--- title: Grilling Secrets: The Science Behind Grilling description: Nothing says the Fourth of July like seared food, so here’s a quick lesson on the science behind grilling canonical: https://time.com/3943999/grilling-tips-how-to-grill/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-02T12:00:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:25:59.471Z article:section: Health og:title: Here's What Happens To Your Steak When You Grill It og:description: Nothing says the Fourth of July like seared food, so here’s a quick lesson on the science behind grilling og:url: https://time.com/3943999/grilling-tips-how-to-grill/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta451a52301a32d29/69885971a988ca0cb26b34f5/grilling-grill-chicken.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: grilling grill chicken og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's What Happens To Your Steak When You Grill It twitter:description: Nothing says the Fourth of July like seared food, so here’s a quick lesson on the science behind grilling twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta451a52301a32d29/69885971a988ca0cb26b34f5/grilling-grill-chicken.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What Happens To Your Steak When You Grill It > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=6d43a055-208c-40ac-986b-fde82b1c9403&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Chemistry of Grilling [Watch (HLS stream): The Chemistry of Grilling](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SYIOYHqt.m3u8) (3:05)  _Published 2015-07-01. We've got chemistry knowledge that will impress your guests like,_  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jul 2, 2015 12:00 PM UTC We've got chemistry knowledge that will impress your guests like,  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jul 2, 2015 12:00 PM UTC It’s time to throw nearly everything you can think of—meat, chicken, fish, vegetables and even fruit—on the grill and give it a good sear. But what makes food cooked over a fire taste so good? Here’s the simple (we promise, it’s not that complicated) science behind what makes red meat red, when to take your food off the flame, and whether gas or charcoal is really better for that getting that smoky flavor, thanks to the experts at the American Chemical Society. ### Photos From 'America's First Family of Fireworks'  Burj Khalifa, Dubai. December, 2013. Fireworks by Grucci  Liberty State Park, New Jersey. July, 2014 Fireworks by Grucci  Liberty Island, New York. October, 2002. Fireworks by Grucci  Washington, DC. January, 2005. Fireworks by Grucci  Oswego, New York. July, 2013 Fireworks by Grucci  Baltimore, Maryland. September, 2014 Fireworks by Grucci  Salt Lake City, Utah. February, 2002 Fireworks by Grucci  Palm Jumeirah, Dubai. December 2013. Fireworks by Grucci ## Transcript Nothing beats the unique flavors of a summer time grill session. When the sun comes out there's really no other way to eat and good Lord are there a lot of amazing chemical reactions happening over those flames. Get a bucket for your drool. We're about to get hit with some grill chem. [ MUSIC ] Before your steak hits the grill chances are it's a brilliant red. If it's not you better check the expiration date but have you ever wondered what makes red meat red? Though it may seem like an obvious answer, our meats aren't getting their brilliant hue from blood. Steaks are made up of slow twitch cow muscles, which means that they're used for long periods of time and use a lot of energy. To compensate, a protein called myoglobin helps store oxygen inside cells of muscles for a consistent energy supply. And as it turns out, this very protein is a pronounced red pigment. The more myoglobin inside the meat the darker and deeper the red will be. You may have noticed that vacuum sealed steaks have a greyish tint to them. The lack of oxygen inside means a lack of fuel from myoglobin. And once you've opened the package and it expose it to oxygen the surface of the meat will get back at least some of the reddish pink tint. When you throw your steak on the grill myoglobin starts transform. At temperatures above 60 degrees celsius, myoglobin can't hold on to the oxygen anymore and it shifts to a tan color. Once your steak hits 76 degrees celsius, myoglobin goes through yet Yet another transformation where it turns a greyish, dark brown. But that's not the only thing that changes your steaks color. But the Mailllard reaction, the Holy Grail of all chemical reactions, is the key to the mouth- watering molecular metamorphosis that kicks in when you throw your food on the grill. The Maillard reaction is actually a complex series of simultaneous reactions between amino acids and sugars that produces that rich brown cooked food color along side hundreds of distinct flavor Now on the topic of flavor compounds, let's go ahead and settle this gas versus charcoal argument. While gas might be a little more convenient, it's kinda missing the point of grilling. Charcoal and the smoke from woodchips give off aromatic compounds that rise up and permeate through your food giving them that real grilled flavor. For example, lignin is a compound found in woodchips. It gets broken down by heat and then produces another compound called guaiacol. This stuff has that definitively rich, smokey, grill fire flavor that challenges you to push your stomach's capacity to the limits. Then on top of that, juices from your meat fall down onto the charcoal, and other unique compounds rise back up, and contribute to the brilliant grilled flavor. But don't overdo it with the flames, people. While you want your meats to be properly cooked on the outside, there's no need to overdo it and char them up. Not only do you lose flavor and texture by doing this, you also produce carcinogenic compounds that can otherwise be avoided by lower cooking temperatures and flipping your steaks or burgers more often. Invest in a meat thermometer, and once you hit the ideal internal temperature, kill the grill. There's always time to throw a couple dogs on the grill so get at it. Also check out this volume of the Chemistry Life Hack series, it's got a hack for how to cook the perfect burger. We also recently had a little collaboration with the Hybrid Librarian. Click this video link to check out ten of the most amazing chemical reactions you'll probably ever see. Big thanks to the Hybrid Librarian for putting that together for us. Make sure to head over there to check out their channel. Have any food chemistry questions, post them down in the comments. 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