The greatest journey on earth!
Eben van Tonder
Research and Development ? Entrepreneur ? Product and Process Innovation ? Factory/Production Management ? Cost/Waste Management ? Revenue Generation
The formation of the cured colour in meat is the result of highly complex chemical processes. We do not fully understand it.
My son is 19 and we have to decide where he is going to study next year. The plan is that while he studies meat science, he learns the practicalities of the meat business by working part time in our factory and at an abattoir. Franz Loibl, a master butcher, suggested to us that Tristan first learns deboning before he goes into sausage production and curing. He told me, “not to become an expert deboner, but to know and understand how a carcass is put together and the different muscles.”
This article fulfils the same function to me. It is not to know everything there is to know about every single mechanism and reaction involved in curing and become a masters student in meat science and biochemistry but to know that these processes exist. To be aware of its complexity and to have an appreciation for the impact of time, temperature, pH, micro, particle size, myoglobin concentration and a basic understanding of reduction and oxidation chemistry. Writing about it is the best way for me to learn and become more familiar with the field. It keeps me focused, working through the different aspects of the subject at hand and exposing us to the cutting edge research of enzymatic and bacterial controlled curing systems. In the final analysis, I am loving it! Discovering these things is part of what has become to me, the greatest journey on Earth!
Reaction Sequence: From nitrite (NO2-) to nitric oxide (NO) and the cooked cured colour.