Rump or fillet, butchery or supermarket? Which is the best meat and how do we get it? Here are a few pointers for meat lovers.
Aren't squirrels the cutest little critters you've ever seen? Not only is this acorn-nibbling rodent cute, but according to the Scots, at least, it also makes for simply sensational eating.
Chefs love squirrel, apparently, because it's low-fat meat with a texture similar to rabbit, and a flavour that darts between wild boar, duck and lamb with a rather moist sweet note.
But don't worry, this week's recipes aren't about the best ways to cook squirrel, although the idea of cooking it brought me to ponder the question: how do we know what good meat is?
After 24 years in the food industry, I can still be fooled by meat that looks great but ends up chewy when cooked.
So what should we look for when buying meat? First, buy it from a reputable supplier. If you are in the supermarket and you have the option of picking a cut from the fresh deli window rather than the absorbent polystyrene tray, then the deli butcher is your first port of call.
Independent butchers will offer you a better service with consistent supply lines. When buying their animals, they can track the beast all the way back to the abattoir, when it was killed and at what time. Strike up a conversation with a butcher and you will find meat is cut up in two ways, hot boning or cold boning.
For hot boning, carcasses or sides are not cooled before they are boned. They are boned within 30 to 45 minutes' of slaughter with a deep butt temperature of more than 20C. The advantages are the meat is soft and requires less effort to bone, occupational overuse injuries are less likely to occur, and there is potential for an improved yield. The big disadvantages are the potential for the meat to be tough, darker in colour, and for some primals to be different in shape.
The alternative, cold boning, allows the meat to relax with less blood/yield loss. The colour of the meat is very important and it must have had sufficient time to hang (age) and become naturally tender.
I remember a chef I trained under in Wellington who hung a venison loin coated in salt for five days and was able to consume the cooked meat with a fork and spoon - no knife; it was that tender.
For a steak hitting the barbecue, choose a cut like scotch that has minimal marbling and keep it moist over the harsh, exposed heat.
Alternatively, a lean piece of meat such as ostrich, venison or pork loin responds well to regulated heat in a frying pan.
Meat cooked on the bone always tastes better.
