There is a constant argument about whether meat should be eaten or one can do without it.
Adherents of eating meat products claim that meat is just necessary for full development and good health.
- It is rich in iron, vitamins B1, B6, B12.
- It contains a lot of animal protein, which is involved in metabolism, affects muscle contraction, nerve cell processes, and even thinking depends on meat consumption.
Despite the fact that in some states, for example in India, beef is strictly prohibited, because there the cow is a sacred animal, in other countries this meat product remains the most common.
After all, it is from beef meat that you can cook a lot of wonderful dishes, ranging from shpigovannoy beef and ending with ordinary meatballs.
But to make the dish tasty, you need to choose the right meat, as well as with full responsibility to approach its preparation.
In this article we will focus on cooking beef, which means that the emphasis will be placed on this.
How to choose beef for cooking
Beef, like any meat, is subdivided into categories. It depends on the age of the carcass, its fatness, the amount of subcutaneous fat, and the development of muscle tissue.
The individual parts of beef carcass differ in nutritional and taste qualities. Therefore, they can be first grade, second or third.
The best, first-class meat is brisket, top dressing, scapula, back leg parts.
Meat of the first and second grade is boiled, stewed, and minced is prepared from it. Meat, in which there is a lot of connective tissue (neck, dressing, groin), is cooked whole, and also used for broth.
Beef third grade tough, so it is used most often for cooking broth.
Beef comes to the shelves of shops already fully processed: chilled, frozen and less often in salty form.
How to prepare beef for cooking
Defrosting:
- Meat is thawed in large chunks.
- Slow defrosting is used so that meat juice released during the melting of ice crystals has time to re-soak into the meat.
- If the meat is thawed in the plus section of the refrigerator, then it practically does not differ in its taste from the cooled one.
- Rapid defrosting is carried out at room temperature. It is left on a tray, and the released juice is poured into a separate bowl. Such meat when cooking turns out less juicy.
Washing:
- Beef is washed in running water, the temperature of which should not exceed 25 °.
- Clean meat is laid out on a grate for drying.
Cutting:
- Beef is cut into large, medium or small pieces (depending on the recipe).
- Large pieces are cut along the fibers, which allows the meat to cook faster.
How to cook beef in a pan
Cook the beef in a little water.
- Pour water into a saucepan (1 liter of water for 1 kg of meat) and bring it almost to the boil.
- Add roots (parsley, onion, carrot, celery).
- Put the meat.
- Bring to a boil, while removing the foam.
- The fire is diminished and the beef is boiled with a barely noticeable boil under the lid. Cooking time depends on the quality of the meat, the age of the carcass, the size of the pieces. Young meat can be ready in 40 minutes, and the old need to cook up to 3 hours.
- Salted meat at the end of cooking.
- Beef readiness is checked by puncturing the thickest piece. If the flesh is hard or a reddish juice appears at the puncture site, the cooking is continued.
How to keep meat hot
- The pieces of boiled beef are shifted from the pan to another dish.
- Pour some hot broth and close the lid.
- Store until serving at 65 °.
How to cook beef for broth
The meat of the third grade, as well as trimming and bones are used for boiling broth.
To make it more nourishing and healthy, it is cooked differently than ordinary meat.
- Beef and bone is poured with cold water.
- Bring to a boil. Foam removed skimmer. Bone fat is also removed.
- Cook at a very low boil for 4-5 hours.
- Salt at the end of cooking.
- Ready broth is slightly cooled and filtered.
In order to get a clear broth, make a “quick put”.
To do this, trim the meat through a meat grinder and pour cold water in a ratio of 1: 1. Insist 2 hours. Then add salt, raw meat juice and egg white.
“Puff” is put in broth, brought to a boil, remove the foam. Put the roots and boil at a low boil for about one and a half hours.
How to cook beef in a multicooker
Beef in a slow cooker is cooked in a whole piece or cut into slices.
- Meat is washed, veins and film are removed. Put in a bowl multicooker.
- Pour boiling water so that the liquid only slightly covered it.
- Close the lid and extinguish the Quenching / Soup program.
- As soon as the water boils, they remove the foam.
- Add roots if desired.
- At the end of the cooking salt.
- Cook until soft. Cooking time - from 40 minutes to 2 hours - depends on the age of the slaughtered cattle, as well as the quality of the meat.
How to cook beef in the microwave
In the microwave beef can be cooked if she is young.
- Put the meat in a pan in the pan.
- Pour hot water over it to cover it.
- Add chopped carrots, onions, parsley root, salt, pepper, bay leaf.
- Cover with a lid and cook on average power for about 20 minutes. Then the power is reduced and cooked until soft.
How to cook beef in a double boiler
So that the meat during the heat treatment in the double boiler does not become dry, many housewives it is cooked in its own juice. To do this, a whole piece of meat is lightly salted and peppered, put in a strong package and tied.
Place the steamer on the bowl, close the lid and boil for about an hour. But you must make sure that there is always water in the tank. Therefore, boiling water is constantly added there.
How to cook corned beef
- Corned beef washed.
- Cut, if the pieces are very large.
- Fill with water (for 1 kg of meat 2 liters of water).
- They are soaked, changing water, first in an hour, then in two, three, six, twelve hours. In this case, the water temperature should not exceed 12 °.
- Smaller pieces are poured with cold water in a ratio of 1: 3 and boiled until cooked at low boiling.
How to cook meatballs from beef
- Beef is minced and mixed with ingredients depending on the recipe.
- Formed meatballs.
- Dip them in boiling salted water or broth.
- Cook for 5-6 minutes.
Mistress to note
- For the first dishes they use the rump, dressing, brisket.
- When cooking meat, the roots are laid half an hour before readiness.
- Cook the meat with a barely noticeable boil.
- If you pour boiling water over the meat before cooking, there will be practically no scale.
- Boiled meat is stored in broth.
- To get rich and tasty broth, use older meat.
- The salted broth is not recommended to be diluted with water. Excess salt can be removed by dipping well-washed rice wrapped in a bag and boiling it in a liquid.