corned beef cabbage chemistry - pat...
TRANSCRIPT
O-SO-O
O
Corned Beef & CabbageThis quintessential St. Patrick's Day dish is a tradition in America.
“Corned” refers to grains/“corns” of rock salt used to cure the meat.
The distinctive pink color of corned beefis due to the use of nitrate curing salts
Nitrate binds to the irongiving the pink color
THE TASTY SCIENCE BEHIND
S NO
OS
O
O OH
HO
HO
OH
OH
CORNED BEEF
The distinctive smell of cooked cabbageis due to the formation of hydrogen sulfide
Content and Design by Pat Polowsky | patpolowsky.com
Cooking breaks down glucosinolates, forming smelly sulfur compounds!
(the smelly stu�!)
CABBAGE
iron atomheme
a head of cabbage
(what gives meat its color)(it’s part of myoglobin)(okay...no more parentheses)
X
N-
N N
N-
HO O
Fe2+
Oxymyoglobin(red)
“fresh” meat
O2
Fe2+
Nitrosomyoglobin(pink red)
cured meats
NO
Fe2+
Sinigrin(a glucosinolate compound) Sulfate
HydrogensulfideH2S