Meat is one of the first foods that have fallen into the human diet, and recent anthropological studies have reported that people have been eating meat for more than seven to ten thousand years.
At the dawn of civilization, man didn’t care about what to cook with meat - the very fact of its presence was important.
Gradually, as archaeological excavations show, mankind realized that boiled meat, in Scythian style, in a funnel dug out right in the ground, filled with water and hot stones, or a roasted carcass of a primitive animal on stones thrown by elements directly from the volcano's mouth, has a more pleasant taste and this far-reaching ancestor-discoverer of modern cooking owes the appearance of hot meat dishes.
Only the last two or three thousand years, starting the development of spices and spices, with the birth of cooking as a profession and science in all corners of the world, people began to pay great importance not only to the taste of meat dishes, their beneficial properties, but also refined ways of serving.
After all, often a feast is a kind of festive surroundings for a family celebration or a friendly party, or other significant events, during which there is still an ancient custom to share the best food as a sign of special respect for guests.
For such cases, the article contains the most sophisticated recipes of meat dishes.
Delicious dishes and meat - the basic technological principles
The most common group of dishes in the world of cooking are dishes with meat. This range of dishes can not be even approximate calculations.
Like any food, meat requires pre-treatment before cooking. Meat is selected according to the requirements of the formulation: by type, degree of fat content, the ratio of pulp and bones, as well as taking into account the heterogeneous structure of the protein fibers of meat carcass.
It is washed, cleaned of films, tendons. For poultry or game, pretreatment begins with tar, gutting. If necessary, the pulp is separated from the bones, cut or chopped (crushed). The preliminary stage also includes pickling, beating, and breading. All meat dishes have similar methods of heat and mechanical processing, and the differences at these stages of cooking is only in the length of cooking, stewing, stewing, frying or baking, which also depend on the type of meat and the desired consistency of the finished dish.
Duration of heat treatment is directly connected not only with the type of meat (pork, beef, lamb, poultry, game, etc.), but also with its preliminary preparation - cutting: small pieces are prepared much faster than whole, large piece of meat; minced meat requires an even shorter cooking time.
When marinating the structure of the protein changes, which certainly affects the further preparation and taste of the finished meat dish. Therefore, this process refers to chemical processing. Partially the structure of meat protein is changed under the influence of spices, spicy herbs.
When cooking meat, one should also remember the properties of salt, not only because it adds flavor to dishes, but also about its ability to absorb moisture. Therefore, before salting the meat before or during the heat treatment process, it is important to remember that the salt will dry the dish. Add salt at the very final stage of cooking or immediately when serving the dish, if it is necessary to preserve its juiciness. When stewing, it is better to add salt to the sauce or broth, which is usually added to the meat after pre-frying.
Meat is considered to be the main component of all dishes, but most often its taste depends on the accompanying ingredients, sauces and side dishes. And it is precisely the variety of products used in world cooking as a supplement to meat - a source of inexhaustible creative imagination not only for professionals, but also for home cooks.
Meat is a part of appetizers, salads, first and second courses. Such widespread use of meat and meat products in cooking speaks only about the importance of this product in the human diet, as the main source of protein and energy. Health and a beautiful figure depend on the correctness of its combination with vegetables, fruits and cereals. Do not exclude meat from the diet - it is better to properly approach the issues of its preparation and use. What to cook from meat? The answer to this question can be so voluminous that it will take thousands of pages of a prescription guide, depending on the season, personal preferences, national traditions of one or another cuisine of the world, recommendations of nutritionists. Let's stop on several dishes that will decorate any festive table and will satisfy the most sophisticated tastes.
Recipe 1. Hot Meat Dishes: Beef in the Oven
Ingredients:
Beef tenderloin 1.5 kg
Carrots 300 g
Honey
Garlic
Lard (or brisket), smoked 400 g
Pepper Mix
Juniper (berries)
Mustard
Red wine (or wine vinegar) 100 ml
Cooking:
Wash the tenderloin, strip off the film, dry with a napkin. Cut the slices of peeled garlic into large pieces or simply cut them in half. Carrots, peeling and washing, cut into cubes; also cut smoked bacon or loin. Squeeze the meat with the prepared ingredients, making deep cuts with the knife inside the tenderloin. Spread the filling evenly inside the piece, alternating it so that the meat in the cut has an attractive appearance and uniform taste. From above, rub the stuffed meat with spices, put it in a sealed bag with juniper berries and pour in the wine. Tie tightly and place in the refrigerator overnight. Before roasting in the oven, remove the meat, dry it again, and rub it with a mixture of honey and mustard. Lay in shape and cover with foil. Bake for 70-80 minutes at a temperature of 170ºC and another 10 minutes - at 200ºC, but without foil, to form a crust. After turning the oven off, take out the meat for about 20 minutes. Serving, cut into plates and place on a dish with vegetables.
Recipe 2. Hot Meat Dishes: the rack of lamb “Mesalliance” on a “pillow” of ratatouille
There are dishes “under the fur coat”, and there are “on the pillow”. An unusual combination of culinary delight and simple, as is commonly believed, peasant food. If you are lucky to find a lamb with ribs, then the question of what to cook with meat is resolved: be sure to cook this dish.
Ingredients:
Lamb meat on the rib bones 800 g
For marinade:
Leek 250 g
Wine, fortified red 300 ml Lemon juice 50 ml
Ground black pepper 20 g
Cardamom 10 g
Clove 5 g
Sugar 150 g
Garlic 70g
For ratatouille:
Eggplants and zucchini 150 g
Potato 250 g
Tomatoes (dense, fleshy) 350 g
Salt
Cilantro
Parsley
Cooking oil for frying
Carrot Sauce:
Sour cream
Lemon juice
Salt
Garlic
Pepper Mix
Chopped dill
Cooking:
Prepare the meat by removing the film. Make cross-cuts between the ribs so that the piece can be rolled into a ring, or cut into portions in the form of natural cutlets on the bone.
Add lemon juice, sugar, cloves, ground pepper and cardamom to the wine. Stir to dissolve sugar. Put chopped onion and garlic, 2-3 bay leaves and meat in a plastic bag. Tie up tightly and shake the bag properly so that all meat is covered with marinade. It is desirable that the package was as little as possible air. Soak the lamb in the marinade for 3-4 hours.
Peeled potatoes cut into long and thin sticks, eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes - into rings. Fry vegetables in a cast-iron pan separately. Salt after roasting.
Also fry the meat separately by adding pickled onions to the pan.
Grease the shape of the fat, place the vegetables nicely, and above - the meat rolled up in a ring. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and cilantro. Bake in the oven at 200ºC for ten minutes. Serve on the form. Serve cooked sauce in a saucepan separately.
This dish can be cooked on a barbecue grill.
Recipe 3. What to cook from meat: veal roll with cheese and “Salami”
Ingredients:
Veal (tenderloin) 1.8 kg
“Salami” 400 g
Yellow hard cheese 250 g
Pickled cheese, soft (fat content - not less than 25%) 300 g
Parsley 120 g
Orange juice (and zest) 300 ml
Dill 80g
Salt and Pepper Mix
Sesame 50 g
Mustard with honey
Garnish:
New potatoes 900 g
Garlic 30g
Chopped Greens 50 g
Cream, fatty
Cooking:
Cut the prepared meat to make a rectangle. Lay it on the board and repel. Rub the spices, pour over the juice of citrus and cover with a film so that the juice and spices soak it well. In the meantime, cut the thinned sausage and cheese into thin slices. Wash and dry the greens, tear off the leaves from the stems. At the meat layer, first place slices of hard cheese, then sausage, parsley leaves, soft creamy or pickled cheese (unsalted) and dill. Roll the meat into a roll, tied up with a thick thread, tack the edges with wooden skewers or toothpicks so that the roll retains its shape when baking. Send to the oven, preheated to 200ºC for half an hour. Remove and, after smearing the mixture of honey, mustard and sesame seeds, return to the oven again for ten minutes. Washed and peeled young potatoes, no larger than chicken eggs, put in a separate form, sprinkle with chopped greens and chopped garlic with salt and spices, cover with cream and cover it with foil. Bake until the potatoes are soft, then remove the foil and brown.
Recipe 4. What to cook from meat: beef tongue with chestnuts and rambutan
Ingredients:
Beef tongue, boiled 1.2 kg
Cream 30% 150 ml
Ghee 50 g
Cognac 100 ml
Lemon juice 75 ml
Olive oil 40 ml
Grated horseradish 20 g
Mustard 40 g
Parsley, chopped
Salt
Ground spices
Rambutan 5 pcs.
Chestnuts 300 g
Cooking:
Peel off the boiled tongue and cut it into plates across the fibers. Fry, combining the melted butter with olive. Pour brandy into the pan and wait until the fire goes out. Combine horseradish, mustard, lemon juice with salt, spices and chopped greens, pour warm cream. Prepare the mixture with a tongue and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Transfer the slices to the dish.
Boil the water, add salt and citric acid, boil the chestnuts in it, and then simmer them in the sauce left over after cooking the tongue.
Rambutan peel from one side by making a transverse incision. Put together with chestnuts on the dish with the tongue. Decorate with greens.
Recipe 5. Deep-fried quail with berries and wine sauce
Ingredients:
Quail carcasses 3 pcs.
Refined oil (for deep fat) 0.5 l
Tarragon
Salt
Thyme
Oregano
Pepper Mix
Instant coffee 2 g
For marinade:
Sugar
Wine, red dessert 200 ml
Mixture of wild berries (raspberry, blueberry, blackberry)
For garnish:
Potatoes 400 g
Flour, wheat (premium) 60 g
Eggs, chicken 2 pcs.
Butter, cream 50 g
Cream, drinking 100 ml
Cooking:
Split the cooked carcasses lengthwise, in half. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade and rub the bird with it. Hold the meat for half an hour in a sealed container in the fridge, and then fry in deep fat until crispy brown crust.
Prepare sauce from wine, sugar and frozen or fresh berries. Add sugar to the wine, add the berries and boil the wine-berry mixture until thick. Boil the potatoes and mash by adding butter, warm cream, beaten eggs and flour. On the working surface, sprinkled with flour, form 3 potato tortillas, roll them in flour and fry. Put the cakes on the dish. Put quail on top of each quail on top, cover with cooked sauce. Paint with fresh chicory or mint leaves.
Delicious Meat Dishes - Tricks and Useful Tips
- If meat is to be marinated for a festive meal, then do it in the evening, on the eve of the feast: it will be better soaked with marinade and will be much more fragrant, and the time that is always a bit short before guests arrive will be more.
- Repeated freezing of meat is not allowed.
- In order to correctly calculate the required portion yield, one must take into account that boiled meat decreases in volume by 30-40%, roasted meat - to 60%.
- When working with meat, do not forget about the special observance of hygiene rules. After each touch of raw meat is not superfluous to wash your hands.
