I’m about slow cooker recipes where you add beef chuck, and at first it firms up and seems like it’ll never shred. But eventually it’ll just fall apart.
Versus chicken which seems too easy to overcook.
In: Biology
Both chicken and beef firm up when you first cook them because the muscle proteins undergo a chemical change and tighten up (squeezing out water in the process…this is why overcooked meat is dry).
Touch cuts of beef, like chuck, also contain a lot of connective tissue, mostly collagen. This is an insoluble and very tough protein…it’s why cheap steaks are tough and chewy. Collagen doesn’t break down quickly but if it’s stays hot for a looong time (hours) in the presence of moisture, it eventually converts to gelatin. Gelatin has basically no structure so the meat falls apart and it “lubricates” the fibers so they taste “moist” even though it’s massively overcooked in a traditional sense.
Chicken is incredibly lean. Chicken breast, in particular, contains very little fat or connective tissue. There’s nothing to break down and turn to gelatin if you cook it long, you just get tough chicken fibers. Chicken *thighs* do contain collagen, they can be cooked to a “fall apart” consistently like beef chuck, although it doesn’t take as long.
Latest Answers