Meats

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Meats

• Usually the most expensive of all food items
• 30-70 of food cost
• 20-40 of operating cost

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• Make-up
• 75 water, 20 protein, 5 fat
• Shrinkage and deterioration
• Humidity
• Temperature

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Animal Fat

• 5 of animal tissue
• 30 of carcass?
• Bred and raised leaner
• Some fat is desirable . . .

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Fat is not all bad!

• Juiciness
• Marbling
• Juiciness when eating
• Tenderness
• Muscle fibers separated by fat
• Surface Fat
• Protects during cooking
• Flavor
• The Beefy flavor is fat soluble

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Meats 3

• Connective Tissue is Tough to Eat!
• Collagen and elastin
• Old versus young
• Use of muscle
• Marbling

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ROT for Cooking

• Much collagen?
• Long, slow, moist cooking.
• Collagen dissolves into gelatin and water
• Much elastin?
• Remove
• Mechanically tenderize
• Grind, cube, slice very thin, pound,
• Break up the fibers!

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Meats Inspections and Grading

• Authorized by Agricultural Marketing Act
• The Wholesome Meat Act
• All meat must be inspected
• Grading is voluntary
• Quality
• Yield

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The Seal of Approval?

• The Circular Inspection Stamp
• Wholesome and Fit for Human Consumption
• The Shield shaped Grading stamp
• A Quality Designation
• Clearly specified

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Quality

• Beef
• Prime
• Choice
• Select
• Standard
• Commercial
• Utility
• Cutter Canner

• Veal and Lamb
• Prime
• Choice
• Good
• and more

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Quality

• Proprietary Quality Grade?
• Caveat Emptor!
• Know your supplier
• You can none-the-less specify USDA grade

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Yield

• Ratio of fat to meat
• 1 is highest yield
• Beef 1-5
• Pork 1-4
• Lamb/Mutton 1-5
• Veal is not yield graded
• Naturally lean

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Aged Meat?

• Green Meat
• Myosin and Actin
• Stiff and inelastic

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Aged Meat?

• Tenderize
• Natural
• High temperature
• Enzymatic
• Vacuum aging
• Electrical stimulation

• Tenderize
• Dry aging
• May lose up to 20 of moisture content
• Wet aging
• Less initial moisture loss
• Greater cooking loss

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Aged Meat

• Slightly changed flavor profile
• If meat smells (or tastes) spoiled, it probably is

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Meat Cuts7

• Four forms
• Carcass
• Partial carcass
• Primal cut
• Fabricated cuts (pre-fabs)
• IMPS or NAMPS

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Bone Structure

• Important to know
• Help identify a cut of meat
• Help minimize loss when de-boning
• Help you avoid messy carving/carving loss

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Know the carcasses
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Cooking Meats8

• Low temp if possible
• ID-the connective tissue/cut
• ROT for cooking methods
• Moist heat
• Larger or tougher cuts
• Dry heat
• Smaller or tender cuts

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Rib and Loin Cuts

• The most tender (on any animal)
• Beef and Lamb
• Often served rare to medium roast, broil or
  grill.
• Veal and Pork
• Generally eaten (more) well done as above,but
  also braised on occasion.

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Leg or Round

• Beef (round)
• Typically less tender braise
• Roasting OK for Prime or Choice
• Marbling
• Long cooking time - beefs own moisture helps
  tenderize

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Leg or Round

• Veal, Lamb or Pork (leg)
• More tender than beef
• Younger!! Excellent for
  roasting

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Chuck or Shoulder

• Beef Braise
• Veal, Lamb and Pork Braise or Roast
  
• NB The shoulder may be tender, but will have
  multidirectional muscle tissue

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Shanks, Breasts, Briskets and Flank

• Usually not tender even on young animals
• Shanks are high in collagen excellent for
  braising
• Beef flank, if carefully cut across the grain,
  can be broiled London Broil

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• Mechanically tenderized meats, such as cubed or
  ground, can be cooked by dry or moist heat
• Searing and blanching? . . . does not seal in the
  juices !

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Do not cook meats when frozen

• Does not retain or increase moisture
• Same or slightly increased (delayed)
• Complicates the cooking process
• Timing
• Surface dry and done - center frozen
• Waste of energy and time

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Doneness?

• Dry heat vs. Moist heat
• Carry-over cooking
• Critical for product quality

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Doneness?

• Color Change
• Red Meats
• Blue
• Barely seen the heat, cold and blue center
• Rare
• Browned surface, thin grey layer, red interior,
  slightly warm.
• Medium
• Browned surface, more grey, pink center.
• Well Done
• Grey throughout

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Doneness?

• Interior temperature the best approach
• Beef
• Rare
• 130 F
• Medium
• 140-145 F
• Well done
• 160 F

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Doneness for White Meats?

• Pork
• Cooked well done 160-170 F
• Must pass 137 F throughout for minimum 10 seconds
  to avoid trichinosis!
• Play it safe and hit 150 -155 F (FDA)
• Veal
• Generally cooked well done
• Hues of pink increasingly accepted in the most
  tender cuts

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Doneness by Touch?

• Takes much experience!
• Small steaks/chops
• Touch the raw product first!
• Rare Firmer, but still soft and pliable
• Medium Firmer, springs back
• Well done Firm, does not yield to pressure

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Dry Heat Meat Cookery

• Seasoning
• If you season just prior to roasting
• Only fractions of an inch will be seasoned
• Browning will be retarded
• 3 choices
• Season several hours/days in advance
• Season after roasting
• Do not season, but have a well seasoned sauce

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• Roast fat side up
• Basting only needed for lean meats
• Baste with fat, not stock
• Bard (cover with fat) or lard
• Broil, grill, pan broil
• browning and internal doneness
• ROT the shorter the cook time (the rarer the
  interior), the higher the temperature
• brush with oil if necessary, avoid the oil dip

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• Sauté and Pan Fry
• Only tender cuts!
• The smaller or thinner the piece the higher the
  heat
• ROT for sauté
• Hot pan
• Do not overcrowd
• Flip only as needed
• Deglazing

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Moist Heat Cookery

• Simmering
• Fresh meats, start with boiling liquid
• Cured or smoked meats, start with cold liquid
• Braising
• Stewing

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Meats elsewhere

• Grain fed versus double duty cow
• Horsemeat
• Goat
• Increasingly found in US

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Veal

• Formula (milk) fed
• Farming conditions?
• Free-range
• Color of flesh is indicator
• Milk fed
• White (pork-like)
• Grain fed
• Reddish flesh

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Veal

• Two general types
• Special Fed (85 of market)
• Bob Veal (15 of market)
• Special Fed (a.k.a. milk- or formula-fed)
• Removed from the cow within 3 days
• Fed a nutritionally balanced soy or milk based
  diet until 16-18 weeks
• Sent to market upwards of 450 lbs.

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Veal

• Bob Veal
• Very young calves
• No more than three weeks old
• Usually no more than 150 lbs.

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Lamb and Mutton

• Lamb
• Most 6 (3) months to 1 year
• Less than 3 months Milk lamb
• I year yearling
• Thereafter it is mutton
• Lamb versus Mutton
• Tenderness, cooking methods, doneness, flavor

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Variety meats (offal)

• Two categories
• Glandular meats
• Liver, kidney, sweetbread, brains
• Muscle meats
• Heart, tongue, oxtails, and tripe

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Glandular

• Liver
• Easy to prepare
• Remove outer skin and tough membranes
• Cut on the bias
• Cook carefully and to order
• Slightly pink or it will be dry
• Calf liver the most tender and prized
• Beef also OK
• Pork mostly used in pate and sausage

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Glandular

• Kidneys
• Lamb and Veal best
• Dry heat
• Beef OK
• Moist heat
• May need blanching or milk marinades
• Split in half
• Remove any white fatty tissue and veins

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Glandular

• Sweetbreads
• (Thymus glands of young cattle)
• Soak
• Blanch and refresh in ice water
• Remove membrane
• Press?
• Braise or Sauté

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Glandular

• Brains
• Low priority in the US
• Delicacy elsewhere
• Mad Cow Disease . . . .

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Muscular

• Heart (Veal or Beef)
• Tough
• Casseroles and forcemeat preparations
• Beef (veal) Tongue
• Fresh, cured or smoked
• Braised Entrée or as deli meat
• Oxtail
• Very high gelatin and good flavor
• Excellent for soups and stews
• Cut between joints

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Receiving and Storing Meats

• Fresh
• Check upon arrival
• If not vacuum packed do not wrap tightly
• Molds and off flavors may develop
• Store at 32-36 F
• Separate by type
• Fresh below cooked
• Unless you have proper facilities, use quickly
  (2-4 days)

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Receiving and Storing Meats

• Frozen
• Check upon arrival Receive frozen!
• Store at 0 F or colder
• Lean meats max 6 months
• Fattier meats (pork) max 4 months
• Never refreeze