Hygroscopic?

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I quickly browned 4 beautiful country style spare ribs in my favorite Grisowld CI tonight. I then made a kind of teryaki sauce to go over the meat, but with extra brown sugar to create a glaze. I covered the pan and let the meat simmer over the lowest flame on my range for about 2 hours while taking care of other matters. I then turned the flame off and let everything sit for another 30 minutes or so while on the phone with Sprout.

When I went to remove the meat, which was very succulent and tender before adding the sauce, I found it to be tough and dry. So I added a cup of water and brought it again to a simmer, hoping that the moisture would be re-absorbed into the meat. It was and my wife will be happy (and that means I'll be happy too.)

I'm wondering if the moisture sucking nature of sugar , as in the syrup glaze that the meat sat in, could draw enough moisture from the meat to ruin it. I believe it's something to think about when coating meat for brasing in liquids. Of course, the meat could have just been overcooked as well, or some combination of the two. Anyway, I believe I will save the saucing for that moment just before plating from now on.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I remember an experiment from a junior high science class. We cut up a potato into sticks and put one piece in salt water and one in sugar water. My lab partner ate the control.

Anyway, the salt water potato was very snappy, snappier than other's controls and the sugar water potato was soft and floppy. So, yes, I bet the sauce had a hand in dehydrating your spare ribs.

 

[Frenchys]

This kind of issus can also comes when the heat is too hot