Tips on Finding and Preparing the Best Food – Meat (part 4)

Note: This is the fourth part of a multiple-posts about getting and preparing the best food. Please read the earlier posts to get more information.
Tips on Finding and Preparing the Best Food (part 1)
Tips on Finding and Preparing the Best Food – Vegetables (part 2)
Tips on Finding and Preparing the Best Food – Fruits (part 3)

Meat, one of the more expensive items routinely purchased in supermarkets, consumes the greatest percentage of the average person’s food dollar. Although consumption of beef, lamb, pork, and veal has declined recently, meat remains the featured attraction on the dinner plate in most American households.

The United States Department of Agriculture inspects and grades meat sold in interstate commerce. The most expensive grade is PRIME, found mainly in gourmet butcher shops, restaurants, hotels, and clubs. Prime meat is marbled (flecks of fat throughout the meat), extremely tender, and juicy with a fine texture.

The highest quality meat carried in supermarkets usually is CHOlCE. Choice grade means that the meat is tender and juicy with a good texture, but it is not as well marbled as prime meat. Meat that receives a GOOD grade from USDA inspectors is less fatty and juicy than prime and choice meats. It can be a good buy, and it usually is tender if cooked slowly in moist heat. STANDARD and COMMERCIAL grades of meat, which are from low quality or older animals, generally are not available in supermarkets. These grades are given to meats that have little marbling and thin layers of exterior fat. The flavor may be bland, and the meat tends to be coarse, tough, and dry.

Listed below are tips for buying beef, lamb, pork, and veal.

Beef: Expensive cuts of beef are not necessarily better than less expensive cuts – at least nutritionally speaking. Highly marbled cuts such as Porterhouse steaks and standing rib roasts usually cost more per pound than leaner cuts, such as chuck or rump. (The exception is hamburger. Lean ground beef – 10 to 15 percent fat – is more expensive than regular ground beef – 20 to 30 percent fat.) But more than three-fourths of the calories in expensive cuts come from fat, and most of this is saturated fat and cholesterol, which has been linked to heart disease.

The best buys from the point of view of food value are the lean, inexpensive cuts that may need to be tenderized or cooked slowly in moist heat. Lean, bright pink to red meat with light-colored bones usually has the best flavor. Fat casing around the exterior of the beef should be creamy, white, and crumbly.

Veal: Veal is meat from calves slaughtered before they are 8 months old. The most expensive veal, milk-fed veal, comes from calves that are slaughtered at 3 to 5 months, before they have been weaned.

With the exception of the breast, cuts of veal are quite lean, with a thin layer of exterior fat and little visible marbling.

The most expensive veal is white or very pale pink. This meat usually comes from calves that have been confined in narrow stalls so that their flesh remains undeveloped and tender. Veal that is dark pink or red usually comes from older calves that have been allowed to roam and graze in the field.

Pork: Most cuts of pork contain a high percentage of fat. The least fatty parts are the tenderloin strip, center-cut leg ham, and loin chops. The fattiest cuts are the rib roast, bacon, feet, hocks, picnic shoulder, and shoulder butt.

The most flavorful pork usually will be light in color – light pink, approaching white – with pinkish bones and firm, white exterior fat. A grainy look in pork may affect the tenderness slightly, but generally not the flavor.

Lamb: Meat from sheep that are from 3 to 5 months old is called baby or spring lamb. Spring lamb is tender and has a mild flavor. Meat from animals 5 months to 1 year old is called winter lamb or simply lamb. Meat from older lamb usually is less tender and has a strong flavor.

The fattier cuts of lamb, such as the loin, shoulder, rack, and rib chops, are more expensive than leaner cuts, such as leg, shank, and breast. Like beef, the most expensive cuts offer the same nutrients as the least expensive cuts, but higher-priced lamb often means a higher saturated fat content.

Lamb should be lean and bright pink with creamy white exterior fat, and pinkish bones. If flesh and bones are approaching a red color, it may be a sign that the lamb was slaughtered at an older age, and it may be tough.

For new ideas on cooking delicious and healthy food, visit lowsugar-recipes.com.

Tags: meat, tips