Question: How does the slow cooking process affect meat?
About the article "Rendang", section "Composition and cooking method".

Candidate passages:
Example areas of investigation:  How ingredients are changed by different cooking methods  How all the senses play their own roles in our appreciation of food  The mechanisms of aroma release and the perception of taste and flavor  How and why we evolved our particular taste and flavor sense organs and our general food likes and dislikes  How cooking methods affect the eventual flavor and texture of food ingredients  How new cooking methods might produce improved results of texture and flavor  How our brains interpret the signals from all our senses to tell us the "flavor" of food  How our enjoyment of food is affected by other influences, our environment, our mood, how it is presented, who prepares it, etc.
Example myths debunked or explained:  The cooking time for roast meat depends on the weight (true or myth?)
Examples of myths that were true before, but not any more:  You need to add salt to water when cooking green vegetables (not true with commercial salt) Examples of debunked myths:  Searing meat seals in the juices (not true)  When cooking meat stock you must start with cold water (not true).  
Goat has a reputation for strong, gamey flavour, but can be mild depending on how it is raised and prepared.
Caribbean cultures often prefer meat from mature goats, which tend to be more pungent; the best meat comes from younger goats that are six to nine months old.
Ribs, loins, and tenderloin goat meat are suitable for quick cooking, while other parts are best for long braising.
Despite being classified as red meat, goat is leaner and contains less cholesterol and fat than both lamb and beef, and less energy than beef or chicken; therefore, it requires low-heat, slow cooking to preserve tenderness and moisture. 
Souvla () is a popular dish from the island of Cyprus.
It consists of large pieces of meat cooked on a long skewer over a charcoal barbecue.
It differs from the popular Greek dish souvlaki, in that meat cuts are much larger and slow cooked for a much longer period at a greater distance from the hot charcoal.
Traditional souvla is made from the neck and shoulder of lamb or pork.
The meat is cut on the bone into chunks about the size of a medium onion.
The meat must be put on so that its weight is evenly distributed, so that it will rotate evenly on the spit.
The meat is put as far as possible from the charcoal at first.
After it is sizzling, it is lowered down to charcoal so that the skin on the meat goes brown.
The process takes between 90 minutes and 3 hours depending on the type of meat, size and heat of fire.
Salt, aromatics (such as oregano), oil, and wine are sprinkled or brushed on the meat once the cooking process is well under way.
That way the meat stays juicy and does not brown too quickly.
Over time, various localities have developed their own recipes, which tend to vary the spices added to the meat marinade.
A popular variant is "Lysiotiki souvla," originating from the village of Lysi.
Typically, souvla in Greece refers to a whole spit-roasted lamb for Easter and other major holidays or specialist restaurants; the Greek dish most similar to souvla is kontosouvli, large pieces of pork cut from the bone, and kokoretsi (lamb innards/offal rolled into a large sausage), or a speciality of the cook in that region of the country. 
The chuck contains a lot of connective tissue, including collagen, which partially melts during cooking.
Meat from the chuck is usually used for stewing, slow cooking, braising, or pot roasting. 
Along with papain, bromelain is one of the most popular substances to use for meat tenderizing.
Today, about 90% of meat tenderizer is used in consumer households.
Bromelain is sold in a powdered form, which is combined with a marinade, or directly sprinkled on the uncooked meat.
The enzyme will penetrate the meat and, by a process called forking, cause the meat to become tender and palatable when cooked.
If the enzyme is allowed to work for too long, however, the meat may become too "mushy" for the preferences of many consumers.
Cooked or canned pineapple does not have a tenderizing effect, as the enzymes are heat-labile and destroyed in the cooking process.
Some prepared meat products, such as meatballs and commercially available marinades, include pineapple and/or pineapple-derived ingredients.
Apart from the mushiness of meat that has been over-tenderized, the activity of bromelain and similarly proteolytic plant enzymes may be undesirable where it is inappropriate.
In dishes that depend on their protein content for important attributes, uncooked pineapple or its juice may be a nuisance.
For example, some dishes such as brawn and jelly rely on the setting of gelatin.
They will not set if they contain raw pineapple or pineapple juice.
Raw figs, papaya, and similarly proteolytic vegetable matter causes similar problems.
To prevent the incompatibility with gelatin problem, the fresh fruit should be cooked, or at least parboiled, sufficiently to inactivate the enzymes before using in such dishes.
In general, thorough heating to above about 65 degrees C will suffice.
This problem does not affect dishes based on non-proteinaceaous gelling agents, such as agar, although such agents may be prevented from gelling by too much heating in acid recipes.