What is horse meat good for? What is its composition? You will find answers to these and other questions in the article. In different cultures, horsemeat is perceived differently: the Japanese consider horse meat a delicacy, for religious reasons the Jews do not eat it at all, and in traditional cuisines of the Mongolian and Turkic peoples it is a national dish. What is useful horse meat, find out below.
Description
Not many people know how horse meat is useful. Very often people prepare dishes from the meat of young trotters up to 3 years. But the most palatable and nutritious is the meat of foals 9-12 months. Both adult culled horses and over-repair young animals are suitable for creating horse meat.
Horse meat began to be used in the pre-Christian era. Kelvin Schwab’s book, The Forbidden Kitchen, states that horse meat was always served during various Teutonic occult ceremonies. According to the famous wanderer Marco Polo, the Central Asian peoples used to use mare’s milk to maintain strength in small doses, from which they also cooked sour-milk drinks and cottage cheese, and horse blood.
Today, horse meat is mainly eaten in Asia and Europe. On the Old Continent, the most optimal circumstances for breeding horses for meat are in the south of France and in Hungary. Horse meat is especially popular in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. This meat has been banned in English-speaking countries - Ireland, USA, Canada, Great Britain. It is also not eaten by gypsies and Jews, residents of Brazil, India and Spain (although this state is a major exporter of trotters).
Horse meat is quite tough meat. It has a specific aroma and flavor. First, it is pickled or smoked and only then cooked. It becomes soft only after several hours of cooking. Horse meat makes excellent sausages, for example, cervelat or eastern kazy-card - they are viscous, elastic, with a refined aftertaste.
Among the Turkic and Mongolian peoples, the most favorite dishes of this type of meat are shuzhuk, kazi, besbarmak, stings and others.
In European countries, for example, in Belgium, Sweden and France, horsemeat is consumed raw. Often chopped meat is served in the form of tartar, seasoned with onions, spices and herbs, or with hot sauce. In Japan, one of the traditional dishes, sashimi, is cooked from horse meat. In the southern regions of France, sausages from crushed horsemeat are eaten - they are fried over an open fire, pan or grill. In Italian cuisine, this type of meat is a component of Spaghetti with Bologna sauce, and in Switzerland it is cooked in a deep fryer.
Structure
So what is horse meat good for? According to the USDA Nutrient Database, 100 g of this meat contains:
- 0.99 g of ash;
- 63.72 g of water;
- 4.6 g of fat;
- 21.39 g of protein.
You do not know if horsemeat is useful? It contains such vitamins:
- 0.13 mg thiamine (vitamin B1);
- 0.1 mg riboflavin (vitamin B2);
- 0.38 mg pyridoxine (vitamin B6);
- 4.6 mg of niacin (vitamin PP or B3);
- 1 mg of ascorbic acid (vitamin C);
- 3 mcg cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12).
Useful properties of horsemeat are also determined by the following macronutrients:
- 221 mg of phosphorus;
- 24 mg of magnesium;
- 360 mg potassium;
- 53 mg of sodium;
- 6 mg of calcium.
And in horse meat there are trace elements:
- 10.1 μg selenium;
- 3.82 mg of iron;
- 2.9 mg of zinc;
- 144 mcg of copper;
- 19 mcg of manganese.
Beneficial features
What is useful horse meat? Its advantage is that it contains more complete protein than in all other types of meat. It also has many organic acids that improve the activity of the gastrointestinal tract, beneficially affect the metabolic processes of the body, and also improve the intestinal microflora. Let it be necessary to cook and stew horse meat longer than other types, due to the thick and coarse fibers, but the nutritional value of this food is invaluable. Its calorie content varies from 119 to 185 kcal per 100 g of product.
It is known that horse meat (unlike other types of meat) does not contain cholesterol, it contains more water, high-grade protein and organic acids. It is also useful for its anti-sclerotic qualities.
This is a dietary and easily digestible product: if beef in the body is digested within 24 hours, then horse meat - in just three hours. And what is useful horse meat for men? It is believed that it affects male potency in the best way. Also, horse meat neutralizes the harm from exposure to radiation. It almost does not contain allergenic amino acids, as well as intricate compounds. This means that even allergy sufferers can eat this food.
Horse fat
Many people ask if horse meat is good. Yes, very helpful. It is known that it contains a minimum of fat, which differs significantly from both pork and beef. It is identical in composition to vegetable oils, and its useful qualities are predetermined by a choleretic pronounced effect and low cholesterol content. It is thanks to the first property that horse meat is best eaten for those who suffer from biliary dyskinesia and liver ailments.
The unique qualities of horse fat help a person recover faster after jaundice. And fat itself is often used by cosmetic enterprises to create beauty-preserving products. In addition, it is used for burns and frostbite.
Calorie Fat
In herd horses, fat is mainly deposited in the abdominal segment and on the ribs. That is why the rib segment of the carcass has the highest calorie content. With age, there is less water in meat and more fat.
Other useful qualities
Are you still asking if horse meat is good for humans? We want to tell the good news for those who suffer from anemia. Horse meat contains a lot of iron, so it can be eaten by those who need to normalize blood formation processes. It can also be used in baby food, as it is rich in hemoglobin.
Horse breeding
Horsemeat has a special taste and is a simple but beloved meal among nomadic peoples. Horses are bred on pastures, which requires considerable land. Short-term (maximum 30 days) stall keeping for fattening is allowed. If the horse has been in captivity for longer, this most negatively affects the taste of the meat, its consistency. In agricultural sedentary peoples, the use of horse meat, as a rule, is not widespread.
The agricultural value of horse meat depends on local natural and geographical conditions very strongly. So, in all of Europe it is beneficial to breed horses for meat only in Hungary. There are no natural pastures in Japan, so horse breeding there is not cheap. At feasts at daima in the Middle Ages sometimes served horse meat, the value of which consisted in its incredible high cost.
Myth
Among Europeans, the myth of the bad taste of horsemeat is common. How did he appear? It is probably due to the fact that at the time of the retreat from Moscow, Napoleon's soldiers ate the fallen horses, using gunpowder instead of seasoning and salt, which caused countless food poisoning.
But many nomadic peoples have long understood that horsemeat is very useful in the form of camping food, as it exhibits warming qualities when used in cold form. That is why in Asian countries horse meat can be bought at any butcher's shop.
Hazardous qualities
Excessive use of horse meat can stimulate the development of ailments of the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, bone and cardiovascular systems. This meat can be harmful to people who have purchased it from unverified suppliers, as it can be infected with Trichinella - the most dangerous parasites.
Therefore, horse meat must be subjected to heat treatment for a long time. It should also be remembered that this type of meat, like any other protein product of animal origin, is a source of purines, which are contraindicated in individuals with elevated levels of uric acid and gout. In such cases, it must either be completely excluded from your diet, or reduce consumption to a minimum.
Young stallions have a very active lifestyle, so there is virtually no cholesterol and fat in the horse meat. Thanks to this, fresh meat consists only of muscle tissue. You can’t save it for a long time, as it spoils very quickly. In the icy state, the useful properties of horsemeat are completely lost.
Diet meat
So, we have studied almost all the useful properties and contraindications of horse meat. For nutritionists, this meat is a valuable component due to its low calorie content. They developed many diets, the basis of which is the use of horse meat. In just a couple of weeks of using the diet menu, you can lose up to 5 kg of excess weight without harming your own health.
We have already said that horse meat contains many organic acids. Due to this, it frees the body from toxins and improves its metabolic processes.
Horse meat is hypoallergenic, so it does not contribute to allergies. It is useful to include in the diet of adults and babies suffering from lactose intolerance (non-absorption of cow protein), often accompanied by allergic reactions to chicken eggs and meat.
Recommendations
When choosing horsemeat, consider the potential harm and benefits of the food, especially if this is your first encounter. Fresh meat resembles beef and has a dark red color, but differs in density and pronounced elasticity. When pressed, it does not crumple, quickly acquires its primary form.
The maximum amount of horse meat consumption per day for women is no more than 200 g, for men - within 400 g. On the table, this meat should be present no more than 3 times a week.
To cook up a delicious dish that will bring the body only benefits, it is necessary to observe the following canons of horse meat processing:
- For creating dishes, the shoulder, dorsal and femoral areas of the carcass are best suited.
- For softness, cook meat for at least 2-3 hours.
- Soak fresh meat first in water and then marinate.
- To reduce a specific smell, season the carcass during cooking with onions, garlic, and stuff with prunes.
- Horsemeat is best eaten boiled, stewed with vegetables or baked in the oven. The best side dishes for her are rice and potatoes.
Horse sausage (kazy)
Is horse meat sausage useful? Horse sausage (kazi) is a Central Asian national dish. In Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, nomadic tribes and today with the whole family prepare it manually. Men slaughter 2-3-year-old horses bred specifically for this purpose, and also cut meat. Women process guts and manufacture kazy.
Horse sausage is as good for humans as horse meat. It is a worthy decoration of the festive table, very pleasant to taste and environmentally friendly dish. The filling for the kazy is cooked from the costal segment of the horse, cutting it into strips.
Next, the meat is seasoned with a mixture of black pepper, salt and garlic and stuffed tightly into well-washed intestines. The shape of the sausage can be very different, but the length is not more than 70 cm. The kazy is sent to a dry place for soaking in spices, and then smoked, fried, dried or boiled. They eat sausage both as an additive to pilaf and in natural form.
In addition to kazy, horse-drawn sausages such as shuzhuk and makhan are very popular. The heat treatment of shuzhuk is identical to kazy, but the filling is chopped meat from any segment of the carcass.
Mahan is a “dry” or dry-cured sausage, very specific and dense. It is cooked with fat and horse meat with spices.