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You are in: Home --> Cooking Tips
Top Tips on Cooking Meat
Jump to Tips on: Poultry, Pork, Beef
Poultry Scoring the skin of a duck breast and rubbing in a little salt will help to render the fat out from between the skin and meat. Always start skin-side down if pan frying duck breasts.
If you prefer to render the maximum of duck fat out of a breast, start with a cold pan. If you enjoy the taste and want to serve some of the 'good' cholesterol, then go straight into a hot pan, (this is the traditional way in the south of France).
Always try to use a free-range chicken. Chickens that have been able to run around are healthier for you due to the higher protein levels and lower fat levels. Also, they have a better texture to the meat and a richer taste.
Roasting chicken breasts on the bone (using only the crown of the chicken - legs and wings removed) provides a great tasting breast meat after all of the flavours of the bird are infused into the meat. Rubbing a layer of butter between the skin and flesh before cooking adds taste and moisture. And don't forget to baste the meat a few times. Cooking any meat on the bone always tastes better than off. However it does make it more difficult to carve afterwards.
Slow roasting a chicken will retain more of the juices. To be safe, the inside of a chicken needs to reach 60°C for 15 to 20 minutes. Therefore, the longer the cooking and the lower the temperature, the juicier the meat. Instead of blasting for 1 hour 30 minutes at 200°C, try 3 hours at 110°C. Do not go lower than 60°C for 4 hours 30 minutes.
Beef When buying beef, look for marbling in the flesh, which gives it flavour and moisture. Beef should have a deep red colour. Press your finger into the flesh and if the indent remains in place, this means it has been properly aged and will have a better taste.
Beef should be aged in a cool, dry environment for several weeks before it is sold in the shops. Anything below 2 weeks is not enough to provide a rich beef taste. Over 8 weeks gives a different, nutty flavour to the meat, but this can be overpowering. The optimum aging time is between 4 and 6 weeks, providing a web-like marbling of fat with a deep red flesh that is tender and succulent when cooked.
Cattle that are not raised too quickly and are corn or grain fed towards the end of their lives provides more fat marbling in the meat with extra flavours.
To tell if beef is cooked to the point you want it, use a food thermometer. Push the point of the thermometer into the centre of the flesh. 'Well done' beef should be 75°C, medium about 65°C, medium/rare about 60°C and rare 50°C to 55°C.
Pork To get a crispy crackling on a pork roast, score the skin with a sharp knife, rub salt into the skin, getting it into the grooves, cook on high for about 30 minutes until the skin is blistered, then reduce the heat to moderate to cook the meat through to the centre.
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