jimtrue.com : school : CUL104 : Week 6: Meat Composition and Roasting, Braising and Stewing

Posted by Jim True on December 10, 2009 8:16 PM. Last Updated December 10, 2009 8:16 PM

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Week 6: Meat Composition and Roasting, Braising and Stewing

Composition of Meat

• 75% Water (heat makes water evaporate)
• 20% Protein: Heat makes protein coagulate
• 05% Fat: Carries flavor, contributes to tenderness and juiciness
• The longer you cook meat the tougher it gets
• Fibers in vegetables, cellulose; fibers in fruits, pectin

Muscle Fibers

• Collagen: heat and water make gelatin
• Elastin, cut it out, grind it or tenderize, silver-skin
• Older animals have a higher proportion of elastin than younger ones
• Once an animal is a year old, it's no longer a calf
• Pound or jacquard tougher meat

Roasting vs. Braising

• Braising uses liquid, used for tougher cuts of meat
• Roasting uses just heat, used for tender cuts of meat
• Cannot roast smaller cuts of meat; better broiled
• Larger cuts of meat are better for roasting; must have lots of collagen and no elastin
• Moist heat cooking methods at low temperature break down collagen
• Meat of an older animal tends to be tougher than that of a younger one
• Tougher meat tends to be more flavorful

Roasting

• Cooking food by surrounding with hot, dry air (usually in an oven)

Roasting Procedure

1. Fabricate the meat for roasting, tie to create a uniform shape when appropriate
2. Season as desired (salt?)
3. Pan or oven sear: This step is optional
4. Place meat, fat side up on a rack, in a roasting pan
5. Place the pan with the meat in the oven at the appropriate temperature (small cuts at higher temp; large cuts at lower temp)
6. Baste with fat (never with water)
7. Roast to desired doneness, allowing for carry-over cooking (as much as 15% with large cuts of meat)
8. Remove from the oven and allow the meat to "rest"
9. If meat is to be sliced, slice as close to the time of service as possible; slice across the grain. Keep the meat covered until you need to slice it

Degrees of Doneness

• Rare
• Medium Rare
• Medium
• Medium well
• Well done

Larding & Barding

• Larding: inserting fat with a larding needle
• Barding: covering the surface of a piece of meat with a thin layer of fat

Primals, subprimals and fabricated cuts; why is it important to be skilled in fabrication? Save you money in getting closer to your yield. Fresh meat: 30-45 degrees. 3 things to deal with the lack of fat: barding, larding and marinating. More fat in pan frying than sauteeing. Pan fried items are usually breaded, sauteed items are not. Pan fried are usually thicker, sauteed are not. Sauce is made in the pan for sauteed items, usually made separately for pan-fried.

Braising

• A combination of dry heat, then moist heat methods: sear in a pan or the oven (dry), and then simmer in a flavorful liquid (moist)
• The term originally referred to a French technique in which a closed pot was completely surrounded by charcoals
• One third of the way up the side of the meat, 350 degree oven with the lid on.
• Stew: Brown stew meat, add mirepoix, add flour, then add liquid to cover the meat.
• Braising is for larger cuts of meat that you will carve and serve; stewing is smaller cuts of meat that will be served with their stewing liquid.

Steps for Braising

1. Brown the meat on all sides in a pan (saute) or in the oven (oven sear)
2. Remove the meat and brown the mirepoix in the same pan
3. Return the meat to the pan and add the correct amount of cooking liquid
4. Add appropriate seasonings (sachet, etc)
5. Bring the liquid to a simmer, cover, and simmer until the meat is tender (either on the stove top or in the oven)
6. Remove the meat from the pan, and hold warm
Make a sauce from the braising liquid
7. Combine the meat and the sauce

Alternative Method for Braising

• It is also possible to braise in a thickened liquid
• In this case, we would add flour to the fat after the mirepoix is browned to make a roux

Stewing

• Same technique as braising, but
• Fricassee:
• Blanquette:
• Daube:

Disclaimer: These are MY notes taken from classroom lectures while I'm in the classroom. While I'm perfectly happy to share my notes with my classmates and I know I take very good notes, you should still make every effort to attend the class and TAKE YOUR OWN NOTES. I will not transcribe everything the instructor says in the classroom, and I will NEVER post pre-exam reviews. My notes will not replace the value of actually attending class and taking your own class notes.I also cannot attest to their accuracy, other than they are what was provided in the lecture; you should not reference my notes as "expert opionion" by any means, and if you notice an error or omission, please do me the favor of e-mailing me with the correction and I will re-post my notes. End of Disclaimer.