To avoid wasting meat I’ve been doing this for years. So far it has worked and now I wonder about the science behind it:

If for whatever reason I end up with a piece of raw meat that starts smelling a bit strong I cut the piece into small chunks, press the chunks to remove as much liquid as possible, put the meat in a pan, cover the meat with water, let the pan uncovered, boil it and wait till the water completely evaporates. At this point, meat looks brownish or darker depending on the meat I use and it doesn’t smell as strong. I cook it then as I see fit.

I believe by boiling the meat, convection currents take (at least?) some of the bacteria away and this is a safe way not to waste meat. Is this right? Meat always smells better after ‘washing’ it this way.

  • Soulfulginger@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    The water doesn’t make a difference. What’s killing the bacteria is the heat. The water just changes the method of heat transfer. But as others have already said, killing the bacteria may not necessarily make it safe

    • Decoy321@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Not entirely true. While the heat is doing the real baby lifting, the water as a medium does transfer stuff out of the meat. That’s why boiled meat tastes like shit.

      • Soulfulginger@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Boiled meat tastes bad because you’re not adding oil/butter. You’re also not applying enough direct heat (plus keeping it too moist) to create the maillard reaction that is needed for a crust to form