Beef - Recipes ingridient

Beef is a meat that is very popular among many people. Get her suit forgot cows and bulls. The product has excellent taste and consumer qualities.

The quality of meat is directly dependent on age.

Quality beef is colored red.

The most popular parts of the carcass are breast, neck, tenderloin, and scapula.

Beef meat is classified, distinguish it into 3 varieties:

• higher – brisket, back, fillet, rump, rump, and rump;
• first grade – the flank, shoulder blade, and shoulder part;
• second grade – slit and shank.

Quality beef has a fibrous marble structure, is colored red and has a pleasant smell. Fat should be uniform, soft and painted in white and cream color.

The appearance of the beef of the first category should correspond to the following. The fabric should be normally developed, and it should continue until the eighth age. Also, you should have a lot of subcutaneous fat. If for cutting the carcass of young cattle is used, then for meat the absence of fat deposits is allowed.

Beef of the following type belongs to the second category. Loins, last ribs, sciatic tubercle should be covered with a small amount of fat. Sciatic tubercle well marked. As for the muscles, they are not developed well enough.

Experts identify a separate category, which owns lean beef. This type of meat is used only for industrial processing.

Beef pieces

From this, you can make a lot of various delicacies, so this type of meat is considered quite juicy, very soft and very tasty. However, you need to specify that to create the necessary dishes there should be no doubt.

When cutting the carcass should be such parts of beef:

Hip. It is also called a rump, a small nut or a knuckle. The meat is very juicy and without fibers. From this part of the beef is great to roast.

Oxtail. Length up to five centimeters. Very often used for cooking hot dishes. Also, culinary experts advise making stew from an oxtail.

Cutting. This part of the beef is located in the posterior part of the carcass. It is quite soft and moderately juicy. In cooking, it is indicated that because of this, delicious medallions are required.

Shin pads. Meat requires a lot of tendons. Great for making roasts and grilled meats. Also, this part of the beef is used to prepare cold dishes, hot dishes, stews, and Eintopf.

Sternum. This part of the beef contains pulp with foil and fat, which are interspersed. If you make a meatloaf. It is better for her to take brothers for stewing or for cooking broth.

Spatula part. This part of the beef with a small amount of fat and tendons. In this product, you can cook a lot of different dishes. In addition, the product is suitable for baking in the oven and cooking meatloaf.

Knuckle. A piece of beef, taken from the front legs of the carcass. Great for cooking aspic.

Back. It’s like the guys, the entrecote and the loin on the ribcage. We recommend cooking patties and roast beef. You can also bake the pulp in the spiritual cabinet a whole piece. The ribs are suitable for boiling broth.

Sirloin. This is a thin edge, which includes cutting and part of the waist. The meat is not very fat and quite tender. Suitable for the manufacture of meat dishes (rolls, goulash, roast beef, kebab, steaks, chops of meatballs, medallions, and azu).

Neck. To her belong to the head and cut. Sufficiently solid meat, but this does not degrade the taste of the dish. The neck needs to be cooked for a long time and an insufficient amount of water, therefore this product is used for sewing and cooking. The back of the head is ideal for roasting in the oven. Also, this piece of beef can go for stuffing. Clearance is taken for boiling broths.

Before cutting, the carcass should be divided in half between 13 and 14 vertebrae. In addition, the butchers argue that the carcass should be cut only across the fibers and one movement.

How to choose and store?

In order to choose a quality product among the wide variety of beef on the market, follow some recommendations:

Many manufacturers are trying to sell cheaper pork under the guise of beef, using different dyes, and therefore it is important to distinguish between substitution. To do this, when choosing meat, swipe a napkin over the surface: if it is stained, it is better to refuse the purchase.

The best beef is the meat of large, but young cattle. The ideal is a 20-month-old pet.

Press down when choosing the surface of the meat, the fossa should immediately recover, otherwise, it will be a sign of old age and it is better to refuse to buy such meat.

Look at the cut of meat, it should be brilliant.

When choosing beef in the store, give preference to meat in a sealed package, since in this case oxidation is impossible. Variants that are simply packed in a pallet and covered with plastic wrap quickly darken and, therefore, deteriorate.

Store beef to refrigerate wrapped in food paper or in foil. It is recommended to store the whole piece no more than 4 days and cut into pieces only 2 days. As for minced meat, it is better to use it within a day.

If you want to freeze the meat, then first blot it with a towel and wrap 2 times with film. In this case, the shelf life of the whole piece increases to one year, and the chopped and minced meat for up to 4 months.

To determine the freshness of the beef, you should carefully examine, smell and touch the meat. The main characteristic of fresh and high-quality beef is based on the following criteria. Color varies from dark pink to brown shades. Edges on cuts of meat should not be weathered.

You can also determine the quality of beef by the color of bones and joints. If they are white, it means that the meat is quite fresh.

The structure of the beef should be dense, when you press on the meat, it should immediately return to its former shape. If you feel the meat, it should not be sticky. The fat is soft enough, creamy.

The smell of the beef is almost absent, the milky aroma is slightly felt.

In addition, to determine that the beef has deteriorated, can be as follows. It is necessary to grind a small piece of meat to the state of minced meat, then fill it with one hundred milliliters of water, cover the container with a lid, put it on the oven and heat the contents of the container to eighty degrees. If when you open the lid, you immediately smelled a sour smell, the broth became cloudy, a large number of flakes formed in the water, which means that the beef has deteriorated.

The fresh beef broth should be transparent, with a pleasant aroma. If frozen beef was used for cooking broth, small amounts of flakes are allowed in the broth.

How to choose meat? How to distinguish beef?

It is possible to distinguish young beef from old by such criteria. A young animal has the meat of rich red color, and fat is white. Old beef is characterized by burgundy color with yellow fat. Also, understand that the meat is old, you can simply click on it with your finger. The old beef cavity remains for a long time, and the young one immediately assumes the same shape. The important role played by the smell of meat. When cooking old beef there is an unpleasant smell, and when cooking, the young flavor is almost absent.

To distinguish veal from beef can be in appearance, color, and smell. The difference between the two types of meat is that the beef has only a bright red hue, and the color of veal varies from light pink, pink with gray to red-pink. Also, a significant difference is the structure of the meat. Beef is quite tough, with the presence of tendons and films, and veal is much softer and does not contain tendons. In addition, the latter type of meat has a milky aroma with the presence of a sweet-sour smell. Veal, unlike beef, contains almost no fat, and if it is present, it is white. Beef fat is a dark white shade, sometimes yellow, but this is if the meat is old.

In order to distinguish marble beef from the usual one, one should know that for getting marble meat only young cattle are used, which in the last four months ate grain or grass food, and also moved little, so the meat is fat, tender and juicy, with a marble pattern in the form fatty blotches. The difference between the two types of beef lies in the price of the product. Marble will cost much more than usual.

You can distinguish pork from beef by several criteria. The first, in contrast to the last, only pink color, with the presence of fat. When cooking, beef will change its shade to gray, and pork to white. Also, the difference between the two types of meat is taken into account in cooking. Pork is more suitable for frying, and beef is more suitable for cooking because this product is more rigid and requires more time for cooking. Frozen pork will always be pink in color with fatty layers, and beef – burgundy.

To distinguish beef from lamb, you need to carefully examine the appearance of the two types of meat. The latter, unlike the first, does not contain marbling, fatty tissue does not crumble, odorless. During cooking, lamb smells much more fragrant than beef, but to taste boiled lamb is much worse.

It is possible to distinguish beef from kangaroo meat by color and structure. In the latter, the meat is much darker, almost cherry-colored, there are no fatty veins, only the tendons. Also, the difference is noticeable in the flavor. The smell of the beef is less pungent than that of kangaroo meat. In addition, the first is much more expensive.

Distinguish beef from horse meat can be in color, smell, and fat. The latter color is much darker, in the open air purple or brown color may appear on the meat, there is no marbling. Beef tallow is much harder and quickly freezes. In horse meat, fat is soft enough, it can instantly melt if you hold the meat in your hands. The old horse meat, in comparison with the old beef, smells much worse, the smell is especially strong during cooking.

It is much more difficult to distinguish beef from dog meat, but there is still a difference. The latter is much fibrous, non-greasy, has no specific smell and is not as juicy as the first.

Many are interested in the question: “How to distinguish between elk meat and beef?” Experts say that moat meat, unlike beef, is rather hard and dry. Also, the first one lacks subcutaneous and intermuscular fat, it accumulates more near the kidneys. Elk fat is denser and during cooking, it gets the smell of rotten leaves and mushrooms.

Beneficial features

The beneficial properties of beef due to the presence of high-grade iron and protein, which have the ability to saturate the cells with oxygen. Given this, it is especially useful to use this type of meat to people who lead an active lifestyle and play sports.

1. Beef contains collagen, which is the main building material for the ligaments located between the joints.
2. There are beef and vitamins of group B, which are necessary for muscle tissue and for the normal functioning of the nervous system.
3. Zinc is found in meat, which is involved in the development of immunity. But due to the presence of choline, beef consumption normalizes the level of cholesterol in the blood. Given the content of iron, the consumption of such meat improves the blood composition and blood formation process. In large quantities in the beef contains potassium necessary for the cardiovascular system. There is in meat and ascorbic acid, which strengthens the walls of blood vessels.
4. Part of the beef sulfur, which is actively involved in metabolic processes in the body. Due to the presence of sodium and chlorine, the water balance is normalized and the body swelling is reduced.
5. The meat contains phosphorus and calcium – minerals that are involved in the restoration and strengthening of bone tissue.
6. Another part of the beef vitamin A improves visual acuity, as well as vitamin PP, which is part of the enzymes.
7. Boiled beef is recommended for people who have suffered injuries, infectious diseases, and burns.
8. Since the composition of meat contains quite a bit of fat, it is ranked as a lean dietary product. Given this, it can be safely consumed in the period of weight loss, as well as people with obesity.
9. Beef is good for a nursing mother. Experts recommend eating this meat in boiled, stewed or baked form. Mayonnaise, spices, and sauces are not allowed. When breastfeeding, boiled beef can be tasted within ten days after the start of lactation. In this case, you should first eat a small piece of meat and monitor the condition of the child for two days. If the baby feels good, you can continue to eat beef. The recommended daily rate does not exceed sixty grams. Over time, the dose can be increased. Roast beef is allowed to eat only six months after childbirth.
10. Beef for babies will also be useful. If the child was on artificial feeding, it means that the meat can be started from the age of seven months. If the baby drinks breast milk, beef is best to start giving after ten months. For the first time, you need to give a little less than half a teaspoon of meat puree to try. If the child feels good for twenty-four hours, there is no allergy in the form of skin rash, itching, intestinal upset, then the next day you can give a teaspoon.
11. Beef should be used to increase hemoglobin. Every day you need to eat no more than one hundred grams.
12. When gastritis beef can eat, but only if it is the meat of a young animal. Doctors advise eating this type of meat at lunchtime so that it digests better and faster. Beef is allowed to eat boiled, stewed or baked.
13. When a stomach ulcer beef can be eaten only in the period of complete remission of the disease.
14. Also, beef can be for anemia and liver disease. Use in boiled or stewed form.
15. With pancreatitis, beef can be eaten, but only by observing a certain daily dose. During exacerbation of the disease and in case of acute pancreatitis, meat should be boiled or steamed, no more than two hundred grams can be eaten per day. During remission, it is allowed to eat stewed, boiled or baked beef, but not more than two hundred grams per day.
16. When gout is recommended to eat boiled beef, but not more than twice a week.
17. In case of diarrhea, the beef should be minced to a state of minced meat and cook steam cutlets.
18. In psoriasis, beef is recommended to be consumed during the period of fasting days. Meat should only be boiled.

In addition, the beef can be eaten with diabetes. Doctors recommend cooking meat and not adding various spices, only table salt, and pepper.

Use in cooking

Beef is very popular in the cooking of various nations. Based on it, they prepare a lot of various dishes. Beef can be poured into various culinary treatments: fry, simmer, boil, smoke, steam, and grill. They also make minced meat, which is used in baking, for making meatballs and as a filling for ravioli, pancakes, etc.

Beef goes well with vegetables, mushrooms, cereals, fruits, and berries. It is recommended to mix meat with red wine, this alcoholic drink can also be used in marinade and stewing.

There are many recipes for cooking beef: in batter, in the dough, in spices, in rolls, with vegetables, berries, under different sauces, with mushrooms. You can experiment with beef yourself, getting new tasty dishes.

Although beef is considered tasty and fragrant meat, it is still necessary to do without spices. Since this meat can be cooked in a variety of ways, different spices are used for each dish.

During boiling, such seasonings for beef are put in the broth, such as greens, laurel, and peppercorns. These spices are used for cooking meat, which then goes to salads or pies.

If kharcho soup is being prepared, add hot pepper, garlic, and hops-suneli to the dish. Instead of hops-suneli, it is recommended to use paprika, celery, basil, parsley, coriander, иay leaf, marjoram, and mint.

For frying meat, experienced chefs advise taking such seasonings for beef as tarragon, onion, sage, garlic, rosemary, dill, savory, marjoram, oregano, basil, chili, rosemary.

To extinguish the beef is best to use thyme, onions, and herbs. If meat is stewed with vegetables and tomatoes, it is recommended to add marjoram, oregano, and rosemary. Also sometimes paprika, sage, mint, hyssop, cloves or oregano are put in beef stew.

To the finished beef should be served such sauces as garlic, red, sour cream or white. Also, the finished meat goes well with mustard, ketchup, soy sauce, a mixture of garlic, dill and sour cream.

The harm of beef and contraindications

Beef can cause harm when consumed in large quantities, as it is believed that excessive consumption of such meat leads to colon cancer. This is not scientifically proven, but it is better not to abuse meat.

It should be borne in mind that beef contains cholesterol, which when consumed in large quantities, can accumulate in the body and provoke the development of diseases of the heart, blood vessels and intestines.

There are purine bases in such meat, which lead to the accumulation of uric acid, which in turn can lead to the formation of urolithiasis, gout, and osteochondrosis. And in the presence of these diseases, the consumption of beef is completely contraindicated.

With the abuse of beef can have such a harmful effect on the body, as a decrease in immunity.