Adipose tissue is, simply, fat, which serves as insulation under the skin (subcutaneous) and as padding in the abdominal cavity for sensitive internal organs. This fat when it appears on the outside of meat is known as cover fat, and is generally trimmed to a minimum before cooking. Fat found within muscles is called intramuscular fat or marbling. Read more »

Meat Connective Tissue

Connective tissue is a part of ligaments and tendons, and it also acts as the “glue” that holds muscle cells together. It is composed primarily of a mixture of proteins and mucopolysaccharides (a type of polysaccharide). The most abundant protein in connective tissue is collagen. Read more »

Structure of Meat

Meats are composed of a combination of water, muscle, connective tissue, adipose (fatty) tissue, and often bone. The proportions of these elements vary according to the animal and the part of its anatomy represented by the cut of meat. Read more »

Lamb and Mutton

Lamb and mutton are the meat of sheep. The primary difference between the two is the age of the animal from which they come: in general, lamb comes from sheep less than 14 months old, and mutton from those over 14 months. Further confirmation of whether one is dealing with lamb or mutton may be found in where the lower leg of a carcass will snap. Read more »

Types of Meat - Beef

The ancestor of beef cattle was a type of wild ox domesticated in ancient Greece and Turkey during the Stone Age (around 10,000 B.C.). Since that time, hundreds of breeding lines have been specially developed to provide cattle that serve as abundant sources of good quality beef. Read more »

In North America and Europe, meat from herbivores such as beef cattle, sheep, and swine serves as an important source of complete protein. Meat from other animals such as goat, rabbit, deer, elk, moose, horse, possum, and squirrel, is less commonly eaten. Read more »

When combined with other ingredients, eggs have a unique ability to flavor, color, emulsify or thicken, bind, foam, interfere, and clarify. Read more »

Safety Tips

The chances of an egg being internally contaminated are relatively low, less than one in 10,000 commercial eggs. It is more common for contamination to occur during handling and preparation after the egg has been removed from its shell. Read more »

Dried eggs, used extensively by food manufacturers, are particularly advantageous when storage and refrigeration space is limited. The major disadvantage of using dried eggs is that they lose many of the functional and sensory qualities of eggs, and are highly susceptible to bacterial contamination. Therefore, they should be used only when the end product will be thoroughly heated.

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Freezing Eggs

Freezing a whole egg is not possible because it will crack under the expanding liquids, so food manufacturers solve this dilemma by breaking the eggs open at the processing plants where the contents are frozen whole (whites and yolk mixed together) or separated as whites or yolks. Prior to being frozen, the liquid whole eggs are usually pasteurized. Read more »