I may have railed about the horrors of saturated and trans fats in processed foods in my last column, but I'm flipping to the other side this week to discuss a topic plentiful in saturated fats -- cuts of meat. Although about half of the total fat in meat is of the saturated type -- and it's extremely high in cholesterol -- meat is still valuable to the diet in supplying the body with energy-rich protein.
It doesn't hurt that a skillfully cooked cut of beef is satisfying to the palette and the stomach as well. But what good is a piece of meat if you don't know what each cut entails, both for taste and texture?
The first main distinction lies in the United States Department of Agriculture grading semantics: prime, choice and select. Meats are lumped into these categories, which describe the overall quality of various cuts, based on the age of the cattle and the presence of fat marbling in the meat.
These labels also apply to the expected quality of the beef after cooking, as in the tenderness, taste and juiciness of the cooked cut. Beef categorized in these three categories must be butchered from cattle less than 40 months old to ensure tenderness. Therefore, the amount of marbling, or distribution of intramuscular fat within the lean, is the key factor in determining to which category the USDA inspector assigns a certain cut.
Meat labeled as prime contains at least eight percent fat marbleization, or even distribution of fat flecks throughout the cut. This cut will likely be more flavorful and juicy. Only two percent of all USDA-graded meats fall into the prime category, so you know you've got a great steak on your hands if you come across this label.
Slightly less abundant in fat marbling, with four to eight percent intramuscular fat, choice meats fall into the midrange category of USDA grading but still promise a tasty result. Select-graded meats, with less than four percent fat, are the leanest of the three, guaranteeing a less fatty cut, but also often resulting in less flavor and a tougher texture when cooked.
Understanding the meaning of these three grades can help when determining not only the type of meat to purchase for a certain dish but also how to successfully cook it. Steaks and prime roasts, which are cut from the loin, or top region of the animal's back, are the most tender and juicy because of their even distribution of marbling. If you're at the grocer's, look not only for the prime grade, but also for key words like tenderloin, strip steak, porterhouse, top sirloin and t-bone.
These flavorful cuts benefit from cooking with dry heat via a grill or the broiler, which allows the marbled fat flecks to baste the meat as it cooks. Not all of these cuts will attain the prime grade though -- some may not have enough marbleization to earn that distinction. If you come across cuts labeled as choice, they can still tolerate dry heat cooking, but the addition of extra moisture, by marinating for example, may produce a more tender end result.
Leaner choice meats, like rib roasts and rounds, can similarly be cooked in such a fashion. Tougher choice meats, on the other hand, such as rump, round and blade chuck, which often come from fattier sections of the animal, can handle the dry heat of the grill or oven and will self-baste.
Don't forget the last grade of the three: the select meats. Because of their comparative lack of intramuscular fat, their leanness can lead to a tough, flavorless cut if cooked with dry heat. As with certain choice meats, marinating select-graded cuts before cooking adds moisture, and with it, flavor and tenderness. Another oft-used preparation method, braising, involves using a liquid to slowly cook the cut with wet heat. As tougher meat has more collagen in the flesh, the meat becomes more appetizing when cooked at length, which breaks down these connective tissues and increases tenderness. Meat from other parts of the body, like the breast, from which brisket and shank cuts are taken, and the hindquarters, with cuts like butt round and rump roast, also produce tasty results when cooked with wet heat.
Talking with a friend recently, I was reminded of the charts you'll often see in the supermarket that illustrate the locations of the various cuts of meat in a cow's body. Hand-in-hand with the USDA grading system, these charts are a helpful tool in predicting the quality of the cut. Just remember that the areas with the least muscle movement in the animal, like the loin, are the most tender and benefit from quick cooking with dry heat, whereas areas of high muscle activity give way to tougher, more fibrous cuts that need to be cooked at length. With these guiding principles in mind, it's not only a bit easier to discern between the individual meat cuts out on the market, but also easier to infer the method of cooking best suited to each.
Nora's column runs biweekly Wednesdays. She can be reached at nwhite@cavalierdaily.com.
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