Transcript Meat Judging Study Guide - National 4

Meat Judging
Study Guide
How to Judge Classes
of Meat
What to Look for in a Carcass, a
Wholesale Cut, or a Retail Cut
No matter what you are judging you are always looking for the
same three things:
Muscling
Trimness
Quality.
In any class of meat that you are judging you are looking for the
cut of meat that combines these three characteristics the best.
What is muscling?
-the amount of muscle tissue that an animal has
-the muscle is the most valuable part of the cut, not the fat or the
bones
Which carcass or cut has more muscle as compared to the
amount of bones or fat?
What is quality?
-a measure of how good the muscle tissue is
-color is an indicator of quality
-the amount of marbling is an indicator of quality
-age of the animal at the time of slaughter is an indicator of quality
-whether the cut of meat is from a mature male of the species
(bull, boar, or ram) as opposed to a castrated male or female of
that species (cow, steer, heifer, sow, barrow, gilt, ewe, whether
or ewe lamb) can effect quality
Which carcass or cut came from a young animal of that
species and shows good coloring and adequate marbling?
What is trimness?
-the absence of excess fat
-some fat in a carcass or cut of meat is good; it gives flavor
-too much fat is bad; it is bad for people’s health and people tend
to avoid very fat cuts of meat when they are choosing which
piece of meat to purchase
Which carcass or cut of meat has enough fat to give the cut
of meat flavor while not having so much fat that it is
unhealthy and loses consumer appeal?
What are you looking for in a cut
of meat?
You are looking for the carcass or cut of
meat that best combines heavy muscling,
good quality, and appropriate trimness.
Judging Beef
-look first at quality
-look for marbling. This is very important. Remember that
marbling is the fat that is scattered inside the muscles of
the carcass or cut of meat. The more marbling the better
the quality.
-look for good coloring. Remember that beef should be
cherry red in color, not so light that it is almost pink and not so
dark that it is almost black.
-look second at cutability. Cutability is the combination of trimness
and muscling that will allow various cuts of meat to the made
from a carcass or retail cut. A high cutability carcass or
wholesale cut would be trim and very heavily muscled.
T-Bone Steaks
1.
Look for differences
in quality, trimness,
and muscling.
2.
Which best
combines these
three features?
3.
4.
#1 best
combines the
characteristics of
quality, muscling
and trimness.
Let’s look at the other 3 steaks and see what characteristics
they are lacking in.
#2 still has plenty of
muscling and quality, but
this steak has problems
with trimness. There is
too much outside fat
along the loin eye muscle
(the larger muscle) and
the tenderloin muscle (the
smaller muscle).
#3 is alright in the areas
of muscling and
trimness, but this steak
is lacking in quality. It
has poor coloring and
not enough marbling.
#4 is lacking in
muscling. It has plenty
of quality and is trim
enough, it is just has
less muscling and
therefore less edible
meat.