If you want to make hamburgers for dinner, should you buy ground beef or ground chuck? If you want to buy a roast, do you know the variations between cuts of meat to ensure you get the best beef? Well, you will soon -- read on to learn the differences between the basic prime cuts of beef: chuck, rib, round and loin....
- Let's start with chuck. Chuck comes from the shoulder of the cow. Round is the leg below the rump. Generally, chuck and round are less tender, so the best way to cook these is with moist heat, which tenderizes the beef. The rib is a pretty obvious cut of beef, and the loin is along the back. Both of these cuts are more tender on their own -- think of prime rib or tenderloin. These are often cooked with dry heat.
- Now, what about ground beef, you ask? The meat in many ready-wrapped packages looks the same; when you go to the grocer's meat counter or the butcher shop, it's hard to see much difference between most ground beef in the case. But consult the label to determine whether the beef is acutally ground round or ground chuck. Ground chuck is considered the inferior of the two because chuck cuts of beef are tougher than round cuts.
- Always pay attention to the packaging. The U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates nutritional claims such as "natural" and "extra lean" so you should be able to generally rely on the labeling. The U.S.D.A. requires that anything labeled "natural" cannot contain any artificial flavors, flavorings, coloring or chemical preservatives. And the meat can only be minimally processed, or minimally ground.
- You'll also see that some packages are labeled as "lean" and "extra lean". Lean means that in 100 grams of beef there will be less than 10 grams of fat, while extra-lean means there will be less than 5 grams of fat in a package of the same size.
- Bottom line: carefully read the labels on all pre-packaged meat you buy so you'll know what you're getting. And get to know your cuts of beef well, so you can be fully confident about what you're really eating.
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