Beef dishes. At first glance, everything is easy and simple, buy meat and cook, but not everything is so simple, each type of meat, depending on its location, has its own characteristics that make it more or less suitable for preparing certain dishes.
Today we will see what types of beef there are and how they differ in consistency, fat percentage and other indicators.
This knowledge is necessary in order not to make a mistake either with the choice or with the type of preparation.
What are the categories of beef meat and what are they?
At slaughter, cattle meat is divided into three main categories depending on whether it is part of the animal's front or hindquarters or the neck, belly or petticoat.
FIRST CATEGORY
The meat from the animal's hind quarter is classified as first category cuts and is the best and most tender, and therefore the most expensive.
- Loin
: obtained by cutting this part of the animal fillet. This section of the fillet tends to become chewy when cooked for long periods of time due to the lack of ribs. - Filet
: Heard of filet mignon? It is prepared from the noblest and most precious part of the animal, which is located under the lower back, with a very delicate and juicy cut. - Crumb
: a very thin piece, with large muscles, it is located near the thigh and makes excellent stews, roasts. - Outside Cuts
: Roasts, roasts, stews and steaks are what you can cook with this cut. - Walnut
: Steaks, slices, beef stew, that's what you can get with this very thin cut located at the beginning of the thigh. - Internal slicing
: Need to cook steaks, slices or cutlets? Ask your trusted butcher for this particular cut, formed by the large muscles of the upper thigh, thin and slightly flattened. - Leg
meat : Another very thin cut, ideal for carpaccio and roasts, it is cylindrical in shape and is part of the thigh muscle.
SECOND CATEGORY
The second category includes cuts that fall on the anterior quarter.
- Cover
: Need to make a stew, a stew, or maybe experiment with a goulash recipe? Use this front cut. - Shoulder Stem
: Roasts and stews, as well as steaks, can be produced by processing and then searing this cut from a flattened torso configuration. - King Chop
: Ideal for baking (fried and braised) as well as stews and chops, this cut comes from the front of the animal's back and between the neck and fillet - Brisket
: Brisket is ideal if you need to make a boiled meat, a roast, or just a broth, while the paperclip is ideal to surprise your guests with a wonderful boil, as it is a cut consisting of muscles intersected by abundant fatty veins.
THIRD CATEGORY
The third category includes parts of the neck, belly and shoulders, which usually require longer cooking times. It takes longer and is therefore cheaper. Cuts in this category: neck, back, stomach, front, real.
- Neck
: This cut, consisting of a large muscle mass divided into two parts, is not widely used, but is ideal for preparing meatballs and classic meat sauce, not forgetting cooked meat. - Back of the upper leg
: great for stewing and boiling - Real
: An ideal cut for cooked meats, stews and meat sauces, consisting of intercostal muscles. - Anterior girdle
(or anterior muscle): This section consists of a bundle of thirteen groups of muscle fibers. - Belly
: A fatty cut covered in cartilage, ideal for making meatballs and hamburgers.
Cow slaughter and initial dressing
Cow slaughter is carried out only by specialists who do it as painlessly and quickly as possible. For us, it is important to know whether all the subtleties are taken into account, for example, cattle are stopped feeding 24 hours before slaughter, so that bacteria from the stomach does not get into the meat. An empty stomach and tripe before slaughter are a guarantee that the quality of the meat will not suffer.
Once the animal is slaughtered and all the blood has been properly drained, it is imperative that the entrails be removed within the first 45 minutes. After cutting the sternum, the esophagus is quickly ligated and the gallbladder is carefully removed.
Internal organs are sorted, for example, the liver, heart and kidneys are suitable for consumption, they are called offal, and the stomach and intestines are thrown away. The skinned animal is sprinkled with salt, and the carcass is allowed to hang on a crossbar for some time before cutting. Cutting and deboning must be done at a temperature no higher than 10 degrees so that the product does not begin to deteriorate.
HOW TO COOK DIFFERENT PIECES OF BEEF
Short firings are optimal for softer cuts, while slow firings allow the softest parts to slowly soften in a humid environment. Here's a rundown of which cuts of beef to choose for different types of cooking.
- In the pan: fillet, walnut, rump, butt and walker
- Grill: ribs, rump, loin, walnut, fillet and rump
- Roast: shoulder, loin, ghirello, nut, rump, rump, fesone and real
- Stew: Shoulder, Belly, Chest and Lid
- Boiled: shoulder, neck, breast, real, cap and fish
- Braised and wet: real, neck and cap
- Escalopes: shoulder piece
- Fried: fillet
- Braised: shoulder, belly, real and neck
Cutting a cow carcass step by step
The carcass is cut up for both commercial and domestic use. Depending on the region, the beef cutting scheme may differ slightly, but the process is divided into several phases:
- Cutting the carcass into 2 parts across the spine.
- Dividing halves along the ridge into quarters.
- Dividing into individual parts and separating the meat from the bone (boning).
Boning is the final separation of an animal's meat from the bone; in the case of beef, the meat is completely separated, although there are some exceptions. The separated meat from the bone is cleaned of coarse films, tendons and cartilage - this process is called trimming and stripping. To give the meat an attractive, marketable appearance, even the thin edges of the pulp are removed.
Beef parts - simple diagrams
And finally the video
Cutting the rear of the carcass
- The posterior part is divided into the lumbar region and the posterior pelvic or hip region. In the posterior pelvic region there is the most valuable and tasty piece - the tenderloin. In the lumbar region, the thin edge is more significant, followed by the hem and less valuable - the flank.
- After the tenderloin is separated, you need to deal with the hind legs. It is necessary to remove the pelvic bone, trim the meat along the thigh bone and finally cut off the inner piece along the easily lagging layer. Then the femur and tibia bones are cut out with a knife, and the flesh is cut into pieces into pieces with deft movements - the upper, outer, and also the side.
Ground beef
A few months ago, an unprecedented food scandal broke out in Europe: horse meat was found in semi-finished products - in ready-made lasagna, in stews and even in meatballs from IKEA. This story once again confirmed that you cannot trust factory-made minced meat, and preparing your own at home using a food processor or meat grinder (although purists choose minced meat chopped exclusively by hand). Inexpensive meat is used for minced meat - from the bottom of the sirloin, rump, shoulder blade . For dishes that cook quickly (cutlets or kebabs), the meat will have to be cleaned of films and fat. For other options, the meat can be chopped along with the connective tissues. But any minced meat must be kneaded very well, otherwise the product risks falling apart. Adding an egg as a fixative is not a good idea. The famous English chef Tom Aikens, in an interview with Gastronom, told how he once took part in the TV show Iron Chef. As part of a team of professional chefs, he “fought” a team of amateur chefs. When the program's theme was "mince," Aikens prepared lasagna and meatballs. After looking at the dishes, the judge said: “I expected more from a Michelin-starred chef.” Indeed, minced meat dishes - Bolognese sauce, rolls, casseroles, zrazy - are distinguished by a special “coziness”: they have a homely taste, and not the taste of haute cuisine.
Here you can improvise with flavors: spices, herbs, including exotic ones, like dried tea rose leaves and yellow iris, spices from Persian and Caucasian cuisine. The familiar word “ dolma ” means “to stuff”, and in the homeland of dolma, minced meat with onions, chickpeas, rice, herbs and spices is used not only for grape leaves, but also for anything that can be stuffed: tomatoes, onions, peppers, eggplants, apples , quince, cabbage, mulberry leaves - and each “vessel” gives the meat its own taste and juiciness.
How to reduce the toughness of meat
If you already have a piece of meat in your home refrigerator that is not soft enough to prepare a particular dish, then you can reduce its toughness in a simple, proven and effective way.
First, you need to cut the product into small cubes no more than 4 cm thick. Then these pieces need to be fried in oil until their surface is covered with a golden crust. As soon as this happens, you can remove the frying pan from the heat, and then subject these still insufficiently softened cubes to another heat treatment, namely cooking.
To do this, take a saucepan with a fairly thick bottom, pour 1 liter of hot water into it and add 2 tablespoons of ordinary vinegar. The heat on which the pan is placed should be minimal. The extinguishing process should last from 60 to 90 minutes. The exact time depends on how tough the piece is. Of course, the tougher it is, the longer it should cook. Then you can add various seasonings and continue simmering for about 5 more minutes.
As a result, the meat will become much softer. After all, when frying, all its juice will remain inside the cubes, and when cooking, the temperature remains constant for a long time. In addition, vinegar has a great influence on the tenderness of meat. After all, this substance, being essentially an acid, helps soften muscle fibers.
Selecting meat by touching the piece
If you have not yet been able to make a choice simply by smelling it or looking closely at the piece, then the last option on how to choose beef meat on the market is to touch it. To do this, you just need to touch the beef with your finger, and immediately walk away if the meat turns out to be sticky or wet. In addition, it is important that the finger hole in the beef immediately smoothes out, which will show the vigilant buyer its high quality. If the dent does not smooth out, then the meat is already old, and after cooking the beef will be very tough.
Buying frozen beef
When properly frozen and defrosted, frozen meat is almost impossible to distinguish from fresh meat. Defrosting beef should only happen in the refrigerator and the longer the better.
- Production time . First of all, you need to look at the sales dates for meat; they should be indicated on the label. The shelf life of frozen beef is 10 months, veal is 8 months.
- Manufacturer country . Carefully consider who is producing the beef. It is better to take domestically produced meat - it will most likely be fresher than imported meat.
- Package . You should definitely pay attention to the integrity of the packaging. There should be no breaks on the substrate, and the film should be intact.
- Color . During the freezing process, beef does not change its color dramatically, so it is worth choosing pieces with a lighter color. If the meat was stored without access to oxygen (it was in plastic or vacuum packed), then it may be dark red in color, but when defrosted it will regain its correct color.
- Ice . The presence of a large amount of ice and snow on the package indicates that the product was either stored incorrectly or has already been defrosted. It is better to refuse such a purchase. The presence of ice is acceptable only on the outside of the package.
