Red Meat: Raw vs. Cooked and protein usage

[Thomas]

I have red more than once that with regard to raw red MUSCLE meat, cooking helps to better unfold the proteins, thus making them mroe utilizable.

The reason this makes sense to me is because beef (or wild game) muscle meat is difficult to chew and probably does not get fully digested.
However, when cooked at a low temperate for a long period of time (e.g. crock pot), the meat is much more tender and seems to be highly digestible.


Is this true? If so, is the low temperate of crock pot cooking too low to create mutagenic substances?

If this is not true, is it better to always grind red muscle meat before consumption?


Thanks
Thomas

[Mark]

... is the low temperate of crock pot cooking too low to create mutagenic substances?

Have a look at this thread...

viewtopic.php?t=151

I think the best you can do with red meat is to cut out the chewy parts (takes a while), chop into small peices and simmer in small amount of water for 5 minutes. Extremely low amounts of mutagens are created.
Add lemon juice to help zinc absorption. Red capsicum for Vit C helps iron absorption.
BTW the best cut of beef for zinc is blade; up to 6.3mg per 100gm lean top blade.

[RRM]

I have red more than once that with regard to raw red MUSCLE meat, cooking helps to better unfold the proteins, thus making them mroe utilizable.

Hmm, maybe we should tell the leopard that he better eats cooked meat; maybe that helps him to utilize the protein better, so that maybe he can even run faster than us...

Sorry about that...
Raw protein is very easy to digest, more readily than cooked protein (because of the molecular damage). What is not easy to digest, is the raw connective tissue.

The reason this makes sense to me is because beef (or wild game) muscle meat is difficult to chew and probably does not get fully digested.

Actually, many predators dont even chew at all, and they dont have problems digesting their prey.
We do chew. And if you chew long enough, almost solely connective tissue remains in your mouth, while all the other stuff has gone done your throat already, on its way to swift enzymatic digestion.

So, you certainly dont need cooking to enable the perfect utilization of meat-nutrients.
But, indeed, MacDonalds is also an option.
(oops, did it again... )

is the low temperate of crock pot cooking too low to create mutagenic substances?

No.

If this is not true, is it better to always grind red muscle meat before consumption?

We advice against eating raw red meat because of the possible infection with E-coli and stuff, but yes, that would require less chewing.
Though with chewing for a long time, you dont even have to ingest the connective tissue, because the chewing separates it from all the valuable ingredients, and at the end of the chewing process you can just take the remainding connective tissue from your mouth.

[nick]

RRM

I was reading that one of 400 or so bacteria in our bowels, e. coli was one of them, in a small controllable number. Why can we eat salmon and raw egg yolk (possibility of salmonella poisining) but not raw meat? As you mention, building up our bacteria defense to salmonella is the best way to prevent sickness. Is this possible with fresh raw meat? Is the e. coli too dangerous for our sytem?

I know you have eaten ox heart, but not usually.

[Mark]

Another problem with raw beef is tapeworms.

[RRM]

Why can we eat salmon and raw egg yolk (possibility of salmonella poisining) but not raw meat?

Good question.
Because of how they are processed. With salmon, the salmon reaches the lokal fishshop as a whole fish, and then you can see it being cut into pieces in front of you.
Egg yolks are obviously protected by the shell and the white.
With beef its a slightly different picture, with slaughter houses and the cross-infection from colon-bacteria to the flesh (muscles). Thats where the E-coli comes from indeed.
E-coli in beef (not organs) is 'unnatural', whereas salmonella in eggs is natural (and E-coli in organs such as cow-colon is natural too).
So that regarding E coli the level of infection is too high (because 'unnatural')

As you mention, building up our bacteria defense to salmonella is the best way to prevent sickness. Is this possible with fresh raw meat? Is the e. coli too dangerous for our sytem?

Relative to our protection level, yes. (all good/bad stuff is relative)

I know you have eaten ox heart, but not usually.

True, but that organ, because of its non-open structure (it has more or less a 'skin') and function (if affected the animal may be likely dead before slaughter; or at least show symptoms of disease) is unlikely to contain parasites and e-coli.