
Where do we source our meat from?

Ageing Meat

Grading Meat

What makes up a piece of beef?
In deciding how to cook beef, it helps to understand what makes up a piece of beef.
Beef is often thought of as a protein. The protein molecules in a cut of meat go through some changes when cooked. The first thing that happens is that the protein molecules bunch together into fibres. Then, as you cook the beef, the fibres lose moisture and shrink, making your meat tougher.
Every piece of beef has some fat in it, some more than others. Fat has positives and negatives. Too much fat in one’s diet is thought to be unhealthy (although proponents of a Banting Diet may disagree!) However, when you cook your piece of beef, the fat creates a protective layer around your protein fibres, which helps prevent the meat from drying out. It also adds a lot of flavour, which is why there is often a massive premium placed on steaks with better marbling, such as Wagyu beef.
Meat is actually mostly made up of water. (Generally between 60%, and 75%!) When you cook a piece of beef, some of that water is lost. The less water you lose, the juicier the beef you end up with, so it’s important not to overcook your meat. A cut of beef also has varying amounts of collagen
and elastin, which are produced by the various muscles when they work hard. The harder a particular muscle works, the tougher the meat.
Collagen melts when you heat it, so a piece of beef that has lots of it can be tenderized by cooking. The only catch is it needs to cook for a long time to melt all the collagen. The best way to cook a cut of beef that’s high in collagen is to cook it slowly at a low heat. Unfortunately, you can’t break down elastin the same way. The only way to do so is by physically breaking the bonds. You can do this by tenderising the meat or grinding it. In fact, cuts of beef that are high in elastin often end up as minced beef.

Different Cooking Methods for Beef
The key to knowing how to cook beef is knowing the cut of beef you’re working with. Each cut has its own characteristics and needs to be cooked a certain way to get the best results. Once you understand what each cut is made of and why, knowing how to cook beef is easy! There are just a few rules to follow.
For example, steaks are low in collagen and elastin, so you can cook them quickly at a high heat to get tender, juicy results. A blade steak or short ribs, on the other hand, are much tougher. It’s better to braise them. The low, wet heat will break down all that tough collagen, and keep the meat moist.
There are lots of different ways of cooking beef. But they all boil down to two main types of cooking: dry heat, and wet heat.
Dry Heat
When you cook using a dry heat, (braaing, grilling, panfrying or roasting) a few different things happen. First of all, the surface of your beef forms a delicious, flavourful crust. The second thing that happens is that the beef loses its moisture. It evaporates from the surface first, and then the moisture from the inside moves outward. This gives the meat a more concentrated flavour. Dry heat is best for steaks such as fillet, rump or sirloin.
Wet Heat
When you cook with a wet heat, your beef loses less moisture. It still loses some, but the cooking juices make up for it. This lets you cook your beef longer, which can really help out a tougher cut. Braising and Stewing are great examples of wet heat cooking. Wet Heat cooking can produce meat with fantastic flavour, such as brisket or short ribs.