Selecting and cooking meat

Practical Cookery Level 3 Dynamic Learning published by Hodder Education © 2011 D Foskett, J Campbell and P Paskins
Selecting and cooking meat

Origins
• Meat has been eaten by humans from the
earliest times.
• Meat provides all the essential amino acids in
its protein as well as other useful nutrients.
• This made it an ‘efficient’ food for early man
who could then spend less time searching for
food and eating and turn energies to other
activities that became significant in human
development.

Modern concerns
• In more recent years the importance of meat in
the diet has been re-appraised.
• Eating meat is sometimes considered an
inefficient use of environmental resources.
• People may choose not to eat meat in line with
their ethical and religious beliefs.
• Meat is expensive compared to items of
vegetable source.
• There are health concerns regarding meat, for
example, wanting to reduce cholesterol in the
diet.

Modern methods
• Butcher’s meat today is largely a product of
careful and selective breeding and feeding
techniques.
• Animals are reared to meet high standards
and specific needs.
• Present demand is for lean and tender meat.
• Modern cattle, sheep and pigs are well
fleshed and compact compared to a century
ago.

Choosing and buying meat
• Meat is not a uniform product; it varies in
quality from carcass to carcass.
• Flavour, texture and appearance are
determined by the type of animal and the way
it has been reared and fed.
• Fat gives a characteristic flavour and helps to
keep meat moist in roasting, although flavour
is not only obtained in meat that possesses
amounts of fat.

Meat colour (1)
• The colour of meat is not necessarily a guide
to quality.
• When selecting meat, light-coloured meat is
often chosen – bright red beef, for example –
because it is thought to be fresher than an
alternative dark-red piece.
• Freshly butchered beef is bright red because
the pigment in the tissues, myoglobin, has
been chemically affected by the oxygen in the
air.

Meat colour (2)
• After several hours, the colour changes to
dark red or brown as the pigment is further
oxidised to become metamyoglobin.
• The colour of fat can vary from almost pure
white in lamb, to bright yellow in beef. Colour
depends on how the animal has been fed, the
breed and sometimes on the time of year.

Meat quality
• The best guide to tenderness and quality of
meat is a knowledge of the cuts of meat and
their location on the carcass.

Cuts of meat
• The various cuts from an animal carcass are
named (these may vary regionally and in
different countries), but in principle the leanest
and tenderest cuts – the ‘prime’ cuts – come
from the hindquarters.
• The ‘coarse’ cuts of meat come from the neck,
legs and forequarters, those parts of the animal
that have had plenty of muscular exercise and
where fibres have become hardened, provide
meat for braising and stewing.
• Many consider these cuts to have more flavour,
but they require slow cooking to make them
tender.

Meat tenderness
• The meat from young animals is generally more
tender and since tenderness is a prime factor,
animals may be injected before slaughter with an
enzyme such as papain which softens the fibres and
muscles, speeding up the natural process.
• Meat contains its own proteolytic enzymes, which
gradually break down the protein cell walls as the
carcass ages; that is why meat is hung for 10 to 20
days in controlled conditions of temperature and
humidity before sale.
• Meat that is aged longer costs more as the expense
of refrigeration is high and the meat itself shrinks due
to evaporation and the necessary trimming of
hardened edges.

Kosher and halal meat
• Kosher and halal meat stipulate the killing of
animals by an authorised person of the
religion.
• The body is voided of blood by draining,
soaking and salting.
• Meat must be consumed within 72 hours.
• Kosher dietary laws demand that only
forequarters of goats, sheep, deer and cattle
be used.

Methods of cooking
• Almost all methods of cookery can be used
for meat depending on the cut and how
slow/moist the method needs to be.
• Meat dishes can be very versatile, allowing
for use of different vegetables, fruits, herbs,
spices, stocks, sauces, wines and so on to
characterise and flavour the dish.

Cooking meat
• Raw meat is difficult to chew because the
muscle fibre contains an elastic protein
(collagen) which is softened only by mincing –
as in steak tartare – or by cooking.
• When you cook meat, the protein gradually
coagulates as the internal temperature
increases. At 69ºC coagulation is complete,
the protein begins to harden and further
cooking makes the meat tougher.

Time and temperature
• Tenderness combined with flavour is the aim in
meat cookery and in the ratio of time and
temperature.
• In principle, slow cooking retains the juices and
produces a more tender result than does fast
cooking at high temperatures.
• For some dishes high temperatures are
essential; for example, grilling a steak under a
hot flame for a short time for a crisp, brown
surface and a pink, juicy interior.
• Low temperatures would not give the desired
result.

Cooking tougher cuts
• Tougher cuts with a quantity of connective tissue
(e.g. neck of lamb) need a slow rate of cooking to
convert the tissues to gelatine, making meat
tender. Bone-in meat will take longer to cook
because bone is a poor conductor of heat.
• Tough or coarse cuts of meat should be cooked
by braising, pot roasting or stewing.
• Marinating in a suitable marinade, such as wine
and wine vinegar, helps to tenderise the meat
and imparts an additional flavour.

Adding fat and salt
• Searing meat in hot fat before roasting helps to
produce a crisp exterior by coagulating the
protein but does not, as is sometimes thought,
seal in the juices.
• However, if the external temperature is too high
and the cooking is prolonged, evaporation/
contraction of the meat will cause loss of juices
and fat.
• Salt sprinkled on meat before cooking also
results in moisture loss as salt is hygroscopic
and absorbs water.

Use of bones
• Meat bones give flavour to soups and stocks,
especially beef bones with plenty of marrow.
• Veal bones are gelatinous and help to enrich
and thicken soups and sauces.
• Fat can be rendered down for frying.

Overcooking meat
• When fibrous proteins are heated they
contract and squeeze out water.
• If the heat is increased or continues, meat
can become dry and the eating quality will be
impaired.

Slow cooked meat
• Meat contains elastin and collagen (muscle).
• Elastin is extremely stretchy and further cooking
adds to its strength. Collagen is more tough and
chewy.
• Meat that has a higher proportion of both of
these comes from the major and highly worked
muscle groups and is not suitable for fast
cooking.
• These cuts can be cooked for longer at the
correct temperature (braising), dissolving the
collagen as it is water soluble and so tenderising
the meat.

Cooking prime cuts
• Prime cuts, such as beef fillets, have little collagen in
their make-up (approximately 3 per cent) and do not
require long cooking to tenderise.
• Prime cuts are usually cooked at a high temperature
for a short time but this does not always give perfect
results. Due to the lack of fat and collagen in such
cuts, high heat can render the muscle fibres dry and
the eating quality is impaired.
• Lower temperature and longer in the oven will
produce a gradual heat and there is less extreme
coagulation in the tissues, so less fluid will have been
squeezed out in the process.

Maillard reaction
• At low temperatures meat is not exposed to the high
temperatures that develop a roasted flavour.
• This chemical reaction of browning is called the
Maillard reaction and is a complicated chain of
reactions that involves carbons, proteins, sulphurs.
• At 140ºC and above, roasted meat flavours start to
be released. When slow cooking meats, start them
very quickly in a hot pan on the stove to initiate this
Maillard reaction to give the meat flavour and colour.
• In some cases you will need to quickly return the
meat to the pan or to a very hot oven to re-
caramelise the outside.

‘Scientific’ cooking of meat
• In recent times there have been a number of
developments in the fast or slow cooking of
meat to achieve the best results.
• Understanding of scientific principles and
reactions have been applied to meat cookery
to enhance the finished product.

Carving cooked meat
• Before cooking: remove any bones, sinew or gristle
that may hinder carving; tie securely to retain shape;
remove wishbones from poultry.
• When cooked: allow to rest for 15 minutes before
carving; if served cold, ideally cook on the same day
as required to keep meat or poultry moist and
succulent, and to eliminate the need for refrigeration.
• Keep carving knives sharp and use a sharpening
steel frequently to keep a good edge on the blade.
Wipe the blade clean after each use of the steel.
• When carving joints of meat, carve across the grain,
with the exception of saddle of lamb or mutton.

Selecting and cooking meat

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