Sunday, March 14, 2010

Meat is tough!

Today we are going to talk about trimming and tenderizing meat such as steak,boneless chicken breasts and pork chops.The meats we buy in the supermarket are not trimmed to remove all the gristle and joint tendons so that cooking without trimming produces unpleasant chewing .With a good chef's knife you can examine your meats and see where these unappetizing remnant's of butchering remain.Cut them off so that your meat has an overall similar appearance.Next ,using a meat tenderizer (this is a great tool and can be puchased in your local grocery or cooking store.) pound your meat evenly on both sides until it is all approximately the same thickness.I do this with my chicken breast and then cut them on the diagonal to turn 3 breasts into 6 pieces.When the meat is trimmed and tenderized,you are ready to begin cooking.Some cooks say this is wasteful,but I say you can trim it before cooking or let your family or guests discard it at the table.I wil not telll you ,as one of my cooking teachers did,that you need to have a 10 gallon pot on your stove at all times that you put the trimmings in to create demi glace.This is impractical for the ordinary family.Tomorrow we will discuss sauces for our meats.
Gabbie