FSCN 1011: Poultry and Fish

Poultry

Structure

  • Muscle fiber proteins, connective tissue and fat

  • Dark and light meat

    • Dark meat cuts come from muscles that use more oxygen and have more iron. The iron is held in a protein called myoglobin, which gives it the darker color.

    • White meat cuts come from muscles that metabolize energy with less oxygen, so they have less myoglobin and are lighter in color

  • Fat increases as domestic birds age

    • Chicken < duck < geese

  • Age increases toughness

    • Fryers < roasters < stewing hens

Cooking Methods

Younger Birds: Roast, fry, broil

  • Skin (blocks high heat from touching the hot oil, not drying out as much)

  • Coating

Older Birds: Braise or stew

Cook until well done

  • 170F

  • Knee joint (degraded enough, u can bend it)

Cook until stuffing reaches 165F.

Poultry Flavor

Age

  • Older birds have more flavor because they have more fat

  • More fat = more flavor

Warmed Over Flavor

Added Broth Flavors

  • MSG

  • Phosphates

Fish

Fin Fish and Shell Fish

Fin Fish: Lean and Fat

Shell Fish: Crustaceans (crab, lobster) and Mollusks (clams, oysters)

Fin Fish Structure

Two Main Muscles of Fin Fish

  1. Lateral muscle

  2. Dark (or red) muscle

Muscle fibers are short and arranged in segments

Fish Cooking Methods

  1. Broiling, baking

    1. High fat fish

  2. Frying, steaming, poaching

    1. All fish

  3. Short cooking time

  4. Doneness

Fish Freshness

  1. Fresh fish

    1. Shiny skin, bright eyes, firm flesh, no fishy odor.

    2. Remove guts

    3. Keep chilled

      1. Quality deteriorates rapidly

    4. Freezing

      1. Limited shelf life

      2. Freezes water particles, denatures the proteins

Fish Flavor

  1. Fresh

    1. Slightly sweet

    2. Characteristic of species

  2. Deterioration

    1. Trimethylamine

      1. Bacteria convert

      2. Trimethylamine oxide > trimethylamine.

    2. Oxidized fat

    3. Protein breakdown.

Fish Color

Salmon

  • Has Astaxanthin

  • Canthaxanthin added to feed farmed salon

Tuna

  • Has myoglobin

  • Red, meat color

Shell Fish

  • Super perishable

    • Keep alive

  • Tough

    • Cook minimally

    • Pound

    • Cut into small pieces

  • Toxins

    • From eating plankton

  • Bacteria

    • Cook it out

Shrimp

  • Uncooked shrimp are more grey in color while cooked are pink in color.

  • Carotenoids bound to protein in uncooked shrimp

    • Heating it denatures the proteins and releases the carotenoids.