corned beef cabbage chemistry - pat...

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O - S O - O O Corned Beef & Cabbage This 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 beef is due to the use of nitrate curing salts Nitrate binds to the iron giving the pink color THE TASTY SCIENCE BEHIND S N O O S O O OH HO HO OH OH CORNED BEEF The distinctive smell of cooked cabbage is 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 stuff!) CABBAGE iron atom heme 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 Fe 2+ Oxymyoglobin (red) “fresh” meat O2 Fe 2+ Nitrosomyoglobin (pink red) cured meats NO Fe 2+ Sinigrin (a glucosinolate compound) Sulfate Hydrogen sulfide H2S

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Page 1: Corned Beef Cabbage Chemistry - Pat Polowskypatpolowsky.com/documents/Corned_Beef_Cabbage_Chemistry.pdf · O-O S O O Corned Beef & Cabbage This quintessential St. Patrick's Day dish

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