Meat Curing, Processing, and Ingredients Review

Flashcards covering meat curing ingredients, chemical myoglobin reactions, curing application methods, protein extraction techniques, and thermal processing from the lecture notes.

Nitric Oxide Myoglobin

An unstable, bright red pigment formed by combining muscle myoglobin with nitric oxide.

Nitrosyl Hemochromogen

The stable, cured pink pigment formed when heat of at least $140\,^\circ\text{F}$ is applied to nitric oxide myoglobin.

Curing

The process of adding salt, sugar, nitrite, or nitrate to meat to achieve preservation, flavor enhancement, and color development.

Salt (in Curing)

An ingredient, almost always sodium chloride, that contributes to cured flavor, inhibits microorganism growth by pulling water out, and moves through meat via osmosis.

Sugar (in Curing)

An ingredient, almost always sucrose, that counteracts the harshness of salt, provides energy for nitrate-reducing bacteria, and helps lower the pH of the cure.

Nitrite and Nitrate

Curing ingredients (sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate) that contribute to flavor, prevent warm-over flavor, slow rancidity, inhibit Clostridium botulinum growth, provide bacteriostatic safeguards, and produce a cured pink color.

Warm-Over Flavor

An undesirable sour taste that develops in reheated, previously cooked meats, which nitrites and nitrates help prevent.

Rancidity

The oxidation of fat when exposed to oxygen, producing a sour, funky flavor in stored meat products.

Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS)

The regulatory organization that strictly regulates the permitted levels and usage of nitrates and nitrites in cured meat products.

Micrococcus aerontiacus

The specific bacteria species that accomplishes the reduction of nitrate to nitrite under proper curing conditions.

Back Slopping

The practice of transferring old pickle solution to fresh pickle solution to inoculate the new brine with nitrate-reducing strains of bacteria.

Inoculation

The act of introducing specific bacteria into a medium or product that does not currently contain them.

Ascorbates and Erythorbates

Cure accelerators, such as ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbate, and sodium erythorbate, used to speed up cure for rapid color development and improved cured meat color.

Alkaline Phosphates

Curing adjuncts used to increase water holding capacity, decrease cooking shrinkage, and reduce moisture loss, capped at a maximum of $0.5\%$ in the finished product.

Added Water

Water added during processing that remains in the final meat product at the time of sale, calculated using the Protein Fat Free (PFF) method and stated on the label.

Dry Curing

The oldest and slowest curing method, involving rubbing dry ingredients on the external meat surface without added liquid, relying on osmosis for penetration.

Overhauling

The dry-curing process step where long storage periods are interrupted to apply additional curing ingredients to the meat surface.

Bone Souring

A type of spoilage or souring occurring in the internal area immediately surrounding the bone in dry or cover pickle cured meats.

Cover Pickle Curing

A liquid curing method where meat products are completely submerged in a vat, barrel, or tank containing a pickle solution.

Ropey Pickle

A thick, stringy liquid condition in pickle solution caused by bacterial contamination.

Stitch or Spray Pumping

An injection curing method using a handheld device with hollow needles containing holes along the shaft to inject cure directly into the muscle.

Artery Pumping

An injection curing method where cure is pumped into intact arteries, using the femoral artery for hams or the brachial artery for picnic shoulders.

Machine Injection

An automated industrial curing method where meat cuts move on a conveyor belt under a chamber with a row of six to 12 hollow needles that inject cure solution.

Combination Curing

A curing approach combining dry and liquid techniques, such as injection curing followed by a dry cure cover or cover pickle.

Protein Extraction

The mechanical process of extracting soluble muscle proteins (creating sticky "meat glue") to bind separate muscle pieces together into a solid, uniform appearance.

Impact Energy

The mechanical principle utilized by vacuum tumblers where meat drops to the bottom of a rotating drum to extract proteins.

Frictional Energy

The mechanical principle utilized during massaging where meat pieces rub against each other or rotating paddles to extract proteins.

Vacuum Tumbler

A machine with a rotating drum operated under vacuum that uses impact energy to extract protein, improve product yield, disperse cure quickly, and enhance tenderness.

Massaging

A gentle protein extraction method using slowly rotating paddles to create friction against meat or stainless steel, minimizing muscle tearing.

Liquid Smoke

A liquid smoke compound that is less expensive, faster, uniform, free of carcinogens, and prevents netting adhesion compared to natural smoke.