Posts tagged ‘meat’
Searing Meat Does Not Lock in Moisture
By Terry D. Johnson
The idea that searing meat locks in the juices has been around since the middle of the 19th century. According to the theory, searing changes the structure of the outside of the meat, preventing the escape of moisture during subsequent cooking. It’s still a popular technique – despite demonstrably failing at its purported task.
This is a simple enough one to test. Take two cuts of meat, sear one, cook both, and weigh them to determine whether the seared meat loses less moisture than the unseared cut. Numerous experiments have shown that the seared meat typically loses at least as much moisture, and possibly more.
Does this mean you should avoid searing meat entirely? Not at all. Browning (or caramelization) of the meat’s surface will introduce flavors and texture. A good sear is still a worthy component of a good chef’s toolbox – but not because it laminates your prime rib.
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Source: The Food Lab
Image: Wikimedia Commons
How to Get Less Meat on a Deli Sandwich
By Chad Upton | Editor
Some delis put way too much meat on their sandwiches.
Some people will say, “there’s no such thing as too much meat.” For me, I at least want to fit my mouth around it.
When you order your sandwich, you can ask for it “lite”, which is deli-speak for less meat. Some delis also use the term “half sandwich”, where they give you a full sandwich but only half the meat, other delis will just give you half the sandwich.
There are health benefits to a lite sandwich. Deli meats usually contain a lot of sodium, saturated fat and nitrates. The other benefit of lite sandwiches is the price. Because the meat is the most expensive part, you typically get a break when you order lite.
If you’re buying your own deli meats, look for labels like “healthy” which means the meat contains less fat and less sodium or “lean” meaning it contains less than 10% fat.
PS – I’m still looking for more contributors to help write content. Please contact me here if interested.
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Sources: Xomba, Find Articles, All Menus, Yelp (1, 2)
Photo: onefish2 (cc)
The Roadkill Waiting List
If you’re a serious deer hunter, this may not be a secret to you: in many states, you can have your name added to a roadkill call list. When a deer or moose is struck near you, they’ll call down the list until they find someone available to get it while it’s fresh. Seriously.
I think the idea of roadkill sounds strange to most people, but a recent poll at DeerAndDeerHunting.com
shows that 19 of the 40 participants have eaten roadkill and another 9 wouldn’t hesitate when the buck drops. I’m sure that number would be much lower on any other website, but that’s not the point. I just heard about this last week, and there is a logical reason for this: there may be $500 worth of meat on a dead deer, and that doesn’t change whether you took it down with a Beretta rifle or a Beretta GT.
State laws differ on this issue. For example: in Texas, it is illegal to posses roadkill, but not in many other states. Generally, you need a permit for this and need to follow the procedure for your area. If you’re interested, check with the game warden (or State Police) near you before attempting to take any roadkill and see if they have a list you can be added to. You also want to do some research on this since you may not want to consume this meat in all cases; although, it might still be OK for your dog.
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Sources: NewEngland.com Officer.com GunBroker.com FreeRepublic.com DeerAndDeerHunting.com Dogster.com
Photo Credit: Jelene (Creative Commons)
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