Buying meat, hardly anyone of us checks its freshness. But it is necessary and not so difficult to do it.
- If the meat is fresh, then the dimple formed on the meat surface when you press it with your finger will quickly disappear. You can even heat the knife or fork and pierce a piece of meat, the foul smell emanating from the blade of the knife or fork will tell you that the meat is fresh. Fresh meat is almost dry when you cut it.
- Do not wash the meat before storing it – it will quickly get spoiled because of the water. It is recommended to defrost the meat with fresh air rather than in water.
- If the meat is not of the first freshness and has an unpleasant odor, you can get rid of it using charcoal. Cut the meat into pieces and thoroughly rinse it in cold water. Put the meat in water and add charcoal. After 2-3 hours, take the coal out and cook the meat in the same water. You can also put 1 or 2 pieces of charcoal directly when cooking your meat, and it will absorb odors.
- Tough meat can be rubbed with dry mustard and washed in hot water; then it will become soft and tender.
- To preserve the taste of fresh meat, sprinkle it with several tablespoons of cold water, add a bit of fat and start cooking.
- If the meat is burnt and gets dry when cooked, you can cope with this problem by means of steam – just put a small bowl of water in the oven.
- If you want to cook transparent broth, it is better to take brain tubular bones because vertebral bones make broth cloudy and tasteless.
- Add salt to broth 30 minutes before the end of cooking. If you add too much salt in the broth, immerse half a cup of rice or millet in a gauze bag and boil the broth again.
