Blog

Whether you are a professional chef or just a normal cook, getting the best ingredients determines the taste of your food. This means you have to be selective with the kind of products you buy. One of the most challenging things to shop for is meat. It calls for a keen eye to differentiate between good and bad-quality meat. So, how do you know if you are buying fresh and healthy meat?

Knowing what the slaughtered animal used to munch on can help you to determine the quality of meat. With a lot of cheaper meats, such as factory-farmed beef, the animals are not fed diets that are especially nutritious. Unhealthy items like corn-based fillers lead to unhealthy--and therefore unappetizing--low-quality cuts.

Luckily, determining the feed and quality is simple. In most cases, this information is labeled on the package. You can also ask your butcher if the information is not indicated on the package.

According to sevensons.net, animals that feed purely on grass produce the best quality steak. That’s why the company only supplies pasture-raised meat from grass-fed and non-GMO animals. Grass-fed cattle build fat and steak in a natural way so that they have healthy proportions of the two.

The feed also has a great effect on the taste. Green grass is believed to give better, leaner and tastier steak than other feeds.

Meat that is covered with more visible fat offers intense flavor in comparison to lean steak. This is because the fatty coating helps in retaining the taste and juice during cooking. When you touch the meat, it feels firm due to the hardness of cold fat.

You can also tell whether the meat is from an old animal or not by simply checking the color of the fat. If it has yellow fat, this is an indication that it’s from an older animal. Such meat has a more mature and deeper taste, but it is not as tender as that from a younger animal.

Fresh steak that has been preserved well should not appear tinged with gray or brown. When buying pre-packaged steak, make sure every side, including the edges, is red.

There’s also a noticeable difference in the redness of meat. If the meat appears to have a light red color, then this is an indication that is tenderer. Be keen on the color before buying any steak.

One of the most common options of preserving unused meat is storing it in a freezer. However, there are specific things you should consider to ensure you are doing it right. Some of these include:

• It should be packed into small packets. Do not put multiple steaks in one bag.

• Thaw it properly by leaving it in the chiller section of your fridge for about 24 hours.

• Microwave or any other form of heating should not be used in thawing

• Do not thaw your meat in room temperature

You might have noticed some price differences in the meat you buy, even when it comes from the same butcher. This is because some meats are more tenderized than others. While pork, lamb, poultry and veal meat does not require any tenderizing, the same cannot be said about beef.

Beef becomes tastier when it’s been hanging for some time. This is because hanging the meat helps to drain a considerable amount of liquid. The draining process enhances tenderizing.

The quality of meat depends on the animal’s age, the feed, and method of preservation. It’s easy to tell the freshness of meat by checking its color, fat placement, and hardness. Knowing how to shop for the best meat will determine how healthy and tasty your meals are.