The Newlywed's Guide to the Meat Market

Knowing the Differences in Cuts of Meats, and How to Cook Them Are Necessary for the New Home Cook!

In America, when a person talks about cooking meat, it's generally understood that they mean beef, veal, pork or lamb. Poultry and fish are typically in their own category. The beginning cook will be happy to know that meat can be very easy to cook correctly, and the meat itself doesn't have to be expensive. The important thing to do is to look for a recipe that you can understand and find the ingredients to cook the meat. You may want to experiment with a recipe to get the dish to your liking. We know that now some meats (especially pork) are leaner than they used to be. So any old family recipes will need to be adjusted for this factor by changing the cooking time and temperature or even by adding liquid to the pan during cooking to keep it moist.

When you cook meat you usually cook tender cuts with dry heat and tougher pieces with moist heat. Tender cuts of meat include steaks such as rib, Delmonico, club, porterhouse, T-bone, sirloin, shell, New York Strip, and filet mignon. These steaks should be grilled, broiled, pan-fried or stir-fried. Tougher cuts include brisket, chuck, shoulder, rump and bottom round which should be used for stewing, pot-roasting and braising.

The difference between tender and tough portions of the meat lies in the areas of where it was taken from on the animal. The least worked muscles of the animal result in the more tender cuts, while the more exercised parts of the animal result in tougher cuts of meat. Some tougher meats can be tenderized without stewing however. You can always marinate beef such as London broil which is cut from the shoulder. You can also cut gashes with a sharp knife into a flank steak or pound a minute steak with a meat mallet. These techniques will enable you to cook the meat using the dry methods. Grinding the beef is another way to tenderize the meat. No matter where the cut comes from on the animal, ground beef will always be tender.

When you go to the grocery store to buy beef, look for meat that's bright red and has tiny flecks of fat in the flesh and with a small amount of fat around the edges. If the meat has dark spots, discolored brownish streaks or has a torn open package disregard it!