The Golden cut
Tender or tough: That’s why it’s important how you cut (raw) meat
With the right knife, cutting meat is much easier
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To ensure that a piece of meat remains tender and juicy after searing, the cutting technique plays an important role – in addition to the cooking time – in preparation: the direction of the grain determines how you have to cut the meat.
If meat chews like a dry shoe sole after cooking, the cooking time is not necessarily to blame for the poor taste. In fact, the way you cut your meat has a big impact on the quality when you eat it. Especially if the meat is already fundamentally firmer. Due to the different amounts of meat and muscle fibers as well as connective tissue, the wrong cutting technique is less noticeable with chicken breast than with a steak. However, if you value tender meat, you should know the most important rules when cutting it. What they are and why The types of knives that are crucial for the cutting technique are explained as follows.
Cutting meat: This is the right technique
There are only two ways to cut meat: either parallel to the grain or across the grain – but only one option is the right one. This is simply due to the length of the fibers, which are very difficult to chew and make the meat tough like the sole of a shoe. They are largely preserved if the meat is cut parallel to the fibers (i.e. the white stripes). However, if you cut the meat across the fibers, they don’t have to be broken up when chewing. This makes the meat much easier to chew. In plain language this means: Always cut across the grain. Because long fibers make the meat tough and short fibers make it tender. This applies equally to raw and cooked meat.
That’s why a carving knife is the best choice
If you chop meat with a knife that is too small, you won’t be able to make “clean” cuts. Quite the opposite: If the cut surface frays, this will have a negative impact on the cooking process. In other words, the meat becomes tough. For this reason there are special ones meat knife, which are characterized by a long and narrow blade. They cut the meat smoothly and make it tender and juicy after preparation. However, you should always make sure that your knife is sharp – because a dull blade does not create a smooth cut. Here you can have a classic Knife sharpener or Knife block Use with ceramic whetstone to sharpen the knife.
These knives are suitable for cutting meat:
- Total length: 33cm
- Blade length: 20 cm
- Material: stainless steel
- Total length: 36cm
- Blade length: 24 cm
- Material: quality steel
- Total length: 32.5cm
- Blade length: 20 cm
- Material: alloy steel
4. Carving knife from Sunnecko
- Total length: 32.3 cm
- Blade length: 8″
- Material: Damascus steel
- Blade length: 20 cm
- Material: Damascus steel
Cutting meat: The best tips and tricks
In addition to the right technique and a sharp knife, there are other tricks you can use when cutting meat:
- If the meat fibers run at an angle, such as in a piece of fillet, you must also cut the meat at an angle to the grain. Otherwise, the 90 degree rule always applies.
- Possible tendons are removed along their direction, i.e. you first cut the meat in half and separate them from the meat – before chopping it across the grain.
- If you want to prepare goulash, the meat must first be cut slice by slice across the grain before you then cut it into small pieces.
- If the fibers don’t all run in the same direction, as with belly meat, for example, cut across the main direction anyway – orientate yourself on most of the fibers.
- If you are unsure how to cut the meat, you can separate a small piece of it. You can see the direction of the grain better in the cut.
- Another way to determine the direction of the grain is to cut off a piece of meat and fry it briefly. If it’s tender, you’re right. If it’s tough, you’ll have to try again.
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