Introduction to Meat - Marbling, Scientific Structure, Preparation for Food
Types of meat are pork, mutton, chicken. Broadly meat is poultry and fish too. But we take meat as red meat. Poultry is mainly chicken. We eat muscles, glands and organs of animals as meat. Quality of meat varies with breed, age, size, and feed. We can determine meat in colour, tenderness, cookout loss and yield. Meat quality grades are based on maturity, degree of fat marbling, muscle colour and firmness. .
In this tutorial, we will discuss about followings.
- How can we cook meat healthier?
- How can we choose meat?
- Digestion of the meat
- How can we preserve meat?
- What is the rigor mortis in meat?
- How can we get more lactic acid in meat?
- What happens to meat during cooking and after cooking?
What is marbling in meat?
We can see this feature in pork. Fat is deposited here and there in meat. Those deposited fat called, fat marbles. Due to fat marbling, meat becomes soft in pork.
In the world, most consumed meat is beef. We gain beef as the flesh of mature cattle. 55%-65% of weight is useful for meat of the cattle. Secondly consumed meat is pork. 70%-74% of weight is gained as meat in the pig. Meat of Sheep/ lambs is low. It is 48%-50%.
The scientific structure and constituents of meat
Meat is the muscle tissue of animals.it gives us high amount of protein to the body. Meat contains fat. It gives flavour, tenderness and juiciness to the meat. Meat contains,
- Water- 75%
- Protein- 19%
- Lipids- 2%-3%
- Carbohydrates- 1%- 2%
A muscle is made by a bunch of muscle fibres. Each fibre has actin and myosin proteins. Actin is thin and myosin is thick. These proteins contribute to the contraction and relaxation of the muscle.
Contraction and relaxation of the muscle need energy. They get energy from ATP ( adenocin triphosphate). In the ATP generation method, it needs oxygen. Oxygen is coming from blood circulation.
Structure of the muscle fibre
Inside the muscle there are different bundles. Each bundle is rapped with perimysium. Around Number of fibre bundles there is epimysium. Each fibre is rapped with endomysium. Inside the muscle bundle, there are muscle fibres. They are very long. Muscles need lots of blood. So there are blood vessels. Further, muscle needs coordination with other parts of the body. So there are nerves.
what are the types of muscle fibers?
- Red muscle fibre
- Myoglobin content is high.
- Beef, mutton, horse, deer
- White muscle fibre
- Pigment in blood is Hemoglobin
- Rabbit, Duck, Chicken, Crocodile, Iguana
- Intermediate muscle fibre
- Pork
What is the rigor mortis in meat?
Hardening of muscles occurs due to the formation of acto- myosin complex. When slaughtered the animal, blood circulation is stopped. Oxygen production is stopped. So ATP can't be generated. So anaerobic glycolysis is happened. So, glycogen is broken into lactic acid. Less amount of ATP is generated. Because of that glycogen level is going to a low level. So muscle becomes hard. This process called rigor mortis. This type of meat called post- rigor meat.
There is no blood circulation to carry away this lactic acid. So lactic acid is collected there.so the amount of lactic acid is high. So meat gets watery. When the amount of lactic acid is low, meat will be tough and dry. But because of this acidity nature there is preservation.
How can we get more lactic acid in meat?
Animal must be rest. Then there is more glycogen. If there is more glycogen we can get more lactic acid. Ultimate pH in meat is 5.4. Further, after the animal die, protein bunch together. So meat is tough.
What happens to meat during cooking and after cooking?
Before cooking, fibre of meat is prepared as a coil. There are lots of bonds. But when we cook them, the bonds are broken and form as uncoiled. Upon cooking, collagen turns into gelatine. Gelatine is a protein riched source. They are in yoghurt and jelly.
Digestion of the meat
Meat is a slowly digested food. 95% percentage of protein and 96% of fat in the meat can be digested. Fats of the meat delay the digestion for some time. So, meat increase the desire to eat and easy for the digestion.
How can we preserve meat?
- Refrigeration
- Freezing
- Freeze drying
- Canning
How can we choose meat?
There are processed meat or goods and fresh meat (red meat) in the market. Red meat contains iron, vitamin B12. Some meat contains saturated fat. It will be caused to blood cholesterol level high. So, heart diseases can be occurred. When the meat is whiter, saturated fat is high.
In processed meat, there are fat in high amounts. Also sugars. So we have to buy them very little amount if you can, it can be better to your health. So you have to reduce, sausages, ham, bacon and sausages buns etc. processed meat are preserved by smoking, curing, salting and adding preservatives.
When you are going to buy meat, check the label of the meat. And check whether the amount of fat is high or low. When we choose meat in the market, there will be dull brown colour meat. It is not good for our health. So, you have to be very careful in choosing meat.
How can we cook meat healthier?
There is a large fat part in pork. We call it lard. It is taken to make bakery items. Try to grill meat than frying. Fried meat contains six time amount of fats than grilled meat. When cooking meat, don't add extra oil to it. When roast the meat you can use a metal tray to roast. Then you can reduce the fat amount that consume. Try to eat more vegetables and fruits and eat less meat.it will us good for your health. Eating more meat will be caused to have bowel cancers.
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