Meat enhances the depth and variety of your meals, serving as a versatile, delicious canvas for creativity in the kitchen. It is a rich source of protein, essential nutrients, and robust flavours that make every dish you whip up filling and delectable.
Having a variety of proteins on hand ensures you can effortlessly create diverse dishes, from quick stir-fries to elaborate roasts. Whether it’s juicy pork, succulent chicken, tender beef, or flavourful lamb, the possibilities are endless.
But to ensure you always whip up delectable, satisfying meat dishes, you must have a stock of good-quality proteins. You have to know the best stores to get fresh cuts of beef, poultry, and fish.
If you’re craving pork chops, barbecued pork ribs, meatballs and gyoza, you need to know where to buy pork in Abu Dhabi.
With the right premium ingredients at hand, you can create meat dishes that satisfy your craving and tummy.
A Guide to Cooking Meats
To ensure you always serve healthy, filling and tasty meat dishes, follow these must-know prep and cooking tips:
1. Learn to choose fresh, good-quality cuts of meat.
Selecting the best quality of meat you can find at stores like Spinneys Abu Dhabi makes it easy for you to whip up a variety of delectable dishes.
Below is a guide to help you pick fresh, good-quality meat:
- Pork
Choose cuts with small amounts of fat or marbling over the outside. The meat should be firm and have a greyish-pink colour.
- Beef
Look for cuts with a deep, rich colour and some red streaks.
- Chicken
Choose whole chicken or cuts with a pinkish hue and plump skin free of visible scars or tears, with no remnants of blood.
- Lamb
Look for firm, fine textured cuts with red colouring, white marbling, and white fat trim that isn’t too thick.
While assessing the meat with your eyes, use your nose to check its quality as well. Ensure it doesn’t have any unappetising acidic smell and other unpleasant odours.
2. Bring meat to room temperature before cooking it.
Before cooking, take out the meat from the freezer. Use the microwave oven to thaw it or transfer it to the chiller a few hours before prepping it.
You can also submerge the meat in cold water, but cook it immediately to prevent the growth of bacteria.
By bringing the meat to room temperature, you reduce its cooking time and ensure it cooks evenly. Moreover, it will be more flavourful and juicier.
As an additional tip, remember to remove excess moisture from the meat before cooking it. This ensures its outside gets better caramelisation.
3. Know the recommended cooking methods for each type of meat.
Certain types of meat require specific cooking methods to release their flavour. Some examples include:
- Baking
This entails cooking pork, beef, and lamb in the oven. Compared to deep-frying, this is a healthier option for cooking red meat.
- Barbecuing or grilling
This cooking method involves placing the meat over a grill on top of charcoal. It gives steaks, burger patties, chicken and fish a smoky flavour.
- Braising
This cooking method involves pan-searing the meat then slow-cooking it in liquid, in a Dutch oven or a slow cooker, until it becomes tender. Chuck roast, beef brisket, short ribs, chicken thighs and lamb shanks are the best ingredients for braising.
- Broiling
Broiling means placing the meat over direct heat and turning it one side after the other to ensure it is cooked. It is recommended for different types and cuts of meat, including pork ribs, pork and lamb chops, steaks and kebabs.
- Deep frying
This method involves frying the meat in a deep pan or fryer with hot oil to ensure it is fully submerged and cooked inside and out. When done properly, the chicken, pork or fish is tender inside and crispy outside.
- Pan-frying
Pan-frying requires putting a tiny amount of fat or oil, such as olive or vegetable oil and butter, to cook ground and thinly sliced meat.
- Roasting
This cooking method involves using an oven or an open fire. It is perfect for pork, beef, lamb and veal, wherein the meat is crispy or brown on the outside but tender on the inside.
4. Use a meat thermometer.
If you want to ensure you’re serving and eating cooked meat, use a good-quality meat thermometer.
Fresh pork, ham and whole cuts of beef are cooked when their internal temperature reaches around 62.78 degrees Celsius (145 degrees Fahrenheit).
On the other hand, chicken and different types of poultry need to reach at least 73.89 degrees Celsius (165 degrees Fahrenheit) to be fully cooked.
A meat thermometer also ensures you don’t overcook your meat and your steak reaches the level of doneness you prefer, such as medium rare or medium well.
5. Avoid over-seasoning meats.
When you have good-quality meat, you don’t need to bury it in herbs, spices and sauces. This mistake can mask the natural flavour of your protein, preventing you from savouring its actual taste.
If you’re grilling or pan-frying beef and pork, you won’t go wrong with a simple salt and pepper rub. However, you can add more spices and herbs if you want a steak or chop with more complex flavours.
Cayenne, onion and garlic enhance the savoury taste of steaks. Sage adds the right amount of herbal flavour to most beef-based dishes.
Thyme also works well with beef since its lemony notes round out the meat’s succulent flavour.
On the other hand, ginger gives pork a mild, sweet heat, enhancing its flavour. Allspice also compliments its natural sweetness, making it a popular rub for barbecues and baked pork dishes.
Garlic is great on pork chops since it improves their full-bodied, delicious flavour.
6. Maximise marinades.
If you want more flavourful meats, you need to marinade them.
Marinades add flavour to beef, pork, and poultry and make them more tender. Although these sauces enhance your dishes, you can make them even tastier by marinating the protein for hours instead of just minutes.
Set a reminder to put meat in a marinade the night before cooking it. Doing so ensures your protein soaks the flavour in, including its tenderising qualities.
7. Let the meat rest before serving it.
Resting allows the meat’s juices to be redistributed, giving you moist and flavourful bites. This crucial step completes the cooking process, letting its internal temperature equalise.
When you cut into the meat right away, all the juice on top runs off to the sides and onto your plate, instead of seeping back into the centre.
Whether it’s a grilled steak or a succulent roast, letting it rest for five to 10 minutes before cutting it allows the fibres to relax, resulting in a tender and juicy texture.
With these tips, you can become a pro at cooking different types of meat and enjoy restaurant-quality dishes at home.
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