What makes beef red

Stanbroke , 4 months ago 4 min read. What is the liquid coming out of steak? How do you keep a steak juicy? Cuts , Learn. Related posts. Grill , Learn. Want Steak School to sizzle up your inbox? Some muscles are developed to perform more intensive, endurance activities than others. This requires greater amounts of oxygen, hence why these muscles, in particular, have high levels of myoglobin.

Myoglobin, as we know, is a highly pigmented protein that gives red meat its red color. The more myoglobin in the muscles, the darker the meat will be in color. All animals have some levels of myoglobin, even those that are typically classed as white meat. For example, low amounts of myoglobin are found in the muscles for the wing area of wild birds that fly long distances, or in the leg muscles of grounded birds such as chicken or turkey.

Some people may refer to pork as white meat, although it can also be classed as red. This means that the meat comes from muscles that are used specifically for quick bursts of activity, rather than endurance ones, like those seen in red meat.

As these muscles are developed for these quick energy bursts, they do not need stores of oxygen in the form of myoglobin.

When raw, white meat has a translucent appearance that becomes opaque and then white when cooked. As mentioned previously, there are certain cuts of poultry that are, in fact, dark meat. A good example is to compare chicken breasts to legs.

The breasts are classed as light meat and the legs, dark meat. So, while you can find myoglobin in both white and red meats, it is its high concentration in beef, and to a lesser extent, lamb and pork, that gives red meat its color. Hardworking, endurance muscles in poultry, such as leg meat, also contain small amounts of myoglobin; however, this is not enough to alter the color to the same shade as beef.

Fresh meat is bright red and this color is generally considered more appetizing than brown-tinted meat. In order to stop myoglobin from oxidizing with the air, some retailers use carbon monoxide or dioxide gas to bond with the myoglobin and prevent it from going brown.

While MAP will keep meat looking red for a considerable amount of time, it does not prevent it from going off. This can be extremely deceptive, as meat that was potentially butchered weeks ago will still look fresh.

Meat is red because it contains myoglobin, a protein that is highly pigmented and used to store oxygen for long-fiber muscles that are in near-constant use. What do you think? Has this article surprised you? Be sure to share this knowledge with your friends, and if you have any questions, leave us a comment below!

I used to think you had to leave meat submerged in a bath of salt and expensive herbs and spices aka wet brining for days.

Everyone has a secret recipe they swear by for cooking a turkey. There is a common misconception that pork can only be cooked to a dry husk in order to be safe. When meat is fresh and protected from contact with air such as in vacuum sealed packages , it has the purple-red color that comes from myoglobin, one of the two key pigments responsible for the color of meat.

When exposed to air, myoglobin forms the pigment, oxymyoglobin, which gives meat a pleasingly cherry-red color. The use of a plastic wrap that allows oxygen to pass through it helps ensure that the cut meats will retain this bright red color. However, exposure to store lighting as well as the continued contact of myoglobin and oxymyoglobin with oxygen leads to the formation of metmyoglobin, a pigment that turns meat brownish-red.

This color change alone does not mean the product is spoiled. Related Information Title. URL Name. Related Articles What determines the color of meat? Why does the color of food change when frozen?