system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What happens to meat if it is heated in the absence of oxygen?

Is there anything special? Does it still cook?
gpt
The cooking of meat doesn't occur via combustion. Instead the proteins (and some other biomolecules) that make up are denatured. This basically means that they are twisted and contorted out of their original shapes. There are probably a few reactions that occur on the surface, but the main factor is the proteins being denatured. This is a process that does not require oxygen and so it still happens and the meat should still cook.