What Should We Consider When Buying?

• Make sure that the meat you will buy has a bright color.
• Make sure that there is not an intense smell or a smell of a medicine or a disinfectant.
• Meat should look neat and tight. If the meat looks messy, it means they injected water into it.
• Meat sold in packages should not be soft or squashed, and there should not be liquid with blood in the package. Make sure that the package is not torn and free from damage.
• You should definitely check the expiration date of packaged meat.
• Make sure that the frozen meat you will buy is not discolored, thawed or softened.

Meat Cutting Means:

Macedoine: Cutting the meat into cubes. The size of cubes depends on the food to be made.

Slice: Cutting the meat into big slices.

Julienne: Cutting the meat into long, thin match stick like pieces.

Mince: Slicing the meat into very small pieces or using a machine to do so.

Boned Meat: It is the piece of meat on the bone.

How to Store Meat?

• You can store the meat in freezer, in portions according to the amount you’ll use, wrap them in refrigerator bags, stretch films, aluminum foil or baking paper.
• If you want to keep your meat fresh in the refrigerator, you can store it in glass, steel or plastic containers to prevent the meat from being watery.
• If you want to preserve your meat freshly, you should dissolve it in the lower part of the refrigerator, not at room temperature.
• You should not freeze the thawed meat again, and consume it immediately.
• You should store red meat, white meat and raw meat and cooked meat in a way that they won’t touch each other.
• If you won’t use the whole broth, you can freeze it in portions of ice molds.
• You can keep macedoine and steak in the refrigerator for 3-5 days, and in the freezer for 6-12 months.
• Mince and offal can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 days, and in the freezer for 3-4 months.
• Cooked meat and meat dishes can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, and in the freezer for 2-3 months.
• Broth or broth soup can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 days, and in the freezer for 2-3 months.
• Deli products should be consumed within 2 hours after opening. After you unpack the soujouks, you can store them in a refrigerator by wrapping them in a clean, dry paper towel. Do not store in a stretch film, a refrigerator bag, or a product made of plastic.

Aging

It is a meat softening process. It is also one of meat preservation methods. After slaughtering, a chemical change called “rigor mortis” will occur in the meat due to the changes in the enzymes. Meat will harden for a certain time, then it softens and finally matures. This process will take three days in average. Aging can also be seen as a softening/maturing process.

There are three types of meat aging:

Dry Aging

Aging the meat between 0 ° and 4 °, between 28 days and 1 month in cabinets with 80% and 86% is called Dry Aging. Dry aging is done in cabinets without completely stopping the contact of meat with air and with humidity control and air circulation. During this process, moisture loss and thin crusting occur on the outer layer of the meat. The enzymes in the meat will slowly break down and soften. This method makes the meat free from harmful tissues, and nerve and cholesterol making factors, and makes it soft and smell aromatic. The flavor of this meat with great taste and softness is indisputable. 

Vacuumed Aging

It is done by vacuum method. In home-made vacuum aging, virgin olive oil and salt are added to the meat. Meat can be stored in the refrigerator maximum of 4-5 days. Meat becomes incredibly soft and amazingly delicious.

Fast Aging

It is an aging process performed in a shorter time by applying high heat.

What Should You Consider When Cooking Meat?

Grilling

• Before cooking, you can marinate the meat to make it softer and more delicious. Whether you are marinating or not, you should age it for a few hours before grilling, it will make it more delicious.
• Grease the grill wires before grilling and place your meat on them.
• One of the finest points of a good grill is adjusting grill’s temperature level. Meat must definitely be cooked on pre-heated grill wires. You can cook small pieces of meat at 200 ° C, and bigger pieces of meat 150 ° C as they need to be cooked slowly.
• When you are cooking, turn the meat to the other side after it is cooked. Do not repeat often.  You should turn the meat cooked on the grill with tongs rather than a fork.
• Meat can be cooked averagely 6 or 10 minutes, or you can adjust the coking degree according to consumer’s wishes.
• To prevent the meat from being hard, you should apply salt and pepper after cooking.

Braising

To make a delicious roasting, you must add the meat’s own fat to the pre-heated pan. After the fat melts, place the meat into the pan and cook it for about 8-9 minutes on high heat. Then to increase its flavor and nutritional value, add a big onion without cutting it into braising, and fry it for a while, and lower the degree of the cooker. After cooking it for 40 minutes, add salt and pepper in the final stage and after 1-2 minutes of braising, then you can turn the cooker off.

Boiling

The most important detail that you should pay attention to when boiling meat, is to add hot water to the pot. Cook the meat in a pressure pot or a normal pot until it softens. If you want to use meat’s juice, you should boil the meat with cold water after putting it in the pot. If you want the meat to be soft and quick to cook, you can add two tablespoons of vinegar to the boiling water.

Saute

• Before placing the meat, you must heat the pan.
• You can cook thick meat with the lid closed.
• Thin meat will get dry and hard while cooking. Make sure the meat is not sliced thinner than 1.5 cm.
• It the meat is hard, you can marinate it for a couple of hours.
• Et piştikten sonra tuzu ilave edin, tuz etin sertleşmesine neden olur.

Roasting

• It is the technique of cooking meat in the oven. Here’s one of the most important tips: The oven must be pre-heated. If you place the meat in a cold or warm oven, its juice will flow out and cause drought and its nutritional value to disappear.
• Setting your oven to 180 ° C in advance will help you achieve the true outcomes.
• To prevent your meat from drying, you can put water with a fireproof container in the oven.

Poaching

It is a cooking technique in a slightly rattling water/liquid. It is preferred in tools industrially called “sous vide” that keeps the water temperature at a constant level.

The secret to cook soft meat: Sealing 

Sealing can be perceived as pre-cooking the meat in a hot pan or a high-temperature oven before cooking. All parts of marinated meat are exposed to high temperature, and Maillard reaction occurs; the surface of the meat becomes caramelized and crispy. The key point in the sealing process is high heat. The sealed meat won’t lose its juice during cooking, so you get soft and delicious meat.