The New Complete Book of Food
Diets That May Restrict or Exclude This Food
Controlled-fat, low-cholesterol diet
Low-protein diet (for some forms of kidney disease)Buying This Food
Look for: Fresh, red beef. The fat should be white, not yellow.
Choose lean cuts of beef with as little internal marbling (streaks of fat) as possible. The
leanest cuts are flank steak and round steak; rib steaks, brisket, and chuck have the most fat.
USDA grading, which is determined by the maturity of the animal and marbling in meat, is
also a guide to fat content. U.S. prime has more marbling than U.S. choice, which has more
marbling than U.S. good. All are equally nutritious; the difference is how tender they are,
which depends on how much fat is present.
Choose the cut of meat that is right for your recipe. Generally, the cuts from the cen-
ter of the animal’s back—the rib, the T-Bone, the porterhouse steaks—are the most tender.
They can be cooked by dry heat—broiling, roasting, pan-frying. Cuts from around the legs,
the underbelly, and the neck—the shank, the brisket, the round—contain muscles used for
movement. They must be tenderized by stewing or boiling, the long, moist cooking methods
that break down the connective tissue that makes meat tough.Storing This Food
Refrigerate raw beef immediately, carefully wrapped to prevent its drippings from contami-
nating other foods. Refrigeration prolongs the freshness of beef by slowing the natural multi-
plication of bacteria on the meat surface. Unchecked, these bacteria will convert proteins and
other substances on the surface of the meat to a slimy film and change meat’s sulfur-contain-
ing amino acids methionine and cystine into smelly chemicals called mercaptans. When the
mercaptans combine with myoglobin, they produce the greenish pigment that gives spoiled
meat its characteristic unpleasant appearance.
Fresh ground beef, with many surfaces where bacteria can live, should be used within
24 to 48 hours. Other cuts of beef may stay fresh in the refrigerator for three to five days.Preparing This Food
Trim the beef carefully. By judiciously cutting away all visible fat you can significantly
reduce the amount of fat and cholesterol in each serving.
When you are done, clean all utensils thoroughly with soap and hot water. Wash your
cutting board, wood or plastic, with hot water, soap, and a bleach-and-water solution. For
ultimate safety in preventing the transfer of microorganisms from the raw meat to other
foods, keep one cutting board exclusively for raw meats, fish, and poultry, and a second one
for everything else. Finally, don’t forget to wash your hands.