The informed shopper – Part 1 – Meat

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I have a whole section in my menu-cookbook Dinners With Joy,
which is soon to be issued in soft cover by Amazon and shortly thereafter in
digital form on Kindle, entitled Shopping Information.. The first subject I
tackle is Meat. Not only is meat often the most expensive item on our shopping
list, it’s usually the key ingredient in a recipe. Yet unless you know the
different cuts, and their specific uses, it can be very confusing.

The basic guidelines
for buying meat are:

1) Meat should be odorless, firm and just damp to the touch, never mushy,
slick, wet, sticky, or in the case of ham, gritty.
2) The surrounding fat should be white, neither it nor the meat should show any
tinge of grey or brown, or iridescence in ham.
3) Meat should be true to its own color:

Beef—A bright red
Pork—A pale pink tinged white
Veal—A pale pinkish pearly white
Lamb—A bright pink to rose

4) Choose the leanest piece i.e. the one with the largest  uninterrupted surface area of meat
5) Always keep meat refrigerated. If not to be used the day purchased, re-wrap
it in plastic wrap, separating larger pieces like chops or cutlets. If not to
be used within three days, freeze it but remember to label contents, weight and
date.

A) It is easier to trim fat and cut meat into portion sizes before freezing.

B) Ground meat, especially pork and veal, spoil faster than larger cuts and should be frozen if not to be used within two days.

6) Make an effort to get to know your butcher, even in a supermarket. Ring the
bell and ask questions. You’re sure to find one of the staff with whom you can
communicate, who will advise you on what looks best, cut to size and even take phone
orders if you’re short on time.

7) Be sure to wash your hands before and after handling meat and keep utensils
and surfaces clean. 8)Follow the guidelines for safe cooking temperatures. A
meat thermometer is a handy tool.

The tenderness of a piece of meat depends on its cut, which, in turn depends on its location on the animal from which it’s derived. Meat is muscle and the more muscle is used the harder it becomes. So it follows that the toughest cuts of meat come from
areas that receive the most exercise. The tougher the cut, the more cooking it
requires to become tender. This is why I firmly believe that having butchering
charts of the different types of meat, showing the locations of the various
cuts and suggested uses, along with cooking charts, is an invaluable tool. I
have a selection for free download on my website dinnerswithjoy.com, many cook
books contain these charts and they are available on the web. Please do
yourself a favor and get a set.

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chefs, but not the supermarket butcher department. With a chart of cuts familiar to you, and a description of the location of a new cut in a recipe you want to try, you can figure out how to request that or what to buy as the best substitute. In this instance it would be a skirt steak.

Moreover, to add to the confusion, there are two different styles of butchering beef. One cuts parallel to the backbone and lifts out the whole tenderloin for fillets and also yields N.Y. strip, or back steaks. The other cuts perpendicular to the backbone and yields T bone and porterhouse steaks, which contain small portions of the tenderloin. These buchering methods have been applied to pork over the last few decades as well.

The different cuts of roasts are pretty uniform, but again charts show the locations of the different ones and that indicates the tenderness and subsequently the best use of each type. In other words, whether they should be oven roasted, braised or need to be
stewed.  Years ago I fell for a package of meat labeled “Shoulder London Broil”. It looked great so I bought it, grilled and served it—to everyone’s dismay. It was worse than shoe leather! I memorized the charts, and since then, I’ve avoided all cuts of meat from the shoulder section of any animal unless I’m planning a dish with a long cooking
time and lots of liquid.

All meat carries a U.S.D.A. grade. There are many of these but the public is most familiar with Prime, Choice and Select. Most of the Prime, especially with beef, is sold mainly to fine restaurants; the rest goes to boutique butchers. Hotels, most restaurants and perhaps the neighborhood butcher and the specialty sections of the meat department of some supermarkets probably offer Choice, but, as a rule, the main supermarket meat counter contains Select. Though not as tender, Select has a lower fat content actually making it healthier for you.  For example, one hears of “marbling” in beef—fine veins of fat running through the meat that melt during cooking to
add juiciness and tenderness. Marbling is commonly found in Prime, occasionally
in Choice but rarely in Select, yet its absence results in beef with a lower
cholesterol count and much leaner when ground, with less shrinkage in cooking.
Because it has less fat, Select is also the grade of choice for stewing or
casseroles. Don’t misunderstand, you can still get a nice piece of meat in the
market, but it won’t be the quality that commands top price in a five star
restaurant. Another fact to remember is that the longer meat, especially beef
is cooked when broiled, grilled or roasted the tougher it becomes.( Consult a
hand chart.)

Lamb and Veal have lost popularity in the past few decades, partly because of animal sensibilities and partly because of their escalating prices. Both are still prized for their
distinct, delicate flavors. Most of our lamb today is imported and because of
the preservative packaging involved, its color may be a deep red. Be sure the
package is marked with its country of origin and dated. Lamb’s clearly
distinguishable taste makes it irreplaceable in dishes featuring it, but
occasionally a mixture of ground beef and ground turkey can be substituted when
mixed with other ingredients.

Veal, however, though delicious on its own, can often be
replaced by poultry, even pork. One word of caution when buying veal, it
shrinks in cooking. So buy the larger piece or add about ¼ lb. more to your
order.

Pork, “the other white meat”, in contrast, has gained popularity. Once mainly used for roasting, grilling, stewing or smoking, it now appears in cuts like medallions, cutlets,
boneless loins and is often used in traditional veal dishes as well as starring
in elaborate variations  of its own favorite time honored recipes such as exotically stuffed chops and tenderloins in different sauces.

The informed meat shopper knows the specific cut they want, and why. They learned  the meat charts well enough to be able to pick the best package or choose a suitable substitute on the spot, should their desired cut be unavailable or what is, too pricy. In
fact they should know how to best prepare every cut of meat in the whole
counter. In addition, the informed shopper is one who has made a regular habit
of noting prices and studied the weekly fliers long enough to recognize fair
pricing, be  able to quickly pick their best option or identify a real “deal” when they see it. The informed shopperenters the store with confidence and leaves with the satisfaction of a job well
done. Their knowledge has insulated them against confusion, self doubt, and
dismay at sticker shock. Incidentally, this advice is for everyone, not just people
trying to cut back on food expenses or stick to a budget. No one wants to feel
they’ve over spent or played the fool. Everyone I know wants to get their
marketing done as well and quickly as possible. So do get yourself a set of
meat charts, and start reading the fliers and noticing prices.

Next—Poultry!!!