Which connective tissue cannot be broken down by cooking?

Which connective tissue cannot be broken down by cooking?

• A. Elastin
• B. Collagen
• C. Myoglobin
• D. Gliadin

Answer: (A)

Cooking tenderness hinges on how different connective tissues respond to heat. Collagen, when exposed to moist, long heating, unwinds and dissolves into gelatin, softening the meat. Elastin, in contrast, is highly cross-linked and very resistant to heat, so it doesn’t break down with normal cooking methods. That’s why tissues rich in elastin stay tough even after simmering or braising, unless you use specialized approaches beyond standard cooking. The other two items aren’t connective tissue: myoglobin is the pigment in muscle that denatures and changes color with heat, and gliadin is a gluten protein found in grains. So elastin is the connective tissue that doesn’t break down during typical cooking.

Cooking tenderness hinges on how different connective tissues respond to heat. Collagen, when exposed to moist, long heating, unwinds and dissolves into gelatin, softening the meat. Elastin, in contrast, is highly cross-linked and very resistant to heat, so it doesn’t break down with normal cooking methods. That’s why tissues rich in elastin stay tough even after simmering or braising, unless you use specialized approaches beyond standard cooking. The other two items aren’t connective tissue: myoglobin is the pigment in muscle that denatures and changes color with heat, and gliadin is a gluten protein found in grains. So elastin is the connective tissue that doesn’t break down during typical cooking.