So historically, one of the main products of our menu is meat. It was because of him that primitive people hunted mammoths, and medieval knights kept whole herds of domestic animals and birds. Yes, and now there are private farmsteads and whole state farms for breeding and growing meat breeds of large and small cattle, pigs and rabbits, chickens and turkeys, geese and ducks. And not tricky. After all, without a good piece of meat, you can not cook a rich borscht, nor a fragrant pilaf, nor Olivier, a beloved salad. But just going to the market for shopping, you need to know how to choose the right and fresh meat.
In a store or in the market?
If you live in a village and keep your cattle and poultry yard, then the question of where to buy and how to choose good rabbit or pork meat, disappears by itself. But the inhabitants of the metropolis face a choice, to buy meat in the supermarket or in the market. It would seem that you can guess here, go to any store and choose what you want, but it was not there. Often in large shopping centers the goods lie longer than expected. He is often revived and given away for a fresh one. This was somehow warned on television. And what about the market? There, too, of course, everything is different. But the meat openly lying on the counter, you can carefully inspect, sniff and touch. After all, the bazaars sell mostly chilled, not frozen, products. And not to miss with the purchase elementary knowledge of rules will help you, how to choose meat in the market, and simple attentiveness.
General rules how to choose meat of different varieties
So, when buying a good piece of meat on soup, roast, shish kebab or minced meat you need to use simple and common rules for all meat varieties. Here they are:
- Estimate the appearance. Approaching the counter, the first thing we do is consider the goods. We are interested in color, the presence or absence of films and stains, as well as a dried up crust that speaks about the length of stay of meat in the open air. The color of the pork should be pink, the veal is slightly darker than that of pork. Good fresh beef and lamb should be red, but lamb is more bright and full. Fat on any type of meat should be white, and not yellow, and distributed evenly throughout the piece. A light wind is allowed, but the spots and mucous membranes speak of not the first freshness.
- We touch and twist. After looking at a beautiful piece, take it in your hands and make sure that it is good from all sides, and not just with a showy "face." Then push on any place of the meat pulp and see how it behaves. If the meat is fresh, your fingerprint will disappear after 3-5 seconds. Well, and if it's been 5-7 minutes already, and the track is still clearly visible, safely leave. Here they sell long-overdue goods.
- Sniff, too, does not interfere. Another important indicator of freshness is a pleasant smell. We humans are at the root of predators. The smell of a recently killed and properly refreshed animal causes us to salivate and a strong desire to quickly build something from such meat. But unscrupulous traders often mask a slightly spoiled smell of vinegar and dyes, and this must be known and remembered. If you do not like the smell, take a paper napkin and touch it to the piece. The presence of dyes will give off a toxic chemical red color, left on the napkin.
It remains only to note how to choose the right meat for shish kebab, for minced meat, for steak, for the first dish and for the roast.
And finally
Now, armed with knowledge of how to choose the right fresh meat in the market, go boldly for shopping. And let it be from your kitchen that the most appetizing and tempting smells come.