Meat is t he flesh of animals used as food. There are two main categories: red meat (mutton, lamb, and beef) and white meat (veal and pork) Meat is composed of small fibres which are bound together in bundles to form the muscles of the animal. In an edible animal, about 200 of the muscles may be eaten, weighing from a few ounces to several pounds. Some of them are surrounded by thick sheaths of tendon or connective tis­ sue (the fascia): the various cuts of meat are classified into categories according to the amount of this connective tissue pre­ sent. Cuts for roasting or grilling (broil­ ing) (the first-category expensive cuts) have almost none so are very tender and can be cooked quickly in dry heat. Cuts for slow-roasting, braising, and casserol­ ing have a moderate amount (second-cate­ gory medium-priced meats) and so need more gentle cooking with some moisture to break down this tissue and make the meat tender. If there is a high proportion of this tissue, or if the tissues are thick be­cause the animal is old, then the cut needs long moist cooking to render it tender so is used for stewing or boiling (third-cate­ gory cheaper cuts). The muscular tissue is enclosed in a layer of fat of variable thick­ ness. If there is fat between the bundles of fibres making up the muscle, the meat is said to be marbled , a desirable quality particularly sought after in beef as it helps tenderize the flesh when cooked.

 

Meat and dietetics The proportion of protein in meat is constant (about 20%, including many essential amino acids) but the amount of fat is very variable, depend­ing both on the animal and the cut. Carbo­ hydrates are totally absent, as any stored in muscles in the form of glycogen are broken down into lactic acid when the animal is slaughtered. This chemical reac­ tion is important in the maturing of the meat and in its tenderness. Meat also con­tains mineral salts (mainly iron, and also phosphorus) and group B vitamins, par­ ticularly B₁₂. The water content of meat varies (60-70%), depending on the age of the animal; it will be higher if the animal is young, and therefore lean. Generally speaking, the lean meats w ith 5-10% fat, are horse, veal, and some of the offal of beef, mutton, and pork; semi-lean meats with 10-20% fat, are certain cuts of beef, lamb, and mutton and also; fatty meats with more than 20% fat, in­ clude pork, many cuts of beef, and certain cuts of lamb and mutton. The way in which a joint has been trimmed and cooked is very important, as it affects its fat content: a leg of mutton with all its outer fat removed, cooked in the oven without any added fat, and eaten without the fat that has collected in the roasting pan during cooking becomes a lean meat, even though mutton is considered to be rather fatty (17-25% fats). Like other-products of animal origin, meat is a good source of protein, but it is also rich in saturated fatty acids; a daily ration of 200 g (7 oz) meat is considered sufficient, and many nutritionists now recommend that meat is not eaten every day. In contrast to other foods, meat re­ tains its mineral salts and vitamins during cooking, especially when roasted or grilled. For those who enjoy eating meat, the smell and taste of cooked meat stimu­ late the digestive juices; meat is easy to di­ gest and totally assimilated into the body. Being high in protein, meat gives a feeling of being well fed.  

 

The qualities of meat Immediately after slaughter the muscles are soft, the water in the meat is strongly bonded to the proteins and the glycogen in the mus­cles is breaking down into lactic acid. Af­ ter several hours, rigor mortis sets in and the muscles become stiff. However, at this stage the meat would be extremely tough after cooking; 24 hours after slaughter, the meat is hung to mature; once it is 'settled' it becomes suitable for eating. There are five factors to consider when judging the quality of meat. 

• Colour : this - the first sign that the con sumer is aware of - depends on the level of myoglobin in the blood, the breed and age of the animal, and possibly its feed. Beef is a vivid shiny dark red, with a fine network of yellow fat; veal is slightly pink with white fat; lamb is bright pink with white fat, mutton a little darker; pork is pale pink.  
• Tenderness: this depends on the follow­ ing: the age and breed of the animal; its feed; the proportion of connective tissue around the muscle fibres; the treatment of the carcass (whether it was stored in a well-ventilated place and at the correct temperature); the period of maturing; and correct butchery (cutting up) of the car­ cass into joints and cuts of meat. In addi­ tion to all these factors, the cooking method is also very important: boiling and stewing increase the tenderness, even of very poor cuts of meat; indeed, expen­ sive first-category meat from a young animal, which is considered to be very tender, becomes tough if roasted for too long. 
• Water retention: this relies on the strength of the bond between water and proteins in the meat and is also an impor­ tant factor, both when preserving meat and when eating it fresh. 
• Succulence: this depends on the ability of the meat to give up its juices on being chewed. Prolonged chewing of meat that is not very succulent causes salivation and leaves a sensation of dryness in the mouth, which is often attributed to the meat not being tender, which may not be the case.
  Succulence, or juiciness, is linked to the presence of intramuscular fat (marbled meat); however, some young meat (veal raised on the udder, for example) which has a high water content may also seem to be succulent if the water remains in the meat after it has been cooked. 
• Flavour : this comes essentially from the fat and is therefore linked with the succu­ lence, which itself is determined by the feed of the animal. The flavour is more pronounced in an adult animal that has been well reared for the table, often with more highly coloured meat. The quality of the animal and the cate­gory of meat should not be confused. A piece of stewing steak (a third-category cheaper cut) of high quality makes a deli­ cious pot-au-feu, while a piece of rump steak (a first-category expensive cut) can be disappointing if it comes from an animal of mediocre quality. The category of a cut of meat deter­ mines its culinary treatment: the first cate­ gory comprises cuts for rapid cooking (grilling, frying, roasting), which mainly come from the back part of the animal; the second category includes the braising cuts, generally from around the legs at the front and (a few) at the back; the third category consists of what is left (neck, knuckle, shin, breast, tail, etc.), cuts that need to be boiled or stewed for a long time.  

 

Cooking meat Methods of cooking meat are divided today into two basic procedures: rapid cooking and slow cooking. There are three techniques for rapid cooking: frying tender slices of meat in cooking fat; grilling thin tender cuts over embers or under a grill (broiler), which reduces the proportion of fat; and roasting in the oven, either on a spit or in a roasting pan, with little or no fat but frequent bast­ing (longer cooking is required in a cooler oven for a second-category roast). There are three methods of slow cook­ ing: braising (browning the meat, then cooking it covered in a small amount of well-flavoured stock); simmering in stock, wine, or even beer, cider, or milk, to tenderize the meat; and boiling in a greater quantity of liquid (water) with vegetables and herbs. Meat is most often eaten cooked and hot, but it is also served cold and some­ times even raw and well-seasoned to alle­ viate the insipid flavour (e.g. steak tartare). Very rare meat, lightly cooked so that the blood runs out when it is cut, is perfectly easy to digest and retains all its nutrients, provided the meat juices are al­ so eaten. Boiled meat undergoes much greater chemical changes, most of its nu­trients enriching the stock in which it is cooked. The liquid should therefore al­ ways be served as part of the meal, either before or with the meat. Roast or grilled meat has a better smell and flavour than boiled meat and is considered by some people to be more appetizing. Fried and braised meats are intermediate between roast and boiled meat, but have more fla­ vour than the latter (particularly ragouts). Small sauteed cuts of meat are frequently cooked with a sauce, which makes them less easily digestible. Frying, usually after coating with breadcrumbs, is only suit­ able for very small cuts of meat. 

 

Minced (ground) meat M any people buy it ready- minced or deep-frozen, in which case they should check whether it is minced steak or simply minced beef from any part of the animal. Ready-minced pork, lamb, or veal can also come from any part of the animal. The flavour of minced meat depends largely on the mincing: if the meat is minced fairly coarsely and has larger pieces in it, its juices are retained as well as its flavour; if meat is crushed to a fine pulp it becomes insipid. T here are many uses for minced meat (beef, mutton, or veal): hamburgers, meat pies, fritters, different kinds of meatballs, hash, meat loaves, forcemeats, etc. 

 

Preserving meat Cooking the meat may be regarded as a means of preserving it, but it will only keep for a limited time. This is also true when fresh meat is stored in the refrigerator. One early method is cooking in fat, to make confits of goose, duck, and pork. Coating cooked meats with aspic is another way of pre­serving them, but only for a limited time.

• Salting, practised since ancient times, is a method of preserving raw meat: pickled pork, cured bacon, salt beef, pickled tongue, etc.
• Smoking is applied to pork and charcuterie, as well as to poultry; some cuts of beef were also traditionally treated in this way, although this meat does not adapt itself so well to the changes in fla­ vour brought about by smoking.
• The drying of meat takes place in re­ gions where the air is dry and pure (bresi from Jura, Swiss Bundenfleisch, South American charqui, pastirma in the East, South African biltong, etc.); drying was the traditional method used by the Ameri­ can Indians to conserve the meat of die bison (pemmican).
• Freeze-drying is a new method of pre­ paring dried meat; arranged in thin layers, it is frozen and then dried by sublimation.
• Appertization (sterilization by heating ) is currently used for preserving cooked meats: jellied beef, corned beef, but also beef bourguignon, blanquette, daube, etc.
• Freezing is the most suitable method for preserving meat, either by commercial deep-freezing or, for smaller quantities, in the domestic freezer.

Beef Recipes  Lamb Recipes  Pork Recipes  Veal Recipes