Tag Archives: Meat

Prosciutto

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Prosciutto

Only prosecute someone who gives you nasty prosciutto.

  • Prosciutto is a ham that has gone through a dry-curing process, and it is commonly sliced in very thin pieces and generally not cooked before eating.
  • The term ‘prosciutto’ is derived from the Latin words ‘pro’ meaning ‘before’ and ‘exsuctus’ meaning ‘dried up’ or ‘without juice’, which comes from the word ‘exsugere’ meaning ‘to suck out moisture’.
  • Traditionally prosciutto is made of the hind leg or the thigh of pigs or wild boar, although this style of meat can be produced from other animals.
  • The process of making prosciutto generally involves pressing, salting and cleansing the raw meat from blood and other impurities for approximately two months, and then the meat goes through a drying and curing process that typically takes between 12 and 24 months.
  • Prosciutto is popularly eaten with melon, figs and other fruit; bread or bread sticks; wrapped around vegetables like asparagus; or as an addition to other dishes including pasta and pizza.

Prosciutto, Ham, meat, Food, Red, Strips, Green, Platter, Ten Random Facts, Trivia, Rolled

  • Prosciutto is historically an Italian product, and it has been produced in Italy’s city of Parma, from as early as 100 BC.
  • ‘Proscuitto crudo’ is the name for the raw version of the meat, and while the ham is commonly eaten uncooked, if added to other dishes it should only be cooked for short periods of time at low heat, to avoid destroying the flavour and texture.
  • Prosciutto is generally a combination of colours that may include white, pink, peach, orange and red in colour.
  • The sodium content of prosciutto is very high, while the meat is also high in fat and a good source of protein.
  • Sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate are occasionally used in the making of prosciutto, which often enhances the pink and red colours of the ham, however the use of these chemicals is not common in traditionally cured hams, and are absent from those that are produced in protected areas of origin in Italy.
Bibliography:
Ipatenco S, Is Prosciutto Healthy?, 2015, LiveStrong.com, http://www.livestrong.com/article/374315-is-prosciutto-healthy/
Prosciutto, 2015, Life In Italy, http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/prosciutto.asp
Prosciutto, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosciutto

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Foie Gras

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Foie Gras

Foie gras is a luxurious delicacy at one destination and an illegal product at another.

  • ‘Foie gras’, a French term that can be translated into English as ‘fat liver’, is a food made of an enlarged bird liver, that is consumed as a delicacy in various parts of the world.
  • Ducks, often the hybrid Mulard species that are a cross between a Pekin and a Muscovy duck, are most commonly used to produce foie gras, totalling just over 98% of French production in 2014, while the remainder are usually geese.
  • Ducks and geese that are used for foie gras are prepared by force feeding two to three times a day using a small pipe inserted into their throat, a process known as ‘gavage’, which takes a total time of around two to three seconds for each bird.
  • Foie gras is served both hot and cold, generally cooked by roasting, grilling and pan-searing, or slow cooking methods as in a terrine, and is typically served with vegetables or other meats.
  • Many areas in the world, including a number of European countries like Germany, Denmark and Norway; India; Australia; and some parts of the United States, have marked foie gras as an illegal product to produce, as force feeding the birds may be considered inhumane or cruel, and some of these countries has also banned the import and consumption of the product.
Foie Gras, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Meat, Duck, Liver, Culinary, Dish, Food, Luxary
Foie Gras
Image courtesy of Jeremy Couture/Flickr
  • Force feeding of birds for foie gras generally occurs after 63 to 90 days from hatching, and this method of feeding lasts for around 12 to 25 days, when the liver is roughly six to ten times the normal size, after which they are slaughtered.
  • France is one of the greatest advocators of foie gras, stating it is a “cultural and gastronomical heritage” of the country, and have thus gone to lengths to protect the industry.
  • From around 2500 BC Ancient Egyptians force fed birds to fatten them, similar to the foie gras production process, and the practice eventually spread across Europe, while the earliest known mention of the consumption of fat bird livers is during Roman times.
  • France is the largest producer of foie gras in the world, with a total of 19,300 tonnes (21,275 tons) in 2014, or 72% of the total world production, of roughly 26,600 tonnes (29,321 tons).
  • Foie gras is very high in fat, cholesterol, vitamin A, vitamin B12, iron and selenium, and has a buttery feel in the mouth, and rich flavour.
Bibliography:
Foie Gras, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foie_gras
Foie Gras: Cruelty to Ducks and Geese, n.d, PETA, http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/ducks-geese/foie-gras/
López-Al J, The Physiology of Foie: Why Foie Gras is Not Unethical, n.d, Serious Eats, http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/1 2/the-physiology-of-foie-why-foie-gras-is-not-u.html

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Chicken Nugget

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Chicken Nugget

Chicken nuggets are a favourite, but are they really made of chicken?

  • Chicken nuggets are a poultry-based food, that are generally small pieces of crumbed covered meat, and are eaten as a snack or part of a main meal.
  • Chicken nuggets are typically pieces of processed or ground chicken, or chicken breast meat, and the crumbed batter is often made of breadcrumbs or crushed cornflakes or similar, or a wheat flour mixture.
  • The inventor of the chicken nugget was Robert C Baker, a professor of Cornell University, qualified in food science, who published the recipe in an academic paper in the early 1960s.
  • The cooking process of chicken nuggets generally involves deep frying, pan frying, or baking in an oven, while deep frying is more common in fast-food settings.
  • Chicken nuggets have been highly popularised in takeaway restaurants, especially the symbolic Chicken McNuggets of McDonalds, and the first nuggets to be sold by McDonalds was in 1980.

Chicken Nugget, Food, Homemade, Crispy, Delicious, Hot, Ten Random Facts, Pile, Savour, Food, Culinary

Chicken Nuggets
Image courtesy of Andrea Parrish – Geyer/Flickr
  • To cater for vegetarians, some chicken nuggets are made without meat but instead use bean or vegetable substitutes.
  • Empire Kosher Poultry, a chicken producer in the United States, set the world record in 2013 for making and cooking the largest chicken nugget, which was almost a metre (3.3 feet) in length and weighed 23.2 kilograms (51.1 pounds).
  • Chicken nuggets are commonly bite sized or slightly larger, and are generally coloured yellow to brown on the exterior, and they are sometimes served with a sauce, of which a variety of flavours are used.
  • Traditionally, chicken nuggets are crude cylindrical shapes of meat, although they can be made into specific shapes, and they often have a slightly bumpy appearance.
  • Originally, the meat of many commercial chicken nuggets was said to be ‘mechanically separated meat’, a processed paste that uses scraps from chicken carcasses, although many companies now make their nuggets from chicken breast meat, or other ‘white’ chicken meat.
Bibliography:
Chicken Nugget, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_nugget
McKenna M, The Father of the Chicken Nugget, 2012, Slate, http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2012/12/robert_c_baker_the_man_who_invented_chicken_nuggets.html
What’s Really in that Chicken Nugget?, 2012, National Chicken Council, http://www.nationalchickencouncil.org/whats-in-those-chicken-nuggets/

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Bacon

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Bacon

Do you like the smell of bacon frying?

  • Bacon is a type of meat derived from pigs, usually preserved using salt in a process of curing.
  • Bacon is generally cut from the side, back or the belly of pork, and is sold as pieces, strips, or ‘rashers’ as they are known, as well as cubes.
  • Bacon is typically made by curing the pork with salt and generally then left to sit, and is often boiled, smoked and or dried before commercially packing.
  • Bacon is popularly eaten for breakfast, accompanying eggs, but it has more recently been served coated in chocolate, put in sandwiches or deep fried in a batter.
  • The popularity of bacon has recently increased in the United States, with sales in 2013 increasing by 9.5%.

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  • Bacon has fat that becomes runny when hot, which usually solidifies when cool, and it makes lard or grease that meat and other foods can be cooked in.
  • Bacon was originally produced on farms or in homes, with various recipes and methods, although they mostly used a dry curing process, until the introduction of mass production during the Industrial Revolution, and the modern processing methods that followed.
  • Other meats can be prepared in a similar way to bacon, such as turkey meat, and vegetarian versions are also available.
  • Bacon is generally required to be cooked before consumption, and it is typically pink and white when raw, and it usually darkens when cooked.
  • Bacon is high in protein, sodium, niacin, selenium, saturated fat and phosphorus, and due to the high salt content, when large quantities are eaten over periods of time, cardiovascular problems can occur.

 

Bibliography:
Bacon, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon
History of Bacon, 2014, The English Breakfast Society, http://englishbreakfastsociety.com/history-of-bacon.html

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Turkey Meat

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No Thanksgiving or Christmas is complete without turkey meat!

  • Turkey meat is the cooked meat of turkey, particularly those that are bred on a farm.
  • Turkey meat is commonly eaten at popular celebrations, such as Thanksgiving (USA and Canada) or Christmas, with nearly 8 million turkeys eaten at Christmas time in the UK, in 2009.
  • Most parts of turkey meat are eaten, except the bones, head, feathers and feet, and they can generally be bought whole or ground, with other cuts being available sometimes, as well as already cooked sliced meat.
  • Once cooked, turkey meat from wild turkeys is typically dark-coloured, while domestic meat is usually light-coloured, and the wild turkeys often have a great flavour than the domestic ones.
  • Turkey meat started to be used in celebrations from as early as the 1500s, originally in England.

Turkey meat, roasted, brown, white, whole, Ten Random Facts, Bird, Australia, Christmas

  • Frozen, whole turkey meat generally takes a considerably long time to defrost, and it can take 3 days or more, depending on the size of the bird.
  • Turkey meat is generally cooked by a baking or oven roasting process, although sometimes it is deep-fried, and whole birds are usually stuffed, while the meat is often served with the addition of cranberry sauce or gravy.
  • Turkey meat has a high protein content, more than most commonly eaten meats, and is also high in vitamin B6, niacin, zinc, selenium and phosphorus.
  • Turkey meat contains an amino acid named tryptophan, which causes sleepiness, but the quantity eaten in one meal is not as likely to make you drowsy, than the rest of the carbohydrates and fats on one’s plate.
  • The English author, Charles Dickens, helped to make turkey meat popular, due to turkey featuring in his novel ‘A Christmas Carol’.
Bibliography:
History and Lore, 2013, Turkey for the Holidays, http://urbanext.illinois.edu/turkey/history.cfm
Turkey Meat, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_meat

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Sausage

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Sausage

Will these sausage facts make you lose your appetite?

  • Sausages are edible food products typically made of encased ground meat and often include seasonings, and thousands of years ago were originally used as a way to preserve meat, typically with salt.
  • Sausage casings were first made using cleaned intestines and hollow stomachs from the animals that were killed for their meat – generally sheep, cows, goats and pigs although other animals have been used.
  • ‘Sausage’ comes from the old French word ‘saussiche’, which has its origin in the Latin word ‘salsus’, which means ‘salted’.
  • Modern sausage casings are often manmade and the options include cellulose, collagen and plastic, although plastic casings are not usually used due to health concerns.
  • Sausage varieties can be made with different methods of salting, cooking, drying and smoking, or they can be raw and are edible due to a fermentation process.

Sausage, Long, Uncooked, Raw, Pink, Beef, Pile, Meat, Ten Random Facts, Australia

  • Some countries in Europe are the home of thousands of different sausage varieties that range in size, shape, taste, or other attributes.
  • Sausages can be made without a casing, and can be made vegetarian, with nuts, soya products, vegetables and tofu, and include ingredients that hold the sausage together when cooked.
  • Sausages generally have a significant fat content that makes up 20 to 50 percent of its weight, and they usually need at least 20% fat to stay moist after cooking.
  • Sausages are called many different names, depending on their method of production and their ingredients, and they include ‘hot dogs’, ‘salami’, ‘saveloys’, ‘pepperoni’, ‘bratwurst’, ‘cabanossi’ and many others.
  • Sausage casings are generally filled with meat, and then twisted at intervals to section off the big long casing tube, often into the size of an individual portion.
Bibliography:
Sausage, 2003, Encyclopedia.com, http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/sausage.aspx
Sausage, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sausage

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