Best braised beef 2580cybercat I don't know what Campbell's do, and I'm not sure that I want to when I read the list of ingredients. I confess to occasionally...
Steve Wertz Thank you, collagen is the word I was looking for - I think that, as so often happens with rfc, we have a semantic problem. Collagen and fat are both forms of connective tissue, but they are different substances. If I may quote Harold McGee, at page 130:
"The major connective tissue filament is the protein called collagen, which makes up about a third of all the protein in the animal body, and is concentrated in the skin, tendons and bones. The name comes from the Greek for "glue producing", because when it's heated in water, solid, tough collagen partly dissolves into sticky gelatin. So unlike the muscle fibers, which become tougher with cooking, the connective tissue becomes softer....
Fat tissue is a special form of connective tissue, one in which some of the cells take on the role of storing energy. Animals form fat tissue in three different parts of the body: just under the skin, where it can provide insulation as well as energy; in well-defined deposits in the body cavity, often around the kidneys, intestine, and heart; and in the connective tissue separating muscles and bundles within muscles. The term "marbling" is used to describe the pattern of white splotches in the red matrix of muscle."
When I said beef cheek had no fat I meant fatty fat, the kind that rises to the top of the liquid and will solidify on cooling. Beef cheek is of course loaded with collagen which dissolves and makes the liquid unctuously sticky.
Christine
