does burning meat have any effect on the protein?

[audiophyle]

I cooked a steak extra extra extra well done today Does this cause any degredation to the protein? I know that simply cooking meat doesn't but i've never heard anything about burning it. When I say burned, i mean there was a thin layer of black crust on the outside of the steak and it was really tough and disgusting to eat.

 

[Babyfaced Assassin]

i'd be more worried about the carcinongens in the burn bits

 

[satchboogie]

good question.
bump!

 

[onerepmaximum]

I would bet that it does. Burning something causes a chemical change. I don't know for sure, but my bet is yes.

 

[ProteinFiend]

i know it makes the protein more readily broken down and absorbed by the body...

 

[Babyfaced Assassin]

damn i have a book about protein synthesis and cooking it and stuff at home, i'll try to remember and write up what i read here

 

[STEP OFF]

Protein in steak will not denature if you cook it well done. You'll need a hell of A LOT of heat to destroy the protein. I forget the exact temp. but i'm sure you can find it on Google or something.

 

[Deleted member 33117]

Actually, animal protiens denature fairly easily. You'll denature some of it just by cooking it at all. It doesn't make it totally useless though. If you prefer your steak well done, cook it that way, it won't make enough of a difference that you will notice less gains.

BA, I would agree with that. I would be more worried about carcinogens than anything. ANY cooking of meat elevates carcinogen content, but it greatly reduces the chance of getting ecoli, so they are the lesser of the two evils by far. Still, if the meat is burt, the carcinogen content can be pretty high. On the other hand, the average American consumes more carcinogens with their processed food diets than you'll get from a couple ibs of burnt steak a day.

 

[Griz1]

BBF,

So what your saying is, If you like Beef Tartar, your gonna do better than a nice big steak?

Hmmm....I LIKE beef Tartar!

 

[juve]

There's a scientific name to what you would call 'burnt protein' (the dark staff (tartar) when you overcook meat) which does indeed contribute to carcinogenic content...however meat has to be rather overfried to achieve this effect, otherwise it's reasonably safe in terms of carcinogen ratios...

i love my meat super rare, but i heard the digestion efficacy of such protein is low since the body can't assiilate it...so i shoot for medium..