Last night, a colleague complained about the beef, which failed at the most crucial moment, turning into a sole.
The meat looked wonderful. Bought from a butcher friend who had never failed before. But now it happened.
The reason for the disgusting meat behavior will be clear to many without any additional explanations: the beef turned out to be... not ripe.
It is this nuance - age, as well as the degree of ripening of meat, most often throw up just such a clearing. Therefore, it is best to ask the butchers when the slaughter was carried out. Although - let's be honest - given that in most cases butchers are dealers of meat, they really don't know. True, to us, consumers, meat arrives almost ripe because of the time it takes to resell and transport it.
Aging of meat is a complex process during which autolysis occurs.
If schematically - after slaughter, rigor mortis occurs with the carcass (the onset depends on the size carcasses, for small carcasses it can come in an hour, for large ones they call it different times, from 12 to 24 hours).
And before the onset of rigor mortis, fresh meat can be soft, and then everything. It hardens and strongly. And in order for it to soften, the meat must be ripe - then it will become softer than steam.
Aging can take place in different ways and at different times. The term depends on the temperature and the chosen method.
For beef, you can focus on:
- 10-14 days at a temperature of about 2 degrees
- 4-5 days at a temperature of 10 degrees
- 3 days at a temperature of 18 degrees (I do not recommend this temperature, because there it is necessary to ensure constant ventilation and removal of moisture from the surface, otherwise the meat will sooner rot)
For pork, the aging period can be slightly reduced.
They say that at large meat-packing plants, meat is ripened, but I can't say so or not, I was not a witness.
The problem is that we are unlikely to visually determine whether we are buying matured meat or not. Ripe beef, for example, is said to be bright red. However, bright red beef may not be ripe, but just the meat of an old animal, and if you do not see the fat (the more yellow and richer it is, the older the animal), you will not be able to tell the difference.
Therefore, the only option is to always ask for the slaughter time. Well, or after the purchase, leave the meat to ripen on the coldest shelf of the refrigerator for 3-4 days, wrapping it in a clean cloth or paper that absorbs the liquid and constantly changing it as it gets wet
Considering that the meat on the market is already partially ripe, most often, then this time should be enough. Not for full-fledged ripening, most likely, but it will not suit meanness.
Although it may happen that the carcass was brought to sell not after a couple of three days (or a week), but after a day - two. Then, of course, you will have to increase the holding time in the refrigerator if you risk it.