Why is roast pork white and ham is pink when it comes from the same animal?
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Proteins with iron in them, including the myoglobin in red meat, change color in response to things in the environment.
* When you get them hot or leave them partially deprived of oxygen they turn brown-gray.
* When you give them no oxygen they turn purple.
* Lots of oxygen leaves them red.
* Carbon monoxide causes a different color of red.
* Nitrites and nitrogen compounds in wood smoke turn them pink
Your ham is cured with nitrites. If it says “no added nitrites” on the packaging it’s probably cured with celery juice, which naturally contains nitrites (but because celery is a food, the manufacturer can pretend those nitrites don’t exist). By contrast, your roast pork has no nitrites, and has gotten hot enough to turn the myoglobin brown-gray.
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