Understanding

Meats and Game

After reading this chapter, you should
be able to
1. Describe the composition and structure of meat, and explain how
they relate to meat selection and cooking methods.
2. Explain the use of the federal meat inspection and grading
system in selecting and purchasing meats.
3. Explain the effect of aging on meat, and identify the two primary
aging methods.
4. Identify the primal cuts of beef, lamb, veal, and list the major
fabricated cuts obtained from each of them.
5. Select appropriate cooking methods for the most important
meat cuts, based on the meat’s tenderness and other characteristics.
6. Prepare variety meats.
7. Determine doneness in cooked meat.
8. Store fresh meat and frozen meat to gain the maximum shelf life.
Meat is muscle tissue. It is the flesh of domestic
animals (cattle, hogs, and lambs) and of wild game
animals (such as deer). As a cook, chef, or food-
service operator, you will spend more of your time
and money on meats than on any other food.
It is important, then, to understand meats thoroughly
in order to cook them well and profitably.
Why are some meats tender and some tough?
How can you tell one cut from another when
there are so many?
How do you determine the best way to cook each
cut?
 Composition, Structure,
and Basic Quality Factors
Composition
Muscle tissue consists of three major components: water, protein, and fat.
Water
Water is about 75 percent of muscle tissue. With such a high percentage
of water, you can see why shrinkage can be a big problem in cooking
meat. Too much moisture loss means dry meat, loss of weight, and loss
of profit.
Protein
Protein is an important nutrient and the most abundant solid material in meat. About
20 percent of muscle tissue is protein.
protein coagulates when it is heated. This means it becomes firmer and loses moisture.
Coagulation is related to doneness. When protein has coagulated to the desired degree,
the meat is said to be “done.” After protein has coagulated, applying higher heat
toughens it.
Fat
Fat accounts for up to 5 percent of muscle tissue. Of course, more fat
may surround the muscles. A beef carcass can be as much as 30 percent
fat.
Because of health and dietary concerns, many meat animals are being
bred and raised with a lower fat content than in past years. evertheless,
a certain amount of fat is desirable for three reasons:
1. Juiciness.
Marbling is fat deposited within the muscle tissue. The juiciness we enjoy
in well marbled beef is due more to fat than to moisture.
Surface fat protects the meat—especially roasts—from drying out
during cooking as well as in storage.
2. Tenderness.
Marbling separates muscle fibers, making them easier to chew.
3. Flavor.
Fat is perhaps the main source of flavor in meat. A well-marbled Prime
(top grade) steak tastes “beefier” than the same cut of a lower grade.
Carbohydrate
Meat contains a very small amount of carbohydrate. From the
standpoint of nutrition, its quantity is so small that it is insignificant. It is
important, however, because it plays a necessary part in the complex
reaction, called the Maillard reaction that takes place when meats are
browned by roasting, broiling, or sautéing. Without these
carbohydrates, the desirable flavor and appearance of browned meats
would not be achieved.
Structure
Muscle Fibers
Lean meat is composed of long, thin muscle fibers
bound together in bundles.
These determine the texture or grain of a piece of
meat. Fine-grained meat is composed of small fibers
bound in small bundles. Coarse-textured meat has
large fibers.
Feel the cut surface of a tenderloin steak, and
compare its smooth texture to the rough cut surface
of brisket or bottom round.
Connective Tissue
Muscle fibers are bound together in a network of
proteins called connective tissue. Each
muscle fiber also is covered in a sheath of connective
tissue.
It is important for the cook to understand connective
tissue for one basic reason:
Connective tissue is tough. To cook meats
successfully, you should know:-
• Which meats are high in connective tissue and
which are low.
• What are the best ways to make tough meats
tender.
1. Meats are highest in connective tissue if
 They come from muscles that are more
exercised. Muscles in the legs, for example,
have more connective tissue than muscles in
the back.
They come from older animals. Veal is more
tender than meat from a young steer,
which, in turn, is more tender than meat from
an old bull or cow. (Young animals have
connective tissue, too, but it becomes harder to
break down as the animal ages.)
2. Meats high in connective tissue can be made more tender by using
proper cooking techniques.
There are two kinds of connective tissue: collagen, which is white in
color, and elastin, which is yellow.
• Collagen.
Long, slow cooking in the presence of moisture breaks down
or dissolves collagen by turning it into gelatin and water. Of
course, muscle tissue is about 75 percent water, so moisture
is always present when meats are cooked. Except for very
large roasts, however, long cooking by a dry-heat method
has the danger of evaporating too much moisture and drying
out the meat. Therefore, moist-heat cooking methods
at low temperatures are most effective for turning a meat high
in connective tissue into a tender, juicy finished product .
Other factors also help tenderize collagen:
Acid helps dissolve collagen. Marinating meat in an
acid mixture, or adding an acid such as tomato or wine
to the cooking liquid, helps tenderize it.
Enzymes are naturally present in meats. They
break down some connective tissue and other proteins
as meat ages. These enzymes are inactive at freezing
temperatures, slow-acting under refrigeration, active
at room temperature, and destroyed by heat above
140°F (60°C).
Tenderizers are enzymes such as papain (extracted
from papaya) that are added to meats by the cook or
injected into the animal before slaughter.
• Elastin.
Older animals have a higher proportion of
elastin than younger animals.
Elastin is not broken down in cooking.
Tenderizing can be accomplished only
by removing the elastin (cutting away any
tendons) and by mechanically breaking
up the fibers, as in Pounding and cubing
(cubed steaks)
Grinding (hamburger) Slicing the cooked meat
very thin against the grain
Understanding the Basic Cuts
Meat cuts are based on two factors:
1. The muscle and bone structure of the meat.
2. Uses of and appropriate cooking methods for various
parts of the animal.
Food-service suppliers in the United States may follow a set
of specifications called Institution Meat Purchase
Specifications (IMPS). (IMPS, including numbers and names of
cuts, are the same as the North American Meat Processors
Association, or NAMP, specifications.)
All cuts are described in detail and listed by number. This
simplifies purchasing, as you can order by number exactly the
cut you want.
Available Forms:
 Carcasses
 Partial Carcasses
Primals and
Fabricated Cuts

Carcasses
The carcass is the whole animal, minus the entrails,
head, feet, and hide. Whole carcasses are rarely
purchased by food-service operators because of the
skill and labor required in cutting and because of the
problem of total utilization.
Sides, Quarters, Foresaddles, Hindsaddles
These represent the first step in breaking down a carcass.
Again, these larger cuts are no longer frequently used in food
service. Fewer establishments cut their own meats.
1. Beef is split first through the backbone into sides. Sides
are divided between the 12th and 13th ribs into forequarter
and hindquarter.
2. Veal and lamb are not split into sides but are divided in
half into foresaddle and hindsaddle.
For veal, the cut is made between the 11th and 12th ribs.
Lamb, on the other hand, is split either between the 12th and
13th rib or after the 13th rib, depending on the cutting style.
Primal or Wholesale Cuts
These are the primary divisions of quarters, foresaddles,
hindsaddles, and carcasses. These cuts, called primal cuts, are still
used, to some extent, in food service, because they
1. Are small enough to be manageable in many food-service
kitchens.
2. Are still large enough to allow a variety of cuts for different uses or
needs.
3. Are easier to utilize completely than quarters or halves.
Each primal may be fabricated, or cut up and trimmed, in several ways.
Fabricated Cuts
Primal cuts are fabricated into smaller cuts for roasts,
steaks, chops, cutlets, stewing meat, ground meat,
and so forth, according to individual customer
requirements
Beef Primal Cuts and Fabricated Cuts (continued)
Primal Major Bones Common Fabricated Cuts Primary
Cooking
Methods
Hindquarter Full tenderloin (to have Dry heat
(Full loin tenderloin
in one piece, it must be
stripped out
of loin before loin is split into
short
loin and sirloin)
Short loin Rib 13 Club steaks Dry heat
Backbone T-bone steaks
(chine, feather Porterhouse steaks
bones, finger Strip loin
bones; Strip loin steaks
Short tenderloin
continued)
Primal Major Bones Common Fabricated Cuts Primary
Cooking
Methods
Sirloin Backbone Top sirloin butt Dry heat
Hip bone (part Bottom sirloin butt
of pelvis) Butt tenderloin
Flank Tip of rib 13 Flank steak Moist heat
Ground beef (exception:
flank steak
cooked as
London broil)
Round Round (leg) Knuckle (sirloin tip Inside (top) Moist heat and
bone round dry heat
Aitch bone Eye of round (part of outside
(part of pelvis round)
Shankbone Rump
Tailbone Hind shank