meat, poultry

• Meat - the edible portion of mammals, as in red meats like pork, beef, carabao, goat meat, venison, lamb, etc.
• Structure of meat


  • Lean tissue - lean meat/muscle
  • Connective tissue - ligaments and tendons
  • Fatty tissue - adipose fat
• Marbling


  Distribution of fat within the muscles (intramuscular fat); contributes to tenderness, juiciness and flavor
• Composition of meat


  • Protein
  • Fats
  • Carbohydrate (in the form of glycogen in the liver)
  • Vitamins (A, D, E, K, and B-complex)
  • Minerals (heme iron and phosphorus)
  • Pigments (myoglobin, oxymyoglobin, hemomyoglobin)
• Changes in meat after slaughter

  1. Immediately after death - muscle is soft, excellent to cook

  2. After a few minutes to 1 hour - rigor mortis: muscles become rigid and very tough (allowed to pass before cooking)

  3. Passing of rigor - storage at temperature above freezing - gradual tenderization

  4. Longer storage (2-4 weeks) - aging/ripening process: increase tenderness, improvement of flavor and texture
• Factors affecting tenderness of meat

  • Anatomy - more exercised part is less tender
  • Age - younger animals are more tender than older ones
  • Marbling - more intramuscular fat is more tender and flavorful
  • Aging
• Methods of tenderizing meat

  1. Mechanical methods - reduction in size

  2. Marinating - soaking in weak acids

  3. Use of enzymes (papain from papaya, bromelin from pineapple, ficin from figs)
• Changes in meat during cooking

  1. Changes in pigment - from red to brown

  2. Maillard reaction - browning due to reaction between sugar and amino acids

  3. Loss of nutrients due esp. B-vitamins

  4. Melting of fat

  5. Volume shrinkage

  6. Protein coagulation
• Methods of cooking meat

  • Moist heat - cooked with water/liquid, used for less tender tough meat cuts (e.g. braising, stewing)
  • Dry heat - meat is cooked without added water, for tender meat cuts (e.g. broiling, pan-broiling, roasting, pan-frying, deep-fat frying)
• Poultry


  Domesticated fowl/birds used as foods (e.g. chicken, duck, turkey, pigeon, quail) and game birds (wild fowl)
• Factors affecting tenderness of poultry

  • Age - younger fowl are more tender
  • Sex - females are more tender with more fat
  • Length of cooking time - longer time toughens the flesh
• Factors to consider when shopping for poultry

  • Full muscle (meaty)
  • Good layer of fat
  • Soft skin, no discoloration and pinfeathers
  • Clean, well dressed and drained
  • Optimum weight for size
• Problems in poultry cookery

  1. Pink meat - gives an impression of uncooked meat (caused by CO-HbNO, conversion of hemoglobin to carboxyhemoglobin)

  2. Meat and bone darkening (form weathered, engineered food)
• Methods of cooking poultry

  1. Moist heat - used for all classes of poultry (e.g. boiling, stewing, simmering)

  2. Dry heat - suitable for young and tender poultry (e.g. barbecue, roast, baked)
• Fish


  Refers to finfish and shellfish
• Nutritive value of fish

  • Good substitute for red meats and poultry
  • High biological value - contains all the essential amino acids
  • Rich in vitamins A, D, B-complex
  • High in iodine
• Factors to consider when shopping for fresh fish

  • Mild seaweed-like odor that's not objectionable
  • Shiny skin
  • Tight scales
  • Bright red gills
  • Firm flesh
• Market forms of fish

  • L ive
  • W holedrawn, dressed, fillets, steaks, sticks, flaked, deboned
• Changes in fish during cooking

  1. Translucent meat becomes opaque white

  2. Muscles are easily flaked

  3. Overcooking results in dry or disintegrated flesh/meat
• Methods of cooking fish

  • Dry and moist heat cooking are suitable, but fish should not be overcooked
• Pigments

  • Myoglobin - immediately after slaughter; purplish red
  • Oxymyoglobin - with O2; bright red
  • Metmyoglobin - after storage and cooking; brownish
• 1. muscle shd. be fine grained with liberal/good marblingbeef fat shd. be creamy white

  3. free from objectionable odor, bruises,

  and blemishes

  4. shd. have inspection seal

  5. for beef, color shd. be brick red for older

  animals, while lighter shade for younger

  ones
• Poultry - has the same structure and composition as red meats,

  though poultry have white meats because of lesser

  myoglobin and chicken fat is yellow due to carotenoids