February 22, 2008

You Ask, I Answer: Cooking Chicken

Sometimes I take plain chicken tenders (boneless, skinless, etc) or plain ground turkey and nuke it [in the microwave] until its cooked through.

Every time, however, there is white residue that is gunky and all around the protein I just cooked.

What is it? Fat?

-- Samantha Jark
Via the blog

It's actually denatured (coagulated) protein.

When undergoing extreme heat, proteins are basically molecularly disassembled.

They then bond together and, in turn, you get white clumps on the surface of your food.

This does not mean the protein is of any lower quality; it is a natural food chemistry process.

If it wasn't for protein denaturation, chicken would always conserve its raw texture, no matter how long you cooked it for!

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