How to choose meat, what to cook from different parts of the carcass

The first step is to understand what kind of dish you are going to cook: kebabs or cutlets, steak or broth? If you make a mistake at this stage, it will be almost impossible to save dinner.

Shashlik

A delicious shish kebab can be prepared from literally any meat, it all depends on personal preferences and the right choice of part of the carcass. For a lamb dish, a ham is traditionally used, but connoisseurs know: it is best to stop on pieces from the backbone, that is, from the back around the spine. They are less fatty, roast faster and have a delicate flavor. Pork shashlik will turn out to be soft and juicy if you take the meat along the ridge on the neck (where the fat veins are located most evenly).

Chicken kebab is quite popular today – it is light and tender, it is quickly pickled and is suitable even for dietary meals. To get juicy roasted meat, but faster, it is better to take pitted chicken thighs, but in no case breast, otherwise the dish will be too dry.

Beef kebab is considered the most difficult to prepare, because this meat is very capricious. To minimize difficulties, experts recommend taking pieces from the neck and spinal entrecote.

Cutlets

It is worth stopping at a mixture of beef and pork – the ideal ratio is 50 to 50. In both cases, the best for minced meat is a ham and shoulder blade, beef neck and pork loin or shank. If you want to get a more dietary option, you can increase the ratio of meat to beef, the main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise the cutlets will turn out to be dry and tough.

Steak

A safe bet is the tenderloin, sirloin, or neck of beef or veal. For pork steak, tenderloin and rump are also suitable [1]. All of these options are of the highest grade of meat and are distinguished by their softness and excellent taste – just what you need for frying in a pan or grill. Sometimes lamb is also used for steaks: if you want to please your family with such a delicacy, then choose meat from a shoulder blade, back leg or loin.

Broth

For a rich broth, take meat on the bone, such as chicken thighs, beef ribs, or pork leg (ideally front).

Pay attention to the appearance: fresh meat (unless, of course, we are talking about chicken) is bright red, slightly damp, even, there is no mucus or liquid on the surface. If the meat is sticky, wet, of uneven color, then it is better to refrain from buying. Most likely, it has been on the counter for more than one day and, worst of all, the storage conditions are not respected. In addition, sometimes unscrupulous sellers spray the meat with water to give it a more appetizing appearance. The freshness of chicken meat can be easily identified by its color: a grayish tint should alert you.

The freshness and storage conditions of meat can also be judged by its density. So, if you press your finger on a piece, the resulting dimple should quickly straighten out. The slower such a dent is leveled out, the longer the meat has remained on the counter.

And the last thing: good meat smells good, for a person, as a predator, the natural smell of fresh beef, pork, lamb and chicken is pleasant. If the aroma is alarming or causes at least a hint of disgust, it is better to refuse the purchase.

There are only three types of meat:

– paired (up to 2 hours after slaughter),

– aged chilled (stored at temperatures from 0 to + 2 ° С, pork, lamb and beef – up to 7 days, chicken – up to 5),

– frozen (at temperatures below -18 ° C it can be stored for several months).

Oddly enough, steamed meat is considered too tough for cooking. If you took a steamed piece, you should keep it in the refrigerator (but not in the freezer!) For at least a few hours, or better – a day or two, so that the fibers become softer under the influence of natural enzymes. By the way, advanced farmers use special ripening chambers, where meat is stored at a strictly specified temperature and humidity, reaching the required degree of maturity and acquiring a bright individual taste.

Frozen meat is only suitable if it has not been re-frozen, which impairs the taste, destroys the fiber structure and can lead to the appearance of pathogenic bacteria.

Determining the correct frozen meat is simple: you need to touch it with your finger for a few seconds – a dark stain should remain. If the color has not changed, this piece has already been thawed. The best option for barbecue and frying is chilled meat. It is easy to distinguish it from thawed to the touch: if a piece was frozen, it will be loose and watery. In addition, chilled meat has a less intense color. Frozen meat is suitable for cutlets, cooking and broths.

But only for steak and barbecue. Everything is simple here: the lighter the meat, the younger the animal was, the darker, the older. Another sign is the color of the fat. If it gives off yellowness, it means that the animal was many years old. From old meat, both kebabs and steaks are tough and dry, and there is no need to hope that the marinade will save the day. The best use for such pork and beef is stewing, for example with vegetables.

For chicken meat, age is less critical, but even here any chef will give preference to young chicken. You can determine the age by the skin: in the old bird, it is yellow and rough.

Even if the perfect meat is chosen, it is easy to spoil it using the wrong marinade. And here every housewife, like every chef, has her own secret: someone prefers onion, someone wine, some use kefir and even beer. It is important to keep the time strictly according to the recipe so that the meat does not turn out too tough (this is especially important for beef dishes), does not lose its taste and does not sour.

It is not recommended to use vinegar for homemade marinade, as it is easy to make a mistake with it and overdry meat. Better to replace it with lemon juice.

In order not to miscalculate with the recipe, you can buy ready-made meat in the marinade – manufacturers offer options not only for barbecue, but also for frying in a pan and for baking in the oven. For example, the manufacturer “Remit” has chicken thighs in an original mixture of tomatoes, peppers, caraway seeds, marjoram greens, onions and basil – they can be fried on a wire rack or cooked in the oven.

It is imperative to check the shelf life of such meat and the reliability of the packaging. Marinated meat retains its taste and freshness as much as possible in a transparent vacuum package. It excludes the penetration of extraneous odors and microorganisms, and due to the lack of air, fats and oils do not burn out, and the taste of bitterness does not appear. In addition, such a shish kebab can be viewed from all sides to make sure the quality of each piece.

Where to buy meat – in the store or at the market? Habit and disposition decide everything, because not everyone is ready to go for a piece of pork or beef to the other end of the city. Still, it’s worth remembering the pros and cons of both options.

When buying meat from well-known brands in a large retail chain, you can be sure of the safety of the product, because such sellers are worried about their reputation and work only with trusted suppliers of raw materials. The conditional disadvantage of buying meat in retail chains is the inability to touch and smell the meat: firstly, it is not accepted, and secondly, it is often sold already in packaging. It remains only to carefully check the expiration date.

In the marketplace, sellers may not bother too much about the safety of their suppliers’ meat production, sanitary standards and product storage conditions. At the same time, the prices on the market cannot be called low. We can only hope for the conscience of the seller. And the best way to wake her up is through personal sympathy.