Interestingly enough, mushroom film is formuated to block oxygen which darkens the mushrooms and makes them look unappealing. </p>
<p>PVC is used despite plasticizer diffusion concerns because it “recovers” better than alternative materials. Poke a roast wrapped in PVC and the dent is gone in minutes. Alternatives require hours or don’t recover.</p>
<p>If everyone would quit checking the feel of the meat prior to purchase, we could have safer wrapping.</p>
<p>Well yes, that’s what I thought, but maybe it’s more than that? </p>
<p>I’m actually preparing sirloin steak right now, and I’ve just noticed reversible browning … I only just noticed that there is some “unbrowning” after defrosting.</p>
<p>trying this new “cover the meat with salt” thing … should it be done at RT? I mean, salt inhibits the growth of bacteria here on out? Or should it be done in a fridge? Just wondering cuz lower temperatures inhibit diffusion.</p>
<p>I would suggest the unbrowning phenomena is the result of suface re-hydration and oxygenation.</p>
<p>If you freeze red meat quickly while wrapped in vapor impermeable alumium foil, it will be nice and red if you unwrap it after surface thawing. The cold ■■■■■■■ the reactions that “use up” oxygenated hemoglobin and cause some aspects of “browning”. The foil blocks loss of moisture.</p>
<p>Dehydration from an impromptu and unintended “freeze drying” process is the primary cause of freezer burn. Using aluminun foil instead of thin plastic greatly reduces this effect. Using double and even triple plastic film is also effective. If you can get some heavy commercial PVC food wrap, that prevents freezer burn for long periods.</p>
<p>As I tell my wife, a freezer is not a magic “time stop” or stasis device. It slows but does not stop degradation.People who eat mammoth frozen in a glacier for thousands of years do not do so beause the meat is nice and fresh…</p>
<p>Could you give me a link to the modern salt thing? Old folks back in the mountains used to keep a chest of rock salt to bury and perserve pork and beef. Is there a new twist on this that improves palatability?</p>
Acid also denatures and partially hydrolyzes the proteins in your meat, and therefore has a tenderizing effect.</p>