Grade 10

• Fat


  5% of the muscle tissue. Contributes to juiciness, tenderness, and flavor
• Protein


  20% of muscle tissue. Coagulates when heated, becomes firmer and loses moisture
• Carbohydrates


  Plays a necessary part in the maillard reaction, which takes place when meats are browned by roasting, broiling or sautéing
• Basic Preparation Methods of Meat

  1. Washing

  2. Skinning

  3. Dicing

  4. Trimming

  5. Slicing

  6. Seasoning

  7. Coating
• Washing


  Generally, the only occasion in which you will have to wash meat is when it comes into contact with blood during preparation. After washing, dry the food thoroughly with absorbent kitchen paper.
• Skinning


  Most of the meat you dealt with has been already skinned by the supplier.
• Dicing


  Meat are diced when it is cut into cubes for various types of casseroles, stems, curries, and dishes such as steak, kidney pie and pudding.
• Trimming


  • Improve the appearance of the cut or joint
  • Leave as much of the meat intact as possible
  • Leave an even thickness of fat (where fat is to be left)
  • Remove as much gristles and sinews as possible
• Slicing


  It is the cutting of meat by determining the direction of the grain (the muscle fibers), and cut across the grain. This is particularly important with tougher cuts such as steak, in which the grain is also quite obvious. You slice meat with―instead of against―the grain.
• Seasoning


  It is the addition of salt and white or black pepper to improve the flavor of food. Use white pepper or cayenne pepper on food which you want to keep attractive with white color. Add salt to roast and grill after the meat has browned. Adding salt before cooking will extract the juices of the meat to the surface, and slows down the browning reactions (which need high temperature and dry heat).
• Coating


  The two basic coatings are: Flour - coat the meat before cooking, otherwise the flour becomes sticky and unpleasant. Bread crumbs - coat the meat in flour, then egg wash (egg wash is made of lightly beaten whole egg with a little water/milk) and finally with the bread crumbs.
• Dry heat cooking


  Any cooking technique where the heat is transferred to the food item without using any moisture
• Moist heat cooking

  Cooking techniques that involve cooking with moisture- whether it's steam, water, stock, wine or some other liquid
• Dry heat cooking methods

  • Roasting
  • Broiling
  • Sauteing
• Moist heat cooking methods

  • Braising
  • Steaming
  • Poaching
• Dry heat cooking

  • Involves high heat, with temperatures of 300°F or hotter
  • Baking or roasting in an oven is a dry heat method because it uses hot air to conduct the heat
  • Pan-searing a steak is considered dry-heat cooking because the heat transfer takes place through the hot metal of the pan
• Roasting and Baking


  • Forms of dry-heat cooking that use hot, dry air to cook food
  • A convection oven, which circulates hot air throughout the oven, can enhance the browning reaction
• Grilling and Broiling

  • Dry-heat cooking methods that rely on heat being conducted through the air from an open flame
  • Broiling and grilling require the food to be quite close to the heat source, which in this case, is likely to be an open flame
• Sauteing


  • A form of dry-heat cooking that uses a very hot pan and a small amount of fat to cook the food very quickly
  • Sautéing requires a very hot pan
  • When sautéing, it's important to heat the pan for a minute, then add a small amount of fat and let it gets hot as well, before adding the food to the pan
  • This hot fat helps brown the surface of the food
  • It's important to avoid overloading or overcrowding the pan
• Deep-Frying


  • Involves submerging food in hot, liquid fat
• Simmering

  • The cooking liquid is a bit hotter than poaching from 180°F to 205°F
  • Bubbles form and gently rise to the surface of the water, but the water still isn't at a full rolling boil
  • Simmering cooks food very evenly because it surrounds the food in water that maintains a more or less constant temperature
• Boiling

  • The hottest of these three stages, where the water reaches its highest possible temperature of 212°F
  • The violent agitation caused by the rolling boil can be too rough on food and will often damage it
• Steaming


  • A moist-heat cooking technique that employs hot steam to conduct the heat to the food item
  • Can be done on a stovetop, with a pot containing a small amount of liquid that is brought to a simmer
  • The item to be cooked is then placed in a basket suspended above the liquid and the pot covered
• Braising


  • A form of moist-heat cooking in which the item to be cooked is partially covered with liquid and then simmered slowly at a low temperature
  • Though it can be done on the stovetop, braising is best done in the oven, because the heat fully surrounds the pot and causes the food to cook more evenly than if it were only heated from below
• Roasting, broiling or sauteing are examples of dry heat cooking
• Braising, steaming or poaching are examples of moist heat cooking
• Roasting and baking are forms of dry-heat cooking that use hot, dry air to cook food
• Sauteing is a form of dry-heat cooking that uses a very hot pan and a small amount of fat to cook the food very quickly
• Deep-frying involves submerging food in hot, liquid fat
• Braising is a form of moist-heat cooking in which the item to be cooked is partially covered with liquid and then simmered slowly at a low temperature