Brief Thoughts on Beef
I love beef! There is no way getting around it, red meat rules! However, picking the right cuts of meat can be a little confusing. Chicken is easy - boneless skinless chicken breast and the occasional whole chicken or split chicken breast. but did you know that there are 27 cuts of beef that have fat contents ranging between that found in chicken thighs and chicken breasts?
All this beef talk comes from a meeting I had today with a gentlemen that works in the meat lab here at PSU (cool title huh?). Here are some take home points.
*Red meat comes in grades from fattest to leanest. Prime, Choice, Select, Standard. Standard is so lean (and "gross" according to my meat guy) that you will never find it in a retail setting. Most stores stock Prime and Choice. Select maybe hard to find.
*Bottom Round, Top Round, and Eye of Round are all essentially of the same leanness and can be cooked in similar manners.
*Of those three cuts top round has the potential to have more marbling (read "fat") so just make sure to look at the meat before you buy it.
*Shoulder cuts are good for crockpot cooking as the meat will fall apart.
That's all I have for today. Quick and Practical!
-Mike
2 comments:
This is interesting info, but I'm a little confused. What would you recommend that the package should read when buying meat in a supermarket? Anything with a "select" label?
Do you have to pay attention to the cut of meat or just the grade? For example, Prime/Select/Choice Filet Mignon vs. Prime/Select/Choice Sirloin - which would be the healthiest?
Also, how much red meat do you think is an acceptable part of a healthy diet?
Thank you for the great info on BEEF. I've been buying beef for over 30 yrs and did not know the difference.....only after I purchased it 1x then I knew if I liked it or not. I did realize that marbling was to much fat. Looking forward to more Beef info.
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