For this project, I experimented on the effect of different amounts of time on pork chops. My mom makes pork chops all the time when she buys them and I wonder what makes them so good? The seasoning? The temperature? My mother being a good cook? Maybe the amount of time she allows them to cook that allow pork chops to taste and react how they are.
The Science of Pork Chops
Fats are an important part of the meat, responsible for many things. For meat texture, it is waxy when it is cold, but around 130° to 140°F it starts to melt and lubricate muscle fibers in the meat as they get harder and drier under the heat. The fat does not evaporate as does water. The fat is also a factor in the flavor pork chops provide. It absorbs and stash away the aromatic compounds in the pig’s food. Aromatic compounds are substances that consist of one or more rings that contain alternating single and double bonds in its chemical structure. Some have an odor, others do not. As the pig gets older, the fat builds up the flavor compounds. The more exercise a muscle gets, the more tougher it is and the more myoglobin. Myoglobin is a red protein containing heme that carries and stores oxygen in muscle cells. That myoglobin turns the meat darker and more flavorful when cooking.
After a meat has been cut, it only takes minutes for it to change after being exposed to oxygen. The more heat the pork chop receives, the more water it squeezes out of the protein filaments, long chains of proteins, that makes up muscle fibers since the proteins denature, and the drier it gets. The more free moisture there is in the cooked pork chop, the juicer it will be. Therefore sugars, salts, protein fragments and other dissolve components of muscle cells combine to make the water tasteful meat juice. The denaturing process and pushing out the water increases the temperature of the pork chop. With temperatures around 126°F, the collagen, a long fibrous structural protein that supports tissues and gives structure to individual cells (the most abundant protein in the body ), will begin to unravel and contract, causing it to push out liquid. Between 135° to 140°F, the collagen protective covering surrounding larger bundles of muscle fibers will shrink and force to constrict. By then, the pork chop would be at it driest and hardest, still containing 55% to 60% of its bound water. The shrinking collagen would have pushed out most of the “free” water that makes the meat juicy.
Recipe & Experiment
1. Wash 3 pork chops (loin).
2. Outlay your pan with aluminum foil.
3. Season each pork chop with these spices; Lawry’s seasoning salt, Shoppers Value meat tenderizer and paprika, and Spice Classics garlic powder, to your liking.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F.
5. Put the pork chops in pan and cover with aluminum foil.
6. Once preheating is done, put the pork chops in the oven and make sure their internal temperature is 145°.
7. Wait until certain amount of time and take out one pork chop.
8. Observe and even taste a little piece.
Trial 1 (40 minutes)
Trial 2 (1 hour & 20 minutes)
Some of the juices seem to stick to the bottom of the aluminum foil of the pot. The meat is much darker and crispier. Much more flavor and juicy. Hard and tender.
Results; What in the world really happened???
The longer the pork chops are being cooked and heated, the darker they will be...OBVIOUSLY but that is due to myoglobin. The oxygen in the air reacted with the meat pigments forming a bright red color before it is in the oven. More time away from the oxygen will deteriorate that color. Therefore, the myoglobin transforms the longer it is exposed to heat. Myoglobin loses its stability and forms a new molecule called hemichrome which gives red meat its brown color.
The texture of the pork chops when they cooked the longest receive the most amount of texture...AGAIN PRETTY OBVIOUS. They were hard but not too hard. That’s because of the pork chops’ fats. Once heated, the fats lubricate the meat. Once the temperature got to between 130 and 140°F, the waxy fats go onto the meats. Once the temperatures reached higher, the fats appears to be dried except the really visible ones on the outside surrounding the meat. The spices had enough time to be absorb and where able to within the fats that lubricated the meat.
Pork chops aren’t such a basic and ordinary cooking food. There’s something behind its surface.
The Science of Pork Chops
Fats are an important part of the meat, responsible for many things. For meat texture, it is waxy when it is cold, but around 130° to 140°F it starts to melt and lubricate muscle fibers in the meat as they get harder and drier under the heat. The fat does not evaporate as does water. The fat is also a factor in the flavor pork chops provide. It absorbs and stash away the aromatic compounds in the pig’s food. Aromatic compounds are substances that consist of one or more rings that contain alternating single and double bonds in its chemical structure. Some have an odor, others do not. As the pig gets older, the fat builds up the flavor compounds. The more exercise a muscle gets, the more tougher it is and the more myoglobin. Myoglobin is a red protein containing heme that carries and stores oxygen in muscle cells. That myoglobin turns the meat darker and more flavorful when cooking.
After a meat has been cut, it only takes minutes for it to change after being exposed to oxygen. The more heat the pork chop receives, the more water it squeezes out of the protein filaments, long chains of proteins, that makes up muscle fibers since the proteins denature, and the drier it gets. The more free moisture there is in the cooked pork chop, the juicer it will be. Therefore sugars, salts, protein fragments and other dissolve components of muscle cells combine to make the water tasteful meat juice. The denaturing process and pushing out the water increases the temperature of the pork chop. With temperatures around 126°F, the collagen, a long fibrous structural protein that supports tissues and gives structure to individual cells (the most abundant protein in the body ), will begin to unravel and contract, causing it to push out liquid. Between 135° to 140°F, the collagen protective covering surrounding larger bundles of muscle fibers will shrink and force to constrict. By then, the pork chop would be at it driest and hardest, still containing 55% to 60% of its bound water. The shrinking collagen would have pushed out most of the “free” water that makes the meat juicy.
Recipe & Experiment
1. Wash 3 pork chops (loin).
2. Outlay your pan with aluminum foil.
3. Season each pork chop with these spices; Lawry’s seasoning salt, Shoppers Value meat tenderizer and paprika, and Spice Classics garlic powder, to your liking.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F.
5. Put the pork chops in pan and cover with aluminum foil.
6. Once preheating is done, put the pork chops in the oven and make sure their internal temperature is 145°.
7. Wait until certain amount of time and take out one pork chop.
8. Observe and even taste a little piece.
Trial 1 (40 minutes)
This trial was NOT a good timing for pork chops. It wasn't even cooked well as expected. The juices were starting to come out. The seasonings were still visible on top of the pork chops. The meat were in the process of getting darker but still have its raw texture. The pork chops were still soft and didn't taste good.
Trial 2 (1 hour & 20 minutes)
There are more juices coming out of the pork chops this time on the pan. The meat is darker and the seasonings have been absorbed and dissolved into the meat. The taste is definitely coming into the pork chops and is more flavorful. The pork chops are becoming more tender.
Trial 3 (2 hours)
Some of the juices seem to stick to the bottom of the aluminum foil of the pot. The meat is much darker and crispier. Much more flavor and juicy. Hard and tender.
Results; What in the world really happened???
The longer the pork chops are being cooked and heated, the darker they will be...OBVIOUSLY but that is due to myoglobin. The oxygen in the air reacted with the meat pigments forming a bright red color before it is in the oven. More time away from the oxygen will deteriorate that color. Therefore, the myoglobin transforms the longer it is exposed to heat. Myoglobin loses its stability and forms a new molecule called hemichrome which gives red meat its brown color.
The texture of the pork chops when they cooked the longest receive the most amount of texture...AGAIN PRETTY OBVIOUS. They were hard but not too hard. That’s because of the pork chops’ fats. Once heated, the fats lubricate the meat. Once the temperature got to between 130 and 140°F, the waxy fats go onto the meats. Once the temperatures reached higher, the fats appears to be dried except the really visible ones on the outside surrounding the meat. The spices had enough time to be absorb and where able to within the fats that lubricated the meat.
Pork chops aren’t such a basic and ordinary cooking food. There’s something behind its surface.
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