Meats

 Usually the most expensive of all food

items
 30-70% of food cost
 20-40% of operating cost
 Make-up:
– 75% water, 20% protein, 5% fat
– Shrinkage and deterioration
 Humidity
 Temperature
 Animal Fat
 5% of animal tissue
 30% of carcass?
 Bred and raised leaner

 Some fat is desirable . . .

 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
 Meats 3

 Connective Tissue is Tough to Eat!

– Collagen and elastin

– Old versus young
– Use of muscle
– Marbling
 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!
 Meats: Inspections and Grading
 Authorized by Agricultural Marketing Act
 The Wholesome Meat Act
– All meat must be inspected
– Grading is voluntary
 Quality
 Yield
 The Seal of Approval?
 The Circular Inspection Stamp
– Wholesome and Fit for Human
Consumption
 The Shield shaped Grading stamp
– A Quality Designation
 Clearly specified
 Quality
 Beef  Veal and Lamb
– Prime – Prime
– Choice – Choice
– Select – Good
– Standard  and more
– Commercial
– Utility
– Cutter Canner
 Quality
 Proprietary Quality Grade?
– Caveat Emptor!
 Know your supplier
– You can none-the-less specify USDA
grade
 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
 Aged Meat?
 Green Meat
– Myosin and Actin
 Stiff and inelastic
 Aged Meat?
 Tenderize:  Tenderize:
– Natural – Dry aging
– High temperature  May lose up to 20%
of moisture content
– Enzymatic
– Wet aging
– Vacuum aging  Less initial moisture
– Electrical stimulation loss
– Greater cooking
loss
 Aged Meat
 Slightly changed flavor profile

 If meat smells (or tastes) spoiled, it

probably is
 Meat Cuts 7

 Four forms:
– Carcass
– Partial carcass
– Primal cut
– Fabricated cuts (pre-fabs)
 IMPS or NAMPS
 Bone Structure
 Important to know:
– Help identify a cut of meat
– Help minimize loss when de-boning
– Help you avoid messy carving/carving loss
Know the carcasses
 Cooking Meats 8

 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
 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.
 Leg or Round
 Beef (round)
– Typically less tender braise
– Roasting OK for Prime or Choice
 Marbling
 Long cooking time - beef’s own moisture helps
tenderize
 Leg or Round
 Veal, Lamb or Pork (leg)
– More tender than beef
 Younger!!

Excellent for roasting

 Chuck or Shoulder
 Beef Braise
 Veal, Lamb and Pork
Braise
or
Roast
 NB: The shoulder may be tender, but will have
multidirectional muscle tissue
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
 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 !
 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
 Doneness?
 Dry heat vs. Moist heat
 Carry-over cooking
 Critical for product quality
 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
 Doneness?
 Interior temperature the best approach:
– Beef:
 Rare:
– 130 F
 Medium
– 140-145 F
 Well done
– 160 F
 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
 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
 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
 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”
 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
 Moist Heat Cookery
 Simmering
– Fresh meats, start with boiling liquid
– Cured or smoked meats, start with cold
liquid
 Braising
 Stewing
 Meats “elsewhere”
 Grain fed versus “double duty cow”
 Horsemeat
 Goat
– Increasingly found in US
 Veal
 Formula (milk) fed
– Farming conditions?
 Free-range
 Color of flesh is indicator
– Milk fed
 White (pork-like)
– Grain fed
 Reddish flesh
 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.
 Veal
 Bob Veal
 Very young calves
 No more than three weeks old
 Usually no more than 150 lbs.
 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
 Variety meats (offal)
 Two categories
– Glandular meats
 Liver, kidney, sweetbread, brains
– Muscle meats
 Heart, tongue, oxtails, and tripe
 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
 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
 Glandular
 Sweetbreads
 (Thymus glands of young cattle)
– Soak
– Blanch and refresh in ice water
– Remove membrane
– Press?
– Braise or Sauté
 Glandular
 Brains
– Low priority in the US
– Delicacy elsewhere
 “Mad Cow Disease” . . . .
 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
 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)
 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