Grill Maestro

If you’ve ever purchased a cut of meat and left it in your refrigerator for a few days, you’ll notice that it goes from that nice bright red color to a darker browner color. For the longest time I thought that when it turned that dark brown that the meat was on the verge of going bad, sort of like a color coding for the meat, but that’s not the case. The color is an indication of the freshness of the meat because it’s like a measure of how long it’s been exposed to oxygen (it’s oxidizing), which explains why it’s still nice and pink on the inside if you cut it.

Basically, there is a pigment in the meat called myoglobin, the redder the meat the more myoglobin there is in the meat. Beef has more myoglobin than pork and chicken, hence the redder color. “Dark meat” chicken is more muscular, so it has more myoglobin and thus it’s darker.

Myoglobin is the starting point for the pigment in meat and when you or your butcher cuts off that piece of meat then the myoglobin is exposed to air, oxygenates, and forms what is called oxymyoglobin. In beef, it’s like a bright red, the color of the meat you usually find in the supermarket if it doesn’t have a $1 or $2 off sticker on it! (It’s that pink color in pork) Further exposure to the air, over the course of a few days, and the oxymyoglobin oxidizes and becomes metmyoglobin. Not being a science major of any kind, I have no idea what the met- prefix in metmyoglobin means but it gives the meat that brown color.

So, if it’s bright red in beef or bright pink in pork, you know it was cut within the last day or two. If it’s started to turn brown, then you know it’s been sitting in the fridge for a few days. The meat is still good if it’s brown, you just have to realize it’s just been sitting in the fridge for a few days. If you’re looking to find a deal, find meat that’s as close to the cherry red color but has a $1/$2 off sticker because you’ll be getting the freshes meat and still getting the discount.