K
kcquer
Guest
I just watched a very interesting episode of America's Test Kitchen. They were cooking pot roasts. The roasted one chuck roast and braised one.
As this would apply to us, I'm drawing a parallel to foiling (braised) and not wrapped (roasted).
As they explained the cooking process, the collagen will not fully breakdown (and most importantly render into the meat) until it has spent 30 mins over 210*.
We all know that we don't hit those kinds of "internal" temps with a brisket, but the temps in the outer areas of a wrapped brisket, would easily hit that level.
Here's a couple of excerpts from the ATK web site that further explain the cooking process. The first references braising of chuck roasts, the other specifically adresses briskets.
Braising -- searing meat, partially submerging it in liquid in a sealed pot, and then cooking it until fork-tender -- is a classic technique used with tough cuts of meat. A variety of cooks have put forward theories about why and how braising works (as opposed to roasting or boiling). We set out to devise a series of experiments that would explain the mystery of braising.
Before kitchen testing began, we researched the meat itself to better understand how it cooks. Meat (muscle) is made up of two major components: muscle fibers, the long thin strands visible as the “grain” of meat, and connective tissue, the membranous, translucent film that covers the bundles of muscle fiber and gives them structure and support. Muscle fiber is tender because of its high water content (up to 78 percent). Once meat is heated beyond about 120 degrees, the long strands of muscle fiber contract and coil, expelling moisture in much the same way that it’s wrung out of a towel. In contrast, connective tissue is tough because it is composed primarily of collagen, a sturdy protein that is in everything from the cow’s muscle tendons to its hooves. When collagen is cooked at temperatures exceeding 140 degrees, it starts to break down to gelatin, the protein responsible for the tender, rich meat and thick sauces of braised dishes.
In essence, then, meat both dries out as it cooks (meat fibers lose moisture) and becomes softer (the collagen melts). That is why (depending on the cut) meat is best either when cooked rare or pot-roasted—cooked to the point at which the collagen dissolves completely. Anything in between is dry and tough, the worst of both worlds.
This brings us to why braising is an effective cooking technique for tough cuts of meat. To determine the relative advantages of roasting, braising, and boiling, we constructed a simple test. One roast was cooked in a 250-degree oven, one was braised, and one was simmered in enough liquid to cover it. The results were startling. The dry-cooked roast never reached an internal temperature of more than 175 degrees, even after four hours, and the meat was tough and dry. To our great surprise, both the braised and boiled roasts cooked in about the same amount of time, and the results were almost identical. Cutting the roasts in half revealed little difference—both exhibited nearly full melting of the thick bands of connective tissue. As far as the taste and texture of the meat, tasters were hard pressed to find any substantial differences between the two. Both roasts yielded meat that was exceedingly tender, moist, and infused with rich gelatin.
The conclusion? Dry heat (roasting) is ineffective because the meat never gets hot enough to fully melt the collagen. It does not appear that steam heat (braising) enjoys any special ability to soften meat over boiling. Braising has one advantage over simmering or boiling, however—half a pot of liquid reduces to a sauce much faster than a full pot.
Getting It Right: Roasting versus Braising
A distinctive pattern of fat and connective tissue runs through the meat of a chuck roast. When cooked in dry heat, or roasted, the fat and sinew do not break down sufficiently, even after many hours in the oven. Cooking the meat in moist heat, or braising, promotes a more complete breakdown of the fat and connective tissue, yielding very tender meat.
Most cooked briskets are dry, but they are not tough. In contrast, if you cook a steak the way you cook a brisket (that is, until very well done), it will be dry and tough. What makes brisket different?
To find out, we used a Warner-Bratzler meat shear, a device designed to measure tenderness in meat. It uses a motor to push a piece of meat across a dull blade while a simple scale measures the required force. We first cooked very tender meat (tenderloin) in a 3 1/2-hour braise until very well done. Tender when raw, the meat was, according to the meat shear, 188 percent-2.9 times-tougher after braising. Next we cooked the brisket, which, unlike the tenderloin, was tough to begin with. By the end of the first hour of braising time, the meat had become even tougher. But further cooking reversed this trend. When the brisket was ready to come out of the oven (after 3 1/2 hours of braising), it was 28 percent more tender than when raw. What was happening?
The muscle fibers in meat contract and tighten soon after cooking commences. When the muscle fibers contract, they expel moisture and the meat becomes tougher. As the internal temperature of the meat climbs, a second process begins that helps reverse this trend. A tough connective tissue, collagen, begins to melt, turning into soft gelatin. In some cuts of meat, most of the toughening of the muscle is counterbalanced by the conversion of collagen to gelatin. We could see this when we used the meat shear on the brisket. Early measurements showed large variations, and if we looked at the blade after getting a high reading, we almost invariably saw white material-the collagen-streaked along the side. Once the temperature of the meat passed 200 degrees, however, these streaks had disappeared, and the meat had not only softened but also become more uniform in texture.
Extended cooking destroys tender cuts with little collagen (like the tenderloin) as they steadily give up their juices and become drier and tougher. But extended cooking actually improves the texture of tough cuts with lots of sinuous collagen (like brisket). Yes, they lose juices and become dry, but they also become tender as the collagen melts. So if your brisket seems a little tough, put it back in the oven!
So, this would seem to thoroughly explain the advantages of foiling, which contradicts most of my cooking experiences of the last year which have caused me to move away from wrapping meat until its cooked:icon_smil
Any temptation I had to call myself anything but a beginner in the "experience" thread is gone now. Just when you think you have some of this chit figured out, you learn something new that proves you don't know nothin' yet.
As this would apply to us, I'm drawing a parallel to foiling (braised) and not wrapped (roasted).
As they explained the cooking process, the collagen will not fully breakdown (and most importantly render into the meat) until it has spent 30 mins over 210*.
We all know that we don't hit those kinds of "internal" temps with a brisket, but the temps in the outer areas of a wrapped brisket, would easily hit that level.
Here's a couple of excerpts from the ATK web site that further explain the cooking process. The first references braising of chuck roasts, the other specifically adresses briskets.
Braising -- searing meat, partially submerging it in liquid in a sealed pot, and then cooking it until fork-tender -- is a classic technique used with tough cuts of meat. A variety of cooks have put forward theories about why and how braising works (as opposed to roasting or boiling). We set out to devise a series of experiments that would explain the mystery of braising.
Before kitchen testing began, we researched the meat itself to better understand how it cooks. Meat (muscle) is made up of two major components: muscle fibers, the long thin strands visible as the “grain” of meat, and connective tissue, the membranous, translucent film that covers the bundles of muscle fiber and gives them structure and support. Muscle fiber is tender because of its high water content (up to 78 percent). Once meat is heated beyond about 120 degrees, the long strands of muscle fiber contract and coil, expelling moisture in much the same way that it’s wrung out of a towel. In contrast, connective tissue is tough because it is composed primarily of collagen, a sturdy protein that is in everything from the cow’s muscle tendons to its hooves. When collagen is cooked at temperatures exceeding 140 degrees, it starts to break down to gelatin, the protein responsible for the tender, rich meat and thick sauces of braised dishes.
In essence, then, meat both dries out as it cooks (meat fibers lose moisture) and becomes softer (the collagen melts). That is why (depending on the cut) meat is best either when cooked rare or pot-roasted—cooked to the point at which the collagen dissolves completely. Anything in between is dry and tough, the worst of both worlds.
This brings us to why braising is an effective cooking technique for tough cuts of meat. To determine the relative advantages of roasting, braising, and boiling, we constructed a simple test. One roast was cooked in a 250-degree oven, one was braised, and one was simmered in enough liquid to cover it. The results were startling. The dry-cooked roast never reached an internal temperature of more than 175 degrees, even after four hours, and the meat was tough and dry. To our great surprise, both the braised and boiled roasts cooked in about the same amount of time, and the results were almost identical. Cutting the roasts in half revealed little difference—both exhibited nearly full melting of the thick bands of connective tissue. As far as the taste and texture of the meat, tasters were hard pressed to find any substantial differences between the two. Both roasts yielded meat that was exceedingly tender, moist, and infused with rich gelatin.
The conclusion? Dry heat (roasting) is ineffective because the meat never gets hot enough to fully melt the collagen. It does not appear that steam heat (braising) enjoys any special ability to soften meat over boiling. Braising has one advantage over simmering or boiling, however—half a pot of liquid reduces to a sauce much faster than a full pot.
Getting It Right: Roasting versus Braising
A distinctive pattern of fat and connective tissue runs through the meat of a chuck roast. When cooked in dry heat, or roasted, the fat and sinew do not break down sufficiently, even after many hours in the oven. Cooking the meat in moist heat, or braising, promotes a more complete breakdown of the fat and connective tissue, yielding very tender meat.
Most cooked briskets are dry, but they are not tough. In contrast, if you cook a steak the way you cook a brisket (that is, until very well done), it will be dry and tough. What makes brisket different?
To find out, we used a Warner-Bratzler meat shear, a device designed to measure tenderness in meat. It uses a motor to push a piece of meat across a dull blade while a simple scale measures the required force. We first cooked very tender meat (tenderloin) in a 3 1/2-hour braise until very well done. Tender when raw, the meat was, according to the meat shear, 188 percent-2.9 times-tougher after braising. Next we cooked the brisket, which, unlike the tenderloin, was tough to begin with. By the end of the first hour of braising time, the meat had become even tougher. But further cooking reversed this trend. When the brisket was ready to come out of the oven (after 3 1/2 hours of braising), it was 28 percent more tender than when raw. What was happening?
The muscle fibers in meat contract and tighten soon after cooking commences. When the muscle fibers contract, they expel moisture and the meat becomes tougher. As the internal temperature of the meat climbs, a second process begins that helps reverse this trend. A tough connective tissue, collagen, begins to melt, turning into soft gelatin. In some cuts of meat, most of the toughening of the muscle is counterbalanced by the conversion of collagen to gelatin. We could see this when we used the meat shear on the brisket. Early measurements showed large variations, and if we looked at the blade after getting a high reading, we almost invariably saw white material-the collagen-streaked along the side. Once the temperature of the meat passed 200 degrees, however, these streaks had disappeared, and the meat had not only softened but also become more uniform in texture.
Extended cooking destroys tender cuts with little collagen (like the tenderloin) as they steadily give up their juices and become drier and tougher. But extended cooking actually improves the texture of tough cuts with lots of sinuous collagen (like brisket). Yes, they lose juices and become dry, but they also become tender as the collagen melts. So if your brisket seems a little tough, put it back in the oven!
So, this would seem to thoroughly explain the advantages of foiling, which contradicts most of my cooking experiences of the last year which have caused me to move away from wrapping meat until its cooked:icon_smil
Any temptation I had to call myself anything but a beginner in the "experience" thread is gone now. Just when you think you have some of this chit figured out, you learn something new that proves you don't know nothin' yet.
