just as they reach sexual maturity, when the
connective tissue is still relatively soluble and
the meat tender. Individual cuts of American
and European pork generally contain half to a
fifth of the fat they did in 1980. Pork is a pale
meat because the pig uses its muscles more
intermittently than do cattle and sheep, and
therefore has a lower proportion of red muscle
fibers (around 15%). Some small Chinese and
European breeds have darker and significantly
more flavorful flesh.
Domestic Meat Birds
Chickens Chickens are descendents of the
aggressive, pugnacious red jungle fowl of
northern India and southern China. Gallus
gallus is a member of the pheasant family or
Phasianidae, a large, originally Eurasian
group of birds that tend to colonize open
forest or the edge between field and wood.
Chickens seem to have been domesticated in