It turns out that the red liquid that gushes out of a perfectly cooked medium rare steak isn’t actually blood but something quite strange.
And while it may sound counter intuitive, animals are full of blood and meat comes from animals after all, but when you stop and think about it it does make sense.
Your steak isn’t full of gross veins and arteries which the blood flows through is it? It also, as I hope you’re aware, doesn’t taste like blood either does it?
So what is the weird red juice?
Well don’t worry it’s nothing to be concerned about it’s something quite natural.
The red juice is myoglobin, a protein found in muscle fibres that carries oxygen and is coloured a rather wonderful scarlet, that’s why muscle fibres and steaks when cooked properly are such a nice shade of crimson.
When you cook a steak though the myoglobin in the meat darkens taking on a grey colour which is why overdone steaks can turn a rather gross shade of grey.
Interestingly some meat packers treat raw steaks with carbon monoxide to help preserve the myoglobin and keep meat a nice fresh red colour.
So now you know it’s not blood do rare steaks sound more appealing.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.