Meat classification
Meat is the result of complex biochemical modifications that occur in the striated muscles and closely connected tissues of animals for slaughter, poultry and game (both furred and feathered). At a commercial level, meats are classified according to color:
- white meats: veal, lamb, kid, pork, rabbit, poultry;
- red meats: ox, horse, mutton, buffalo;
- dark meats: game (wild boar, deer, roe deer, pheasant, partridge, quail, wild duck);
and according to the cut:
- first class meats: fillet, walnut, sirloin, loin, rump (they are the leanest ones with less lipid infiltration);
- second category meats: shoulder and lower parts of the thigh;
- third category meats: neck, abdomen, forelimb.
The biochemical composition of meat varies from species to species and, within it, in relation to the characteristics of the animal (age, diet and farming methods).
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Average composition of animal MUSCLE
- protein 19%
- non-protein nitrogen compounds 1.65%
- lipids: 2.5% (in a lean, first choice meat)
- carbohydrates: 1.2%
- mineral salts: 0.65%
- vitamins: traces
Water content:
- 4% bound water (it is "trapped" in the polar chains of amino acids by electrostatic attraction);
- 96% free water (it is not retained by chemical bonds but only mechanically by the muscle fibers and connective tissue).
The normal ratio of water to protein must be between 3.5 and 4; higher values may indicate fraudulent treatments to increase the weight of the meat (immersion in water, injection of liquids into the muscle mass, in vivo administration of estrogen).
Proteins
The meat is rich in noble proteins with a high biological value, inferior only to the proteins of egg and whey. The limiting amino acids are sulphurates.
Meat proteins can be divided into:
- myofibrillaries (contractile): 51.5% (myosin, actin), determine the softness of the meat, the degree of water retention, therefore also its tenderness.
- Sarcoplasmic: 32.5% (myoglobin, hemoglobin, metabolic enzymes)
Stomatics: 16% (collagen, elastin), during cooking, especially in boiled meats, the collagen initially stiffens and then gelatinizes and softens to form that thin gelatinous layer that we find, for example, around broth meat. - Non-protein nitrogen compounds: free amino acids, dipeptides, oligopeptides, nucleotides, purine and pyrimidine bases, creatine, creatinine, amines, urea ammonia. They combine to give particular aromas to the meat.
Nutritional values for meat »
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