98
votes
Accepted
What constitutes the majority of meat?
It's essentially just water.
You can directly see this in the full USDA nutrition facts (link is for "Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat only, cooked, roasted"). Per 100g, there is 65.26g of ...
- 58.1k
76
votes
Accepted
Any benefit to buy high-quality meat for a mediocre cook?
This is a great question, but not one that can be answered with "yes" or "no".
In some areas, it is known that the professional grade tools and ingredients require much skill to use well and so the ...
- 135k
76
votes
Accepted
Can meat spoil outside the fridge if it's baked into bread as a filling?
There are two differences between your buns and a tin can.
First, your buns were heated to a core temperature of under 100°C. Yes, your oven was probably set way higher, but the water content in your ...
- 57.8k
61
votes
Accepted
How Can Cooked Meat Still Have Protein Value?
Structural proteins in foods, i.e. albumin in eggs, myosin in muscle meats, gluten in wheat, are formed by amino acids in complex structures. Proteins are folded and clumped chains of peptides, and ...
- 5,380
49
votes
Grilling veggies & meat on same surface for vegetarian guests
My response to this kind of question is always just ask, and if you absolutely can't, err on the side of caution.
I'm assuming here that you're talking about a pretty thorough heating and brushing. ...
- 58.1k
45
votes
Accepted
Is there any advantage to combining spices before applying them to meat?
If you premix to make a rub, it's easier to apply spices evenly. Otherwise, you must individually apply a small amount (for example, 1/4 tsp) of several spices evenly. With a rub, you make the spice ...
- 2,474
43
votes
Accepted
Why do American supermarkets only carry lamb and not mutton?
It's not just American supermarkets that rarely carry mutton, this situation is similar across the Anglosphere, and I suspect most Western countries too (or at least those without a strong mutton ...
- 476
38
votes
Accepted
Extremely hard layer after cooking the burger on the grill
You did everything right except you overcooked your burgers. Those are relatively thin patties, they won't take 7 minutes a side on high heat, that is what caused that hard crust. I'd be cooking them ...
- 74.2k
38
votes
Accepted
Spice blends have no flavor?
Salt
TL;DR,
The ingredients you list in your local spice blend doesn't include anything that would primarily hit the salty, sweet, sour, bitter, or umami tastes. The commercial product you link to has ...
- 8,987
37
votes
Accepted
How to properly brown cut-up chicken breast pieces?
You have overcrowded your pan. All you have to do is to brown it in batches.
Each batch should be so small that you have only one layer of chicken cubes on the pan bottom. The pieces will still lose ...
- 135k
34
votes
Any benefit to buy high-quality meat for a mediocre cook?
Whether you are a skilled cook or not, the quality of the end result will be helped by better quality ingredients.
Take insalata caprese as an example, this is a salad of tomatoes, mozzarella and ...
- 74.2k
33
votes
Utensil that forms meat into cylinders
Seems like the bamboo mat used for making sushi rolls would be a good choice for this. Line it with heavy plastic wrap or parchment paper, of course.
- 1,880
33
votes
What can I substitute for soda pop in a sweet pork recipe?
Apple juice is good with pork. The frozen cans of concentrate are cheap and perfect for this use.
Apple juice lacks the dark notes of cola. To get those I propose you add hoisin sauce. It is very ...
- 6,596
32
votes
Accepted
Is "sealing in the flavor" an actual thing?
Searing on a grill to "seal in juices" has largely been disproven. Meat loses juice at roughly the same speed regardless of searing the meat first. Searing does produce the Maillard reaction and ...
- 480
30
votes
Grilling veggies & meat on same surface for vegetarian guests
Depends on the person but typically... no.
I'm not sure how bad cross contamination is in terms of food safety, but grills are high heat, though you might not always heat the food through.
Many ...
- 2,172
29
votes
Can I brine meat after cooking it?
It won't do anything useful.
Brining works on raw meat by denaturing some of the proteins inside the cells so they gel and hold tightly onto their water. It also gets tasty salt in.
Cooked meat has ...
- 47.5k
29
votes
How Can Cooked Meat Still Have Protein Value?
The denaturing of proteins refers to their physical structure, not their nutritional value. This might help. As is detailed in the link, heat, acid, salt, alcohol, and mechanical agitation can cause ...
- 73.2k
28
votes
Accepted
Does meat (Black Angus) caramelize just with heat?
He's not referring to the kind of caramellisation you see when you make caramel, he's referring to the Maillard reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that is responsible for among other ...
- 10.6k
26
votes
Keeping meat dry after salting it
Serious Eats published a great article on how to cook, sear, and season their perfect steak!
TL;DR Salt your steak and rest it on a wire-rack for 40+ minutes (ideally in a fridge overnight) before ...
- 540
26
votes
Can of chicken left in hot car - okay or trash
Referencing Shelf-Stable Food Safety, from The Food Safety and Inspection Service in the US.
There are several factors that limit the shelf life of canned foods. First, cans can rust over time. ...
- 1,224
25
votes
Traditionally, is prosciutto never to be cooked?
'Never to be cooked'… nope. Cook it if you need it cooked.
Saltimbocca alla Romana I'd think to be traditional enough to refute this easily. Jamie Oliver's recipe. There are a million others, but the ...
- 28.9k
24
votes
Can meat spoil outside the fridge if it's baked into bread as a filling?
I don't know about chicken specifically, but pork filled baozi (steamed buns) need to be stored in the refrigerator. Bread crust isn't exactly non-porous after all (squeeze a bun, the air doesn't ...
- 1,907
24
votes
Traditionally, is prosciutto never to be cooked?
The problem with saying the word "traditionally" in regard to Italian cooking is that traditions vary wildly from region to region (and often village to village). The person you were talking ...
- 1,907
23
votes
Accepted
Utensil that forms meat into cylinders
This seems to be one of those gag gift products you find on the web that has attracted attention for its absurdity... reading through the questions and reviews, it's difficult to tell which are jokes ...
- 16.3k
23
votes
Accepted
Is there any advantage to cooking steak on the bone?
Well, many steak experts have held for years that bone-in steak just tastes better, something about that marrow being good.
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt from Serious Eats tested that theory.
He found that the ...
- 58.4k
23
votes
Traditionally, is prosciutto never to be cooked?
I believe I can explain where your friend's belief comes from.
There are three main traditional cured pork products used in Italian cuisine: prosciutto, pancetta, and guanciale. Of these, (certified) ...
- 58.9k
23
votes
Are pig testicles edible?
Yes, testicles are just a part of the animal that is perfectly edible like many others. This includes mammals like the pig in your question, but also birds. They are usually served as special dish ...
- 57.8k
22
votes
Are there different grades or styles of bacon?
In the UK there are two main cuts of bacon.
There's "streaky bacon", which is cut from the pork belly. This is mostly what you get in the US.
There's also "back bacon" which is cut from the pork ...
- 329
21
votes
Why do American supermarkets only carry lamb and not mutton?
As has been mentioned, most of the lamb in the US is imported -- and mutton is imported, too
There's a giant consumer of mutton in western Kentucky around Owensboro. (it's the local standard for ...
- 79.3k
21
votes
Accepted
Sous Vide ribs -- can't eat for 2 days... best choice?
Pull them out on time. Cool them rapidly in an ice bath. The rapid cooling is for food safety reasons rather than any affect on the cooking. Reheat them for cooking however you were going to finish ...
- 19k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible