People who cook are well aware of the importance of cutting. Be it the vegetables or meats, cutting them in the right manner gives a boost to the cooked food. Professional cooking requires the ingredients to be cut and trimmed well. Meat cutting may appear a bit brutal and gruesome to some, but learning how to do it well changes the entire game of cooking. From sharpening the knives to be extremely swift while making the slices, meat cutting requires quite a lot of practice and skill polishing. If you are a meat lover buy meat chips.
To be a pro at using the knives in the right manner to cut the meat and slicing it off like an expert, there are certain tips and tricks that you need to follow. Some of them are:
1) Self-control is crucial:
IF you are someone who has a low tolerance rate to blood and flesh, you need to build some self-control. An animal comes with various parts and organs, and being a chef, you need to know the significance of each of them. IF you throw up right in the middle of cutting the meat, you won’t be able to get the kind of slices you want to cook. Hence, ensuring that nothing happens to you while you are making the pieces of a particular organ of the animal is indeed mandatory. There would obviously be excessive blood on the worktop you are performing the action on as well as the apron you are wearing. Therefore, you need to keep a strong heart and lesser emotions to be good at meat cutting.
2) Thin it out for steaks:
Most of the time, it is the grilled steak or the fried meat for which people cut the meat. One of the best meat cutting tips for steak is to cut it in thin slices. If you cut your meat way too thick, you may end up leaving it uncooked and raw in the end. This is because a slice of thicker meat requires more time to cook. It becomes a bit of a delicate situation when it may over-cook if placed on the pan for way too long. This would lead to it losing all its moisture and tenderness. Hence thinning out the meat pieces will make their grilling much easier. A thin slice of meat is also quite easy to thaw, which makes its grilling stress-free. It is also a healthier option, making it a good choice for the daily diet.
3) Know your animal:
Before deciding on how to cut meats pieces of your animal, you should get all the required information about the particular animal you are slaughtering. Different animals come with different natural clefts that change the way they should be cut. The musculature of each animal is unique; hence it is important to know about that before placing your knife on it. Animals with seams should be targeted behind the 5th rib, while the chest is cut in an opposite direction. In a similar manner, every animal needs to be cut in a different manner. The division of fat across the body of animals makes cutting of the meat tricky and particular to each animal.
4) Manage the wetness:
The fat accumulated across various parts of an animal body makes the meat wet! While you are cutting the meat according to your desired manner, you may get overwhelmed by the level of wetness you would have to encounter. Hence, it is necessary to stay ready for it and keep a strong grip on the knife you are using to make the cuts. Keep the knife clean by scrubbing it off the blood time and again. This will ensure that the craver you are using doesn’t slip off the meat and fall down.
5) Using sharp tools:
All the tools and meat cutting knives that you use to slice the meats should be sharp enough to make neat cuts. One major benefit that comes from using a sharp tool is that it reduces the amount of effort one needs to put in the process of cutting. As most of the animals come with thicker meats, throbbing inside them get tough. Well-honed tools will make the practicing of meat cutting much more efficient.
However, a whetted tool needs to be used with great care and control.
6) Keep safety:
When it comes to working with knives and sharp tools, it is necessary to ensure the safety of self as well as of others. If you are not a professional and are in the learning phase, you shouldn’t overlook the importance of keeping the surroundings of your work safe. Leaving the meat cutting knives on the table to continue the work swiftly after a short break can lead to disastrous results. Alongside this, making drawers on the cutting counter to place the knives would keep them safe for as long as you want. OR, you could put them in a wooden knife board and they would always remain sharp.
If kids are moving around the house, doing this would put them at risk. Only the knife that you are currently using should be visible, while the rest should be secured in a box or something.
7) Manage the cutting board:
Once you are done with slicing off the meat from the animals, it is time to place it on the cutting board and make chops! This needs to be done with great caution and care. Putting a damp cloth or rug under the cutting board would keep it secure on the surface. This way it won’t slip off and cause any problem or discomfort.
8) Develop slicing skills:
Considering the kind of dish you are cooking, you need to develop your slicing skills. Each of the meat pieces has to be cut in a different manner with a different cutting knife or blade. For instance, cutting a beef tenderloin is extremely different from cutting steaks pieces for grilling. In a similar manner, cutting the ribs and boning the meat is done using a different skill set. It would surely require you quite some time to learn all these techniques and you can expect to get pro at them immediately.
Conclusion:
No matter you need to make additional cuttings and trimming on an already cut piece of meat or have to cut an entire animal from scratch, you surely need the right skills to do so. Each piece comes with a different requirement with varied tools to be used on it. However, long-term practice and repetition would make you skillful at it. Keeping your surroundings safe, having the meat cutting knives secured well and cleaning them regularly would make you a good chef.