Appears in
Professional Cooking: 10th Edition

By Wayne Gisslen

Published 2025

  • About
Protein is an important nutrient and the most abundant solid material in meat. About 20 percent of muscle tissue is protein.

As we learned in Chapter 6, protein coagulates when it is heated. This means it becomes firmer and loses moisture. Coagulation is related to doneness. In dry-heat cooking, when protein has coagulated to the desired degree, the meat is said to be “done.” Doneness is discussed later in this chapter.

After protein has coagulated, applying higher heat toughens it.