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Buying meat is one of the finest delicacies left in gourmet food. There are so many cuts, tastes, and styles of preparation, filets, and seasoning to delight and tingle all senses. Saving money on gourmet meat can be easy, just follow the few basic rules that follow. When selecting a meat cut remember that the more taken to prepare this cut will mean that it is more expensive and this doesn’t necessarily mean it will taste better though. Choosing to have the meat with a bone in or filleted is up the person’s preference. The bone in is cheaper than filleted as this cut has taken less time to prepare. Meat with bone in will also cook faster as the bone acts as a heat conductor and cooks it faster. Filleted meats also may have less flavor than a cut with bone in.
Selecting meat can be time consuming and expensive if you are not sure what you want. Be prepared with a list of the cuts and styles you want before you leave home so you have an easy, convenience meat shopping expedition. Meat cuts are not all created equal. The more expensive cut is usually from a particular part of meat that is more tender and not a working muscle. The more expensive cuts usually come from the ribs, rump and loin of the animal. The working muscle usually refers to the shoulders and flank. Cooking these cuts also needs to be taken into consideration. To get the best taste out of your meat cook your more expensive meats for a short period of time with a high heat. The cooking time for working muscle cuts should be longer and cooked over a low heat. If meat is labelled as top sirloin, stewing, bottom round, marinating and top round then this mean will take longer to cook. Luxury and more expensive meats that use words such as tenderloin, T-bone, grilling and porterhouse, on the label need to be cooked faster on high heat.
Save money when buying your meat by selecting cuts that have taken less time to be serviced. This refers to the preparation of the meat and this includes slicing up, tying the meat together, and removing skins or bones. Marbling is a term used with meat and this means the fat strips that are visible along the sides of the meat. This fat is not necessarily bad for you. Most people think that removing this fat will be healthier for them. When the fat is removed flavor is lost. Choose meat that has flecks of fat rather than strips on your meat cuts, this will obtain the flavor and be healthy too.
If the meat at the butcher looks or smells funny I suggest you go to another butcher. These are prime tell tales that the meat is not up to grade. Meat should smell fresh and the meat should be firm rather than tough or too soft. If the meat looks or feels funny it may have been sitting out for too long. The colors of the meat can also tall the buyer if it is a good cut or not. The meat should be a dark red color as this means the meat has been prepared and cut recently. The best before date on labels should have the date and time it was prepared and packed. The amount of meat that a person should eat at a mealtime is equivalent to a deck of cards or a clenched fist. Have plenty of vegetables with your meal as well as grains to keep your meal balanced. Meat is usually graded on a meat grading system that determines the quality of the meat. This USDA system will grade the meat from good to bad. There are also grading systems for commercial, standard meat and poultry.
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