CHAPTER XIII
MEATS AND POULTRY
The meats that we commonly use are derived from the flesh of domestic and wild animals of herbivorous habits and from fowls. The flesh of carnivorous animals is seldom used as food. The various kinds are obtained as follows:
| Meat | Animal |
| Beef | Ox |
| Veal | Calf |
| Mutton | Sheep |
| Lamb | Young sheep |
| Pork | Pig |
| Ham and bacon | Pig |
| Venison | Deer |
Under the head of poultry we include the common fowl, turkeys, ducks and geese, the guinea hen, and game birds.
Fig. 57.—Fiber cells of plain muscular tissue. Kimber’s Anatomy for Nurses.
Quality of good meat.—The quality of meat is dependent on the condition of the animal from which it is derived. The creature should be in perfect health and well fed. Good beef is largely obtained from the cattle ranges of the West, but there is no reason why cattle should not be raised to greater extent in the East. Sheep for mutton are best raised where the climate is not too severe. Methods of slaughter, transportation, and preservation
all affect the quality of beef. The pure food laws and Federal meat inspection law are valuable to the consumer in their control of the quality of the meat, that it shall be free from disease and from adulterations. See Chapter XVII for the discussion of preservatives and pure food laws.
Fig. 58.—Cuts of Beef.
| Key: | |
| A. | Ribs |
| B. | Hip bone |
| C. | Loin |
| D. | Porterhouse |
| E. | Prime ribs |
| F. | Shoulder |
| G. | Neck |
| H. | Head |
| I. | Brisket |
| J. | Shin |
| L. | Navel |
| M. | Plate |
| N. | Flank |
| O. | Leg |
| P. | Horseshoe |
| Q. | Round |
| R. | Oxtail |
| S. | Rump |
| Z. | Sirloin |
Courtesy of Bureau of Publications, Teachers College.
In meat as it is purchased we have bone, fat, and the flesh, consisting of the muscle of the animal with its connective tissue. The color of the meat should be clear and fairly bright, not purplish or dull. There should be little or no odor, and the meat should be firm and elastic to the touch.
Beef should be a bright red and well streaked with fat.
Veal should be pink and is somewhat less firm than beef. If watery and flabby, it is too young.
Mutton is a duller red, and firm. The fat is white or slightly yellow and hard.
Lamb is pink, rather than red, and slightly less firm.
Pork is rather pale, somewhat less firm than beef and mutton, and the fat is softer.
Fig. 59.—The hind quarter of beef hanging.
Cuts:
A, Leg; B, Round; C, Rump; D, Top Sirloin; E, Loin; F, Flank.
Bones:
g, leg bone; h, socket bone; j, rump bone; k, hip bone; e, back bone; m, part of rump bone; n, wing rib.
Courtesy of Bureau of Publications, Teachers College
Tough and tender meat.—To understand the difference between the tough and tender cuts we must be familiar with the structure of the muscle (see Fig. 57). Each muscle consists of bundles of tubes held together by connective tissue. In tough meat, the muscle tubes are thicker and there is more connective tissue present. Exercise strengthens the muscle, and this accounts for the fact that the unexercised muscles of the young animal give us a softer meat. In the mature animal the muscles most exercised furnish the tough meat, and the less used muscles the tender. If you study Fig. 58, you can easily determine where the tough meat will occur, if you think of the proportionate amount of exercise that the different muscles receive. The tough cuts come from the neck and legs, the tender cuts from the middle
of the back, the toughness increasing as the cuts approach the neck and the hind legs. The muscles of the abdomen are also tender, but they give a coarse-grained meat. The various cuts of meat are shown as they occur in the standing animal in Fig. 58, and in the hind and fore quarters hanging, in Figs. 59 and 60. The individual cuts of beef and mutton are shown in the figures that follow. The tender cuts from the ribs and loin are the most highly prized, and therefore bring the highest price. These cuts are liked because of their tenderness although the nutritive value of the tough meat is as high or possibly even higher than that of the tender. All meat is now high-priced, and you will find the reasons for this discussed in Chapter XVII. For the sake of economy we are forced to use the relatively cheaper cuts, and to seek for meat substitutes. We must also take pains to use the cooking processes that will make the tough meats palatable.
Fig. 60.—The fore quarter of beef, hanging.
| KEY | USES | |
| 1. | 1st and 2d ribs Prime | Roasts |
| 2. | 3d and 4th ribs Prime | ” |
| 3. | 5th and 6th ribs | ” |
| 4. | 7th rib | ” |
| 5. | 8th rib | ” |
| 6. | 9th rib | ” |
| 7. | Chuck steaks, or roasts, 10th to 13th ribs | ” |
| 8. | Chuck pot roast | ” |
| 9. | Neck | Beef tea, etc. |
| 10. | Yoke | ” |
| 11. | Navel | Stew and corning |
| 12. | Plate | ” |
| 13. | Brisket | Corning |
| 14. | Cross Rib | Pot Roast |
| 15. | Shoulder | ” |
| 16. | Shin | Soup |
Courtesy of the Bureau of Publications, Teachers College.
Composition and nutritive value.—Figure 64 shows you the composition of several common meats. Meat is valuable chiefly for its protein, fat, and mineral salts. The juices of the meat in the muscle cells contain nitrogenous extractive materials which give flavor, and are possibly stimulating, but they have no food value. From the bone and also from the connective tissue, gelatin is dissolved in cooking. Gelatin is a protein, but differs in certain chemical properties from other proteins, and cannot be used as the only source of nitrogen. It is a very useful protein, however, and as it can be substituted in part for more expensive proteins, it used to be called a “protein saver.”
In spite of the fact that meat is a common article of diet it should not be used in excess. Other forms of protein, as those in eggs and milk, are usually digested as easily, and most people can digest vegetable proteins if the vegetables are carefully prepared. Very little children should not have
meat, for it has stimulating properties which are undesirable for them, and it takes away the taste for foods more important for growth (see Food for Growth, Chapter XVIII). When used largely in the diet, meat tends to cause intestinal putrefaction and to form excess of acid in the body. It is less likely to be harmful if taken with plenty of fruits and green vegetables and liberal drinking of clear water.
Fig. 61a.—Left: Chuck rib roast, 9th and 10th ribs. Right: Blade rib, 7th and 8th ribs.
Fig. 61b.—Left: 1st cut prime rib roast. Right: 2d cut prime rib roast. Courtesy of Bureau of Publications, Teachers College.
Fig. 62a.—Porterhouse steak; Delmonico steak. Courtesy of Bureau of Publications, Teachers College.
Fig. 62b.—Flatbone sirloin steak; Hip steak.
It should be realized that in none of the European countries is meat used so liberally as in the United States, and that there are reasons to believe that we might be better off if we could satisfy ourselves with a meat consumption nearer the average of other civilized peoples—say half as much meat per person per year as we are now accustomed to use. The fuel value of meat depends largely upon the amount of fat which is eaten. If a pound of steak contains 2 ounces of fat and 14 ounces of clear lean, the rejection of the fat means a loss of fully one half of the fuel value. The following table shows the difference between raw meat of the same cut, free from bones and connective tissue, due to differences in amounts of fat. Most people would prefer the strictly lean meat.
Table Showing 100-calorie Portions of Raw Edible Meat
| Lean Meat | Medium Fat | |
| Weight, Ounces | Weight, Ounces | |
| Beef, round | 2.3 | 1.7 |
| Chicken (Fowl) | 3.2 | 1.6 |
| Lamb, leg | 2.8 | 1.6 |
| Mutton, leg | 1.9 | 1.5 |
| Pork, loin chops | 1.4 | 1.0 |
| Veal, leg | 2.9 | 2.2 |
Fig. 63a.—1: Rib lamb chops, French. 2: Rib lamb chops. 3: Loin lamb chops. 4: Left: Blade shoulder chop. Right: Round bone shoulder chop. 5: Chuck steak. 6: Skirt steak. 7: Flank steak.
Fig. 63b.—Left.—Top and bottom round. Right.—Round bone sirloin steak. Courtesy of Bureau of Publications, Teachers College.
For very complete and conveniently arranged tables giving the percentage composition, the food values per pound and per ounce, the weight and nutrients of the 100-Calorie portions of all the important meats and other food materials as well, see Rose’s “Laboratory Handbook for Dietetics.”
Dangers from meat.—Three dangers from meat must be recognized; (1) animal parasites, such as the trichina sometimes found in pork, (2) poisons developed in the meat by bacteria when it is kept too long or without sufficient refrigeration, this danger being recognized as ptomaine poisoning, (3) bacteria, sometimes present in meat, which are directly injurious to man and which are now held to be the cause of most of the sickness commonly attributed to ptomaine poisoning. Government protection must be given us here, but the housekeeper too has a responsibility. If the raw meat has failed to receive proper inspection, we can protect ourselves by cooking the meat to a degree that will kill any parasite present. For this reason meat should not be served that looks raw or too underdone. The cooked meat should be pink rather than red.
Meat poisoning may be avoided in the first place by exercising great care in regard to the odor of meat. Meat may hang to “ripen,” as the butchers say, but one must learn to distinguish between the odor of properly ripened meat, and that of even slightly tainted meat. Quite as important is the rapid cooling of meat, poultry, fish, and soups that are not to be used at once. Cases of digestive disturbance and even actual poisoning sometimes occur when underdone meat, especially lamb, veal, or poultry, remains warm overnight.
Fig. 64.—Composition of meats.
The effect of heat upon meat.—The fat of meat is melted by heat. The meat fiber shrinks and hardens
with intense heat; on the other hand it softens at a temperature somewhat below the boiling point of water. The structure of the muscle must be studied further in order to make the principles of cooking perfectly clear. If you think of the structure of the muscle cell as somewhat resembling the structure of an orange, you can picture quite clearly what happens under different conditions. Open a section of orange and separate some of the single cells. These may represent the muscle cells of meat that can be seen only under the microscope. If you cut across one of these tiny cells, the contents will escape, and this is what happens when the muscle cells are cut across. Then, too, if the muscle is heated, the juices will pass through the membrane of the cell, and this happens, too, if the meat is put into cold water. The substances in the juices of the meat which are not coagulated by heat are called the extractives, because they can be extracted by hot water. The most valuable protein matter remains behind in the muscle cell, however. Among these proteins are those known as meat albumin, and this behaves in cooking very much as does the white of egg,—that is to say, it coagulates.
Bearing these facts in mind, we can decide just what to do in order to bring about the result that we desire in meat cookery, for sometimes we wish to extract the juices and sometimes we wish to have all, or nearly all, retained in the meat. We are now ready to state the principles of meat cookery as follows:
1. Juices retained.
In broiling, pan broiling, roasting, and boiling the high temperature coagulates the meat albumin and hardens the fiber on the surface, thus forming a coating which prevents the further escape of juices. In the roasting and boiling of
large pieces the temperature may then be lowered to prevent the further shrinking and hardening of the fiber in the interior of the meat, which comes from a protracted high temperature. With a very thick steak after the surface searing the cooking may be completed in the oven.
2. Juices extracted.
In beef juice or beef tea, this may be done by placing the chopped beef in a jar and placing the jar in an oven, or in hot water; or for beef tea and ordinary soup by putting the chopped meat, or small pieces of meat, in cold water and heating the water slowly.
3. Juices partly retained and partly extracted.
This is desirable in stews, in braised beef, and in pot roast. State for yourself just how this would be accomplished.
4. Connective tissue softened at low temperature, and with water.
5. Sterilization by continued heat which destroys parasites and bacteria.
6. Rapid cooling, when serving is not immediate.
Flavors suitable with meat.
Herbs. All the pot herbs including savory, marjoram, thyme, sage, pot marigold.
Vegetables. Onion, carrot, turnip, celery, celery root, parsley root and leaf.
Spices. Clove, allspice, mustard, red, black, and white pepper. Some nationalities use nutmeg.
Acids. Lemon, tomato, and other acid fruits.