Breaking down Connective Tissue

Look again at the primary cooking methods (column 4) in the table of meat cuts. You should detect a pattern of tender cuts, cooked primarily by dry heat; slightly less tender cuts, cooked sometimes by dry and sometimes by moist heat; and least tender cuts, cooked almost always by moist heat.

The concept of moist-heat cooking needs further explanation as it applies to breaking down connective tissue in meat. The usual explanation of the effect of moist heat on connective tissue is that heat breaks down collagen in the presence of moisture. But meat is about 75 percent water, so moisture is always present. Collagen breaks down because of long, slow cooking, no matter what cooking method is used.