Meat is an important food product, the presence of which in the human diet is vital. It contains fats, vitamins, proteins, amino acids, lipids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, minerals and extractives. In order for the meat to be not only deliciously cooked, but also to retain all the useful qualities, it is important to know and follow the cooking technology.
Basic cooking rules
It is important to decide from the very beginning what the meat is to be cooked for. If you put a piece in boiling water, the protein on its surface instantly curls up, forming a kind of shell. This shell will not pass useful elements into the broth through itself, that is, they will remain in the piece of meat. If the meat is immersed in cold water and heated gradually, a large amount of useful components will go into the broth, since the protein on the surface of the piece will curl up gradually. So the main nutritional value will be in the broth, and not in the meat.
The widespread opinion that the foam that forms on the surface of the broth when cooking meat does not need to be removed due to its nutritional value is mistaken. In fact, meat contains about 50 percent of the non-nutritive purines, which include toxins, alkaloids, caffeine, theophylline, saxitoxin, theobromine and other related compounds. They are used in the manufacture of various medicines, but they are completely unsuitable for daily nutrition.
Proper cooking of meat implies not only the obligatory removal of the foam, but also the drain of the first broth after 15 minutes of boiling the meat. In this case, a piece of meat should be washed and only then boiled again in fresh water.
Regardless of which water (boiling or cold) you place the meat, after boiling it should be cooked under a lid over low heat. Salt and spices should be added at the end of cooking.
Features of cooking certain types of meat
When planning to cook lamb, it is better to give preference to such parts of the carcass as brisket, neck and shoulder blade. It is necessary to cut off excess fat from the pieces, which gives a specific smell. The water should cover the lamb meat by 2 cm. The foam should be removed periodically, every 5 minutes.
It is recommended to rinse pork before cooking. Salt the meat 10 minutes before the end of cooking, this will make it more juicy. The most rich broth is obtained by boiling pork on the bone.
The rabbit is boiled under a lid over medium heat. The cooking time of rabbit meat depends on the age of the rabbit. An old animal needs to be cooked for 2, 5 hours.
Checking meat readiness
There are no specific time standards for cooking meat. It all depends on the type, freshness and age of the product. You can check the readiness of the meat by piercing a piece with a knife or fork. If the tip enters the flesh without difficulty, and there is no spotting at the puncture sites, the meat is ready.
