Section 2
Heat
What muscle does as the temperature climbs.
Muscle does not cook gradually. Proteins set in stages at specific temperatures, connective tissue yields much later, and water leaves throughout. These pieces follow that sequence and the conventional figures that go with it.
All 6 guides in Heat
- What Muscle Does as It HeatsProteins denature at staggered temperatures: firming, then squeezing out water, then collagen finally yielding. The whole of cooking a bird is managing that sequence.
- The Two Numbers That MatterBreast and thigh want different finishing temperatures, and safety is a function of time as well as heat. Stated plainly, with conventional guidance only.
- Why a Roast RestsCarryover and the redistribution of juices. What resting actually does and what it does not.
- Salt, EarlySalt applied hours ahead changes water-holding capacity throughout the muscle. Why it beats a last-minute season.
- Getting the Skin RightWater is the enemy, rendering is the goal. Drying, starting temperature and the reason a wet bird never crisps.
- Poaching Is Not BoilingA bare shiver holds the muscle tender; a rolling boil wrecks it. The narrow window and how to hold it.