Luiza wrote:
> I have a question for you guys. Some meat toughens when it is cooked
> for a long time, like buffalo and pork (well now I know), but some
> doesn't, like beef and chicken. Is that always the case with chicken
> and beef? Or does it depend on what cut it is?
It very much depends on the cut. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but
to effectively cook a piece of meat, you'll need to learn the
characteristics of the cut.
There are two things which contribute to tenderness in meat: Collegen and
fat. If a cut of meat (whether we're talking about chicken, pork, or beef)
has little or no collegen or fat, then the only way it can be tender is to
cook it as lightly as possible (within the boundaries of food safety, of
course). And even when you *do* cook something to rare, you often have to
slice it thinly to tenderize it. (I'm thinking of flank steak in particular
when I write that.)
Collegen is a type of connective tissue. If the cut of meat has a lot of
collagen but little fat, then the best way to cook it is at a low
temperature for a long period of time, preferably in a moist environment:
When collegen is cooked under those circumstances, it liquefies and turns
into gelatin, which provided tenderness. The hazard of overdoing it is that
you run the risk of drying out the meat because the muscle fibers contract
as they get cooked, squeezing out the "juice." Most pot roasts are made
from cuts which have lots of collagen.
Intramuscular fat is one of the things that meat inspectors look at in
grading steaks: If a steak has little flecks of fat throughout, then the fat
separates the muscle fibers and keeps the steak moist as it's being cooked.
Fat also carries a lot of flavor. One reason I like chicken thighs more
than chicken breasts is that the meat has more fat, and can therefore be
cooked longer while still remaining tender.
Fish isn't exempt from these rules either; fatty fish are generally cooked
differently than lean fish.
Sorry if this is a bit disjointed; I'm writing it between tasks at work.
Bob
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