The role of meat in the human diet is difficult to overestimate. The harmonious and balanced composition and properties of meat from time immemorial have made this product indispensable in human nutrition.
Minerals contained in meat
The composition of meat includes proteins (amino acids lysine, leucine, valine, isoleucine, tryptophan, threonine, phenylalanine, methionine - up to 20%), lipids (polyunsaturated fatty acids - up to 3%), minerals (vitamins of group B, PP, E and K - up to 1%), hormones (nitrogenous and nitrogen-free extractive substances - up to 2%) and moisture. This product is the main supplier of phosphorus, an element necessary for the construction of bone tissue, as well as for cellular metabolism.
What is meant by the word "meat" in food industries
The meat is muscle fibers with adjacent tissues - fat, connective, cartilage, nervous and bone, as well as blood. In some cases, offal is called so - liver, heart, kidney, diaphragm, brain, cartilage, pulp of the head and esophagus, tongues. Seafood and fish are not meat.
In the food industry, meat of domestic animals raised for slaughter is most often used. Less commonly, as a delicacy product, muscle tissues of wild animals, reptiles and amphibians are used. Of great importance are the national characteristics of consumers and the availability of the product.
Fresh, chilled and frozen meat
Depending on the thermal state, raw meat is divided into fresh, chilled and frozen.
Paired this product is considered if no more than 6 hours have passed since the slaughter. It is most valuable in terms of microbiological composition and taste. Since fresh meat spoils quickly, it is placed in the refrigerator and cooled to a temperature of fibers and bones of 0 ... +4 degrees Celsius. Chilled, fully ripened product is subjected to subsequent freezing.
Culinary and technological properties of meat are preserved if freezing and defrosting are carried out correctly. Freezing should be carried out quickly, in shock mode, and thawed gradually, without the use of agents that accelerate thawing.
Division of meat into categories according to the carcass fatness
According to their fatness, beef is divided into the first and second categories. The first is marked with a round stamp, the second - square. The color of the mark is purple. Young meat is additionally marked with the letter “M”, which is placed to the right of the category of fatness.
Pork meat is divided into three categories of fatness and is branded with a violet brand:
- Fatty pork: fat thickness - more than 4 cm. Round stamp.
- Bacon pork: bacon thickness - 2-4 cm. Round stigma and letter "B".
- Pork meat: fat thickness - 1.5-4 cm. Square stamp.
- Pork meat - trim. The stigma is square.
In an organoleptic study, raw meat is evaluated by smell, appearance, color, texture, state of subcutaneous fat, tendons and the quality of the broth in which the test product was cooked.
What should be quality chilled meat?
The properties of meat that has not been frozen are as follows:
- pale pink or pale red color of the fibers;
- on the cut, the meat is slightly moist, but not sticky;
- the consistency is dense, elastic, the dent from the indentation by the finger quickly enough leveled off;
- meat juice is transparent;
- the smell is pleasant, suitable for this type of animal;
- pork fat - white, beef - light yellow;
- the cooked broth is transparent, with a pleasant aroma and good taste.
Quality defrosted meat
The properties of the meat subjected to freezing should be as follows:
- red color of fibers;
- the fibers are inelastic, the texture is soft, dents from pressing with a finger do not align;
- the broth is cloudy, a lot of scale forms, a pronounced aroma is absent.
The meat of old animals, unlike young animals, has a dark color, thick, dense and rigid tendons and films.
Offal
The share of offal in pigs is 17%, in sheep - 20%, in cattle - 24%.
The following offal is classified as the first category of nutritional value : liver, tongue, kidneys, brains and heart of all types of livestock, udder, diaphragms, beef and mutton tails.
To the second: a head without tongue, lungs, lower legs, lips, spleen, esophagus, throat of all types of cattle, heads of rams and sheep with tongue and brain, pork tail and intestines, scar, abomasum, kaltyk, putty joint, beef ears and pork.
Features of cooking offal
The highest consumer value is represented by offal of the first category:
- Liver - due to the presence of a large number of vitamins A and B, hormones, calcium, iron and copper. In preparation for use in food, the product is freed from the bile ducts, and with beef, in addition, the film is removed. The liver is used for cooking pastes, stewing and frying.
- The kidneys. They have white fat and a specific smell. The film is removed from the kidneys, the fat is cut off and soaked in several waters for 4-5 hours. The soaked product is poured with fresh water, brought to a boil and boiled for about 5 minutes. The water is drained again, the kidneys are washed, again filled with fresh water and boiled until fully cooked. Cooked kidneys are used for frying, stewing and first courses.
- The udder is used for filling pies. It is cut into several parts, large vessels are removed, washed with cold water and passed through a meat grinder twice.
- Tongues are thoroughly washed with a brush, scraped off with a knife severe impurities and boiled in cold water. The skin is removed from the finished hot tongues under a stream of cold water.
The offal of the second category — the putty joint and ears — is thoroughly scorched over a fire, scraped off dirt and stubble, scalded with boiling water. The fetal joint is cut lengthwise and cleaned between the hooves. These offal go to the preparation of jellies.
Bird
Poultry is a valuable food product. It consists of easily digestible proteins, hormones, fats, vitamins and mineral salts. The ratio of complete and defective proteins, characterizing the biological value of a product such as poultry, is 13: 1. The nutrient content depends on the type, age, gender, breed and fatness. Chickens contain up to 22%, geese and ducks - about 18%, turkeys - up to 24% nutrients of the total carcass weight. The amount of fat in ducks reaches 50% of the total mass of carcasses, in geese - 38%.
Sexual characteristics slightly affect bird meat. The properties of the meat of these animals are determined by the age, which is determined by external signs. In males, this is a spur. In one-year-old roosters, it reaches 2 cm in length. A six-month-old spur is a small protrusion. In old chickens, paws are covered with rough rough skin. The age of chickens is also determined by the end of the keel bone. In young animals, it is elastic, cartilaginous, easily bends, in the old, it is firm, ossified.
Waterfowl meat is darker than turkey and chicken meat . In geese and ducks, the color of the fibers does not depend on the location of the muscles, and in turkeys and chickens the leg muscles are darker than on the wings and chest.
Fat is the second main characteristic by which poultry meat is evaluated. The properties of meat of fat oily poultry are considered the best. Chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys of the first category have a large amount of subcutaneous fat.
Meat Processing Tips
- The bird before cooking, to remove excess feathers, rubbed with flour or bran and burned on fire, pulling wings and legs from the body. The remaining stumps are pulled out with tweezers.
- In order to preserve fresh meat longer outside the refrigerator, it is dipped for 1-5 minutes in salty boiling water. The product processed in this way can be stored for several days in a cool, ventilated, out of reach of flies.
- The meat can be stored for several days outside the refrigerator, if you wrap it in a canvas moistened with strong vinegar. Before use, the product should be washed with cold water.
- In the absence of a refrigerator, even in summer, in hot weather, the meat will remain fresh for several days if you rub it with fresh lemon juice and keep it in a cool, ventilated place. Lemon juice repels flies.
- You can save the meat by wrapping it in parchment paper, and then in the canvas, soaked in a strong saline solution. Wet the fabric periodically so that it does not dry out.
- If the beef meat of an old animal is rubbed with mustard on all sides before cooking, it will become more tender and will become soft faster. Before cooking, rinse it with cold water.
- Rigid beef meat will cook faster if beaten with a table hammer. In the water in which it will boil, you need to pour 2-3 tbsp. tablespoons of vinegar.
- When stewing meat in the oven, it is sprayed with hot water or broth. From cold water it will become hard.
- To prevent the meat from becoming too dry, put a vessel of water in the oven where it is cooked. Evaporating, it protects the product from overdrying.
- When meat with a specific smell, such as a scar, is cooked, charcoal (2-3 pieces) is placed in the water. It absorbs unpleasant odor.
- The liver will become tastier if you soak it in milk for 2-3 hours before cooking.
- Fresh raw liver, if its preparation should be postponed for some time, save from drying out, coated with oil.
- Sausages and sausages often burst in boiling water. You can not cook them at all, but fry or steam in a water bath.