Meat (12-19)

What is the primary divisions of muscle, bone and connective tissue produced by the initial butchering of the carcass ?

• Primal Cuts 

What are the basic cuts produced from each primal?

• Subprimal cuts

What are the individual portion cuts from a subprimal? 

• Fabricated cuts

What is the loss of weight in a food due to evaporation of liquid or melting of fat during cooking?

• Shrinkage 

What is marbling?

• Whitish streaks of inter- and intramuscular fat 

What is subcutaneous fat?

• Also known as exterior fat; the fat layer between the hide and muscles 

What is collagen?

• A protein found in connective tissue; it is converted into gelatin when cooked with moisture 

What is an elastin?

• A protein found  in connective tissues, particularly ligaments and tendons; it oftens appears as the white or  silver covering on meats known as silverskin 

What is butcher?

• To slaugher and/or dress or fabricate animals for consumption 

What does it mean to dress?

• To trim or otherwise prepare an animal carcass for consumption 

To cut a large portion of raw meat,poultry, or fish into smaller portions?

• Fabricate 

To cut cooked meat or poultry into portions?

• Carve 

A food preservation method in which fresh or cooked food is placed in an airtight container (usually plastic). Virtually all air is removed from the container through a vacuum process, and the container is then sealed

• Vacuum packaging

The surface dehydration and discoloration of food that results from moisture loss at below freezing temperatures

• Freezer Burn

What is beef?

• the meat of domesticated cattle

What are the four pieces (quarters) steer is cut into for easier handling?

• two bilateral halves and then each is cut into forquerter (front portion) and hindquarter (the rear portion).

Where do you cut to get the forequarter and hindquarters?

• along the curvature between the 12th and 13th rib  

What are primal cuts of beef?

• chuck, brisket and shank, rib, short plate, short loin, sirloin, flank and round.

Where is the primal chuck found?

• in the animal’s shoulder (contains around 28% of the carcasses weight and is very tough) 

What can the primal chuck produce?

• cross rib pot roast, chuck short ribs, cubed/tenderized steak, stew meat, and ground chuck

What cut of meat comes from the top shoulder of the chuck and is a popular alternative steak suitable for dry-heat cooking?

• flat iron 

What cuts are located beneath the primal chuck in the front half of the carcass and account for 8% of its weight?

• brisket and shank 

What cut consists of 6-12 ribs, a portion of the backbone, and around 10% of the carcass weight?

• the prime beef rib 

What cut is located directly under the prime rib and is around 9% of the carcass weight?

• the short plate 

What does the short plate produce?

• short ribs and skirt steak 

What cut contains a single rib ( the 13th), is around 8% of the carcasses weight, and a portion of the backbone?

• the short loin

What is the most tender cut and is located under the loin eye muscle?

• the tenderloin 

What cut is located between the short loin and the round, is 7% of the carcasses weight and produces bone-in and boneless roasts and steaks?

• the sirloin 

What are common cooking methods for the sirloin?

• broiling, grilling, and roasting 

What cut is located directly under the loin, behind the short plate, is 6% of the carcass weight and contains no bones? 

• the flank 

What’s the name of the group of organs used in the food industry?

• offal 

What organs  does the offal include? 

• heart, kidney, liver, tongue, tripe (stomach) and oxtail 

What is a tripe? 

• the lining of a cow’s stomach 

What is an oxtail?

• any bovine tail 

What is a veal?

• the meat of young, usually male, that are byproducts of the dairy industry (Ex: cows and goats)

When are calve usually slaughtered for veal?

• 8-16 weeks 

How are calves usually cut?

• into 2 bilateral halves, then into a fore saddle and hind saddle along the 11th and 12th rib curvature 

What cut contains 21% of the carcass weight, 4 rib bones (instead of 5 like the beef chuck), and portions of the backbone, blade, and arm bones?

• the veal shoulder 

What does the primal cut contain?

• rib bones and rib cartilage, breast bones, and shank bones

What’s a popular and expensive cut that is around 9% of the carcass weight, is very tender and small, and is sometimes called the double rib?

• the hotel rack 

What cut contains the 12th and 13th ribs, 10% of the carcass weight, and is behind the primal rib?

• veal loin 

What cut consists of both the sirloin and the leg, is 42% of the carcass weight, and is separated from the loin through a perpendicular cut?

• the primal veal leg 

What does the primal veal leg contain portions of?

• the backbone, tail bone, hip bone, aitch bone, round bone, and hind shank

What is the primal veal bone mainly used to produce?

• the cutlets and scallops 

What does the fore saddle produce?

• primal shoulder, foreshank, breast, and rib

What does the hind saddle produce?

• the primal loin and leg 

What does the back produce?

• large quantities of veal chop 

What is lamb?

• the meat of sheep slaughtered when it’s less than a year old 

What is mutton?

• meat from a sheep slaughtered after the age of one 

What are the primal cuts sheep are reduced to once slaughtered?

• Shoulder, breast, rack, loin and leg 

What lamb cut contains four ribs, the arm, blade and neck bones and is around 36% of the carcass weight?

• the primal lamb shoulder 

What lamb cut contains the rib, breast, and shank bone and is around 17% of the carcass weight?

• the primal lamb  breast 

What does the primal lamb breast produce? 

• the breast and foreshank 

What’s the name of the ribs that are separated from the lamb breast?

• Denver ribs

What’s a lamb that was born in the spring and slaughtered 3-5 months after birth?

• spring lamb

What’s a young lamb hasn’t been fed grass or grains?

• suckling lamb 

What's a distinctly flavored lamb that grazes on salt marshes in France?

• agneau pre-salé

What lamb cut contains 8 ribs, is 8% of the carcass weight, and is also known as the hotel rack?

• the primal lamb rack 

What lamb cut is located between the primal rib and leg, contains rib #13, and is around 13% of the carcass weight?

• the loin

What is frenching?

• a method of trimming racks, especially lamb, where the excess fat is cut off

What is the bracelet?

• the primal hotel rack with the connecting breast section

What is the back cut?

• trimmed rack and loin sections in one piece 

What is pork?

• the meat of hogs, butchered before they are a year old

What is the industry term for specialty pork products?

• niche pork 

What are the pork’s primal cuts?

• shoulder, Boston butt, belly, loin, and fresh ham 

Why is pork rib and loin unique?

• it’s considered a single primal unlike with beef, veal, and lamb

What pork cut is also known as the picnic ham, is around 20% of the carcass weight, and contains the arm and shank bones?

• the shoulder 

What pork cut is a square cut located above the primal pork shoulder and is around 7% of the carcass weight?

• the Boston butt

What pork cut is located below the loin, is 16% of the carcass weight, and is very fatty with few lean meat?

• the pork belly 

What pork cut is directly behind the Boston butt, 20% of the carcass weight, and contains the entire rib section?

• the pork loin 

What pork cut contains the hog’s hind leg and is around 24% of the carcass weight?

• ham 

What is a heritage/heirloom breed?

• older breeds of pork, meat, or poultry less common in moderns agriculture

What is a suckling pig?

• very young and small whole pigs used for roasting or barbecuing

What is poultry?

• common term for domesticated birds for eating such as chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons, and turkeys 

What is the muscle tissue structure for poultry?

• 72% water, 20% protein, 7% fats and 1% minerals (similar to mammals)

What’s different about poultry than red meat?

• poultry doesn’t contain the intramuscular fat known as marbling 

Why are chicken and turkey wings and breasts called “white meat”?

• they contain low amounts of the proteins myoglobin (the more active a muscle is, the more myoglobin it needs and because these birds don’t fly, they don’t really need much)

What are the 6 categories of poultry  the USDA recognizes?

• chicken, duck, goose, Guinea, pigeon, and turkey 

What is the most popular poultry consumed worldwide, contains both light and dark meat, and has little fat?

• chicken 

What poultry is most used in commercial food service operations, has only dark meat, high fat, and has a high percentage of bone to fat ratio? 

• duck

What poultry has only dark meat, fat skin, is roasted at high temperatures and very popular during the holidays?

• goose 

What poultry is a domesticated descendent of game bird, has both light and dark meat, and is similar in flavor to pheasant?

• Guinea 

What poultry has dark, tender meat is used in commercial food service and is referred to as squab?

• pigeon 

What poultry is the second most consumed in the U.S., with both light and dark meat and has small fat?

• turkey 

What’s the name for the use of organs; liver, gizzards, hearts, and necks in the food industry?

• giblets 

True or False: Grading poultry is voluntary.

• true 

What are characteristics of Grade A poultry?

• It’s free from deformities, has a thick flesh, well,developed fat layer, free of cuts, tears, and broken bones, and free of defects occurring in the handling or storage 

How long can fresh poultry and small birds be stored for?

• 2 days

How long can larger birds be stored for?

• 4 days 

How long can poultry lasts frozen?

• 6 months 

What is game?

• Animals hunted for sport or food

What are some common game hunted but now farm/ranch-raised too?

• Pigeons, rabbits, deer and pheasants

True or False: Game is generally dark meat with a strong aroma and has less fat than other meats or poultry.

• True 

What’s the name for the group of game animals that contains bears, elk, deer, moose, wild boar, rabbits, squirrel, racoon, and opossum?

• Furred game 

What’s the name of the meat from elk, moose, reindeer, red-tailed deer, white-tailed deer, and mule deer?

• Venison 

What’s the difference between a rabbit and a  hare?

• A rabbit weighs around  2lbs 8oz - 3lbs while a hare weighs up to 14lbs 

Tender meat from game can be prepared with (blank) while tougher meat from game should be prepared using (blank)

• Dry-heat cooking, combination cooking 

What are fish?

• Aquatic vertebrates with fins for swimming and gills for breathing, mostly found in the seas and oceans

What are shellfish?

• Aquatic vertebrates with shells or carapaces, found both in fresh and salt water

Many fish and shellfish are very expensive and all are highly (blank)

• Perishable 

What are the three categories fish and shellfish are divided into?

• Fish, mollusks, and crustaceans 

What are the two groups fish are divided into?

• Round fish and flatfish 

What are round fish?

• Fish that swim vertically, have eyes on both sides of their heads and are either round, oval, or compressed

What are flatfish?

• Fish that have asymmetrical, compressed bodies, swim horizontally, and have both eyes at the top of their heads

What are Mollusks?

• Shellfish categorized by soft, unsegmented bodies with no internal skeleton

What are univalves?

• Mollusks that are single-shelled 

What are bivalves?

• Mollusks that have two shells

What are cephalopods?

• Mollusks that do not have a hard outer shell and instead have a single internal shell called a pen/cuttlebone such as octopus and squid

What are crustaceans?

• Also shellfish that have a hard outer skeleton and jointed appendages such as lobsters, crabs, and shrimp 

What does fish and shellfish flesh mainly consist of?

• Water, protein, fat, and minerals

What  is Bass?

• Commonly refers to a number of unrelated spiny-finned fish such as largemouth, smallmouth, redeye, and black

What is Catfish?

• Scaleless freshwater fish common in southern lakes and rivers (the smaller fish are known as fiddlers)

What is Cod?

• Includes Atlantic and Pacific cod as well as pollock, haddock, whiting, and hare

What is Haddock?

• Thin, small Atlantic cod that weighs around 2-5 lbs

What is Pacific cod?

• Also known as Gray cod and is found in the northern Pacific Ocean

What is Pollock?

• Also known as Boston bluefish or blue cod, is found in the northern Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, and has a gray-pink color that turns white when cooked

What are Eels?

• Long, snakelike freshwater fish with dorsal and anal fins running down the length of their bodies

What is Salmon?

• Fish that lives in both northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which return to freshwater rivers to spawn and have a pink-red color due to the crustaceans they eat

What are Sharks?

• Marine invertebrates that have cartilaginous skeletons and no bones, so they aren’t considered fish

What does it mean  to purchase fish whole/round?

• It’s purchased as caught, intact

What does it mean to purchase a fish drawn?

• The viscera (internal organs) are removed

What does it mean to purchase a fish pan-dressed?

• The viscera and gills are removed; the fish is scaled

What does it mean to purchase a fish butterflied?

• A pan-dressed fish, boned and opened flat like a book (the twos ides remain attached by the back or belly skin)

What does it mean to purchase a fish fillet?

• It’s the side of a fish removed intact, boneless or semi boneless, with or without skin

What does it mean to purchase a fish steak?

• It’s a cross-section slice, with a small section of backbone attached known as darne 

What does it mean to purchase a fish as a wheel or center-cut?

• Used for swordfish and sharks which are cut into large boneless pieces from which steaks are then cut

What’s the name of the cooking method that involves fish and shellfish being wrapped in parchment paper with herbs, vegetables, butters or sauces and then baking them in a hot oven?

• En papillote (a type of steaming method)

What is the cooking method of submersion?

• A type of poaching method where the fish is completely covered with a liquid and cooked until done

What is the cooking method of shallow poaching?

• A poaching method that combines poaching and steaming that’s usually placed in a bed of vegetables and submerged halfway in a cuisson

What is a cuisson?

• Liquid brought to a simmer on the stove top