indigestible plant compounds. Meat color
is a good indicator of its iron content; red
beef and lamb contain on average two to
three times as much as pale pork;
relatively dark pork shoulder contains
twice as much as the loin.Production Methods
and Meat Quality
Full-flavored meat comes from animals that
have led a full life. However, exercise and age
also increase muscle fiber diameter and the
cross-linking of connective tissue: so a full
life also means tougher meat. In centuries
past, most people ate mature, tough, strongly
flavored meat, and developed long-cooked
recipes to soften it. Today, most of us eat
young, tender, mild meat that is at its best
quickly cooked; long-cooking often dries it
out. This shift in meat quality has resulted
from a shift in the way the animals are raised.