5 Tips For Picking Perfect Meat

5 Tips For Picking Perfect Meat
By Timothy Martino

The slow cooked aroma of meat will send anyone back to happier times. Slathered in your own top secret sauce and just ready to be savored this is what you have been thinking of all week. However once eating this would be succulent meal something becomes very clear. The meat is bland. Talk about a waste of ingredients and time! Hopefully this list will help you avoid this situation all together and only picking the greatest pieces of meat.

1. Do your own tenderizing. Do not buy pre-tenderized meat. A plant that produces meat is on a fully automated system. Trust me when I say that there is not an employee being paid 15 dollars an hour to lovingly tenderize your piece of meat with a wooden mallet. This unnatural way of meat preparation will leave your barbecue flavorless and tough!

2. Make sure your butcher is on his game. I would not trust the future of my barbecue meal to someone who could not point out some details about my cut of choice. They should not basic things about the cattle such as if they are grain-fed or grass-fed. But also take some liberty and quiz him about preparation. You might learn something and you can see his knowledge level.

3. Make sure the facility you're buying from is safe. While obviously signs of dirty floors and a warm temperature should be red flags. You should also look at the smaller details. You will see cooler vents in all the display coolers. Make sure the meat is not stacked above that point. That alone could save you the hassle of rotten meat.

4. Quality grade does not mean quality meat. While starring at that leg cut you might be thinking it looks so tender! Not true, some cuts look more tender than others. Just know that the less the muscle was used the tenderer it will be. For instance ribs will be more tender than the shoulder. The tenderer always wins for my barbecue.

5. Packaging! Want to have a great barbecue meal make sure you don't have rotten meat. The easiest way to do that is by first checking to see if there are any cuts in the package. This is a serious health issue and should be brought to the attention of management if found. Secondly make sure there is no moisture in the package. This means that the temperature of the meat has risen to high and also should be brought to management's attention.

Timothy Martino is a devoted barbecue alumni who's passion for cooking barbecue is only surpassed by his love to eat it. He Tracks his thoughts at http://thebestinbarbecue.blogspot.com/

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