why does meat become tough on cooking?

Answer 1

the skin

Answer 2

As a guy and a non-cook I should probably shut up but I took a class in high school about 45 years ago and the teacher answered your question.

Proteins get tough when cooked fast. Eggs were her example. She showed how eggs could be cooked at different rates to produce textures. An egg cooked very fast will have a rubbery feel when eaten. She said the same is true of meat. That is why the same meat prepared different ways will produce different degrees of toughness. A round steak that is quick fried will be tough while the same meat cubed and slow cooked in a crock pot will literally fall apart.

Then there are different cuts that have different degrees of tenderness. A well used muscle will be tougher that an unused muscle. Fillet Mignon is a piece of muscle that goes virtually unused by a cow. That makes it a typically tender piece of meat. The muscle of the round is used all day, every day of the animals life and is therefore a less tender cut of meat.

Answer 3

Either it is a bad cut of meat or you cooked it to well done and that can often times can make it tough. Speaking from what I a have learned. Often a steak will become tough if it is cooked to well done. Were if you cook the same steak to rare or med rare it isn't quite so tough. Meats with a lot of fat are often tough, like shoe leather.

However a T-bone steak will usually be a more tender cut of meat.

It's not like when you use meat for stew meat, stew meat can be really tough, however once it has been in a slow cooker for 8-12 hours the meat will become extremely tender. It will just fall apart.

Answer 4

Depends on the cut of meat the particular animal it was from and how fast it is cooked. Over cooked meat will be tough.

I always like to use a mallet on steaks... helps to break down and makes the meat more tender.

Answer 5

Not all meat does, depends in the kind of meat and also when it is cooked you lose some of the moisture especially if you cook it too long.

Answer 6

Most meats (especially beef) will get tough when it is cooked, if you cook it at too high of a temperature. Lower your tem. and cook for a longer time.....slow cooking makes very tender meats.

Try it and Enjoy!!!

Answer 7

Because your cooking out all the moisture.Meat usually needs to be seared to seal in the juices then cooked at a lower temp.

Answer 8

If you want it to become soft, you should tenderize it using a meat tenderizer or bicarbonate soda before you cook it.

Answer 9

Meat is dehydrated when cooked.
The loss of liquid makes it tough.

Answer 10

if cooked for too long it dries the juices out making it hard or if it had freezer burn that could do it too or if its bad and expired or if its burnt