Meaty matters – basic rules for cooking meat

Meat is high-protein food. All types of meat turn stale and putrid if not preserved under the right temperature. A few guidelines, if followed, will ensure that one gets the best out of meat products – both health wise and taste wise.

- Clean the meat as soon as it’s brought home. It could be covered with tiny particles of dirt and even soil.

- While cleaning, ensure that the meat is not pressed too hard in a bid to squeeze out the water.

- Wash the meat well before its chopped. Once chopped, refrain from washing it. Over washing will rob the meat of its nutrients.

- If the meat is stuffed into the fridge as soon as it’s bought, the muscles tend to harden thereby making the meat tough to cook.

- Meat brought in fresh and cooked immediately yields the best results.

- Rubbing in 20 gm of salt to 1 kg of meat and preserving it in the fridge (not freezer) for up to three days will make it tender.

- Meat thus treated with salt if kept in the freezer will help retain its moisture.

- To defrost meat, take it out of the freezer the day prior to cooking. Sprinkle it with salt and place it in the fridge.

- For the best aroma and taste, marinate chopped meat with masalas, ginger, garlic, salt and vinegar, for close to two hours prior to cooking.

- Never cook meat on a high flame to get it done fast. By doing so, the taste gets killed. Meat has to be cooked on a low flame till all the ingredients get absorbed.

- A spoon full of ground mustard added to tough meat makes it softer and easier to cook.

- Few big pieces of raw papaya added to tough meat will make the meat softer. Remove the papaya once the meat gets cooked.

- Tough meat when wrapped in papaya leaves tend to turn soft while being cooked.

- For softer texture, add salt only after the meat is cooked.

- It’s easier to chop meat that’s kept in the fridge for a while.

- Meat preserved in the fridge tastes better when washed in a solution of salt. The salt washes off traces of blood and leaves the meat looking fresh.

- Always preserve meat in big chunks inside the freezer.

- Meat should always be cooked first with anything that’s sour, like for example, curd or lemon extract. Or else, its soft texture tends to turn hard.

- Sprinkling salt in the roasting pan while frying meat will keep it from bursting into bits.

- While cooking duck and pork, cut out the melted lard and preserve it in bottles. This fat works well while frying meat later.

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