Meat goes well with various foods, so you can cook a wide variety of dishes from it.

In the manufacture of meat dishes, all types of heat treatment are used: boiling, poaching, frying, stewing and baking. Temperature treatment destroys some of the vitamins; so, when cooking, their content decreases by 45 - 60%, when roasting - by 10 - 15, and during sterilization (preparation of canned food) - by 10 - 55%.

Cooking and poaching

Beef, veal, lamb, rabbit and pork for second courses are boiled in a small amount of water (1-1.5 liters per 1 kg of meat). Prepared for cooking meat, onions, parsley, carrots and celery (15 g of vegetables per 1 kg of meat) are placed in hot water and heated to a boil, after which cooking is continued at a temperature of 90-95 ° until the meat is ready. As a result of this cooking method, the extraction of soluble substances from it is reduced. Salt is added towards the end of cooking. The broth after cooking meat products is used to make sauces or soups.

The duration of cooking meat is different and depends mainly on the type of animals, their age and fatness. The cooking time of meat of various types also varies (from 40 minutes to 3 hours) depending on the part of the carcass and the size of the pieces taken for cooking.

To determine readiness, take into account the cooking time of the meat, and also pierce the thickest part of the piece with a chef's needle. If the needle enters with some effort and a reddish juice appears at the puncture site, coagulating in boiling water, then the meat has not yet been cooked. Pieces of cooked meat are placed in a bowl in one row, a little broth is added, covered with a lid and stored until serving at a temperature of 60-65 °. In veal and lamb breasts, the ribs are taken out immediately after cooking.