Cooking Fresh Meat: the Principles

We cook meat for four basic reasons: to make it safe to eat, easier to chew and to digest (denatured proteins are more vulnerable to our digestive enzymes), and to make it more flavorful. The issue of safety is detailed beginning. Here I’ll describe the physical and chemical transformations of meat during cooking, their effects on flavor and texture, and the challenge of cooking meat well. These changes are summarized in the box.