Cooking meat essentials

When it’s cooked right, every cut of meat can be a star. Three things determine how to cook a cut of meat: the quality of the cut (which is usually choice when coming from a reputable butcher or producer); the age of the animal (meat from a five-month-old lamb is more tender than from one that’s a year old); and the part of the animal where the meat is from. All meat is muscle. Muscles animals use frequently (shoulders, rumps and legs) will be tough, but also flavourful; these cuts need long slow cooking to tenderize them and to extract the flavour. Muscles that animals use infrequently (either because it’s young or where the cut is located on the animal) will be tender, usually the rib or loin. Cooking only toughens these tender cuts, so the less cooking the better.

Food Fact brought to you by Farm Credit Canada.

Source: The New Basics Cookbook, Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins

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