Making the most of meat

Carefully selected & prepared, a tasty piece of meat is the making of a fine meal!

Here at Dawn we like to think we know a thing or two about meat!

So we have prepared some hints & tips here, which we hope will help you make the most of any Beef, Lamb & Pork you may buy!

There are a couple of important things to think about when selecting the best piece of meat for your meal, choosing the right QUALITY, the most appropriate CUT & deciding HOW MUCH TO BUY.

Beef, Pork & Lamb can be a valuable part of a healthy diet - take a look at the NUTRITIONAL FACTS about meat to help plan healthy meals !

Choosing your meat:

Buy your meat from a reputable supermarket or butcher - they work hard with meat producers to ensure that the meat reaches you in top condition.

Everyone has their own personal taste in meat & some prefer lean cuts, but many people enjoy their meat with some fat on it as this lends the meat added succulence & enhances the flavour once cooked.

Look at the colour of the meat -

Meat is a perfectly safe food, provided that you follow a few guidelines when handling, storing and cooking all your meat items. 

Two types of Bacteria can cause problems for meat products, these are

• Food spoilage bacteria - these make the meat spoil & go off.
• Pathogenic bacteria - these could cause illness through food poisoning.

Food poisoning only occurs when certain events occur in a sequence.
 
If you can break this chain of events by good practice, you will go a long way to avoiding the risk of food poisoning.

A little thought and planning will avoid any meat you buy being contaminated by bacteria & will prevent them multiplying to dangerous levels.

Shopping:
Try to make your meat shopping the last of your errands before you head homewards - keep your meat as cool as possible on the homeward journey & put it in the fridge as soon as you get home!

Safe storage of meat:

• Once you have purchased your meat & other fresh foods, be sure to take them straight home and place them in the 'fridge or freezer immediately as inadequate temperature control is the most common cause of food poisoning.
• If your meat is packed in a modified atmosphere pack, don't open it or pierce the pack until you need it, as the pack will keep the meat in good condition until the indicated use by date.
• Sometimes when slices of meat are placed on top of one another in a pack, you may notice some brown discolouration - this will soon disappear when it is exposed to the air & does not affect the quality of the meat.
• If your raw meat is not in a sealed pack, keep it covered & ensure it doesn't come into contact with other foods. Store raw meat below all other items in your fridge to ensure nothing drips onto other foodstuffs.
• Your fridge should always be kept below 5°C - why not buy a fridge thermometer to check the temperature is maintained at this level.
• If you choose to freeze any fresh meat, freeze it on the day you buy it & refer to your freezer manufacturer's handbook for how long to keep it - probably up to 3 months to enjoy it at it's best.
• Ensure you defrost your meat thoroughly under controlled conditions, such as in a fridge, before cooking it. This will take a little longer to do, but is much safer.
• If you have some meat leftover from your meal & you want to store it in the fridge, never put it into the fridge when hot. This will raise the whole fridge temperature & may affect the things that you are storing in there. Leave the meat to cool for an hour (maximum 1 ½ hours), then wrap it & place in the fridge. 

Enjoy a perfect roast dinner!! 

To cook a joint of meat to perfection, always pre-heat your oven to 220°C / 425°F/ Gas Mark 7 for at least quarter of an hour before you want to start to cook your roast.

Roughly chop some root vegetables such as onions, carrots or turnips & place in the roasting tray.
Place Beef or lamb joints in the oven for 20 mins/ Pork for 25 mins. This will seal all the flavour & juices into the joint.

Then turn the oven temperature down to 180°C/ 350°F/ Gas Mark 4 - DON'T FORGET - OR YOUR JOINT WILL BURN!

Cook the joint for a further 20 mins per 500g/ LB. Baste the joint with the meat juices a couple of times during that cooking time.

Remove the joint and place on a carving board, allow the joint to rest for 10 to 15 mins - this really is worthwhile as it means the meat juices can settle & the meat can relax making it much more tender when you eat it.

Use the meat juices in the pan to make delicious GRAVY.

Try to spot which way the grain of the meat is running & then CARVE your joint across this grain, again this helps to ensure the joint is at its most tender.