emulsifi cation and binding

Emulsifi cation has to do with the amount of fat globules being dispersed and stabi-lized evenly throughout the muscle fi bers and proteins. This infl uences the texture and helps with the binding process of meat. When we take ground meat that has salt added, we pool the myosins out to help bind everything, and we add water to it to disperse the proteins so that they can absorb a certain amount of fat. We then mix in fat by mixing with a paddle or mixing with a high-speed cutter to form a homogenous and almost spongy mixture. The mixture can be chunky or a smooth paste, as in bo-logna. We need to mix the protein with the water that it has in it or any extra that has been added, then we mix in the fat. This process is like what happens when you make Hollandaise sauce. You add liquid to the protein to thin it or disperse it so that it can accept the fat that you are going to mix into it.

Bind-in sausages and forcemeat are products that, when cooked, will hold to-gether without losing a lot of water, fat, and texture.

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palatability

Palatability is the most important characteristic. The taste of the meat depends on all the other characteristics put together. For a meat to be palatable, it must be juicy, ten-der, and fl avorful. This is all affected by the fat content, moisture content, and muscle fi bers with good marbling.

muscle organization

The muscle organization of meat used in charcuterie is a lot like human muscle. Live cells join together and lead to the formation of organs and tissues. There are three types of muscles in the body: striated voluntary or skeletal muscle, striated involuntary or cardiac muscle, and the smooth or involuntary muscle. Muscle also may contain fat and connective tissue.

Skeletal muscle helps the animal to adjust to its external environment. It makes up to 35 to 65 percent of all muscle in an animal. The fi bers can range from 0.00196 to 0.00393 inches to 50 to 100 micrometers in diameter and can be extremely long.

The fi bers constitute 75 to 92 percent of the muscle, while the rest is nerve fi bers, blood vessels, and connective tissues. Cardiac muscle is the heart. The fi bers have a diameter of 0.00059 inches/15 micrometers. Smooth muscle helps maintain the body’s internal environment. It is found in the arteries and in the lymph, digestive, and reproductive systems. Smooth muscle has long spindle-shaped fi bers, 0.000236 inches/6 micrometers in diameter.

There can also be fat, called intramuscular fat, deposited within the muscle. If it is between muscles, it is then known as intermuscular fat. Connective tissue is what holds the fi bers together in the muscle. The epimysium is the sheath surrounding the entire muscle. The perimysium is the layer beneath that, dividing the fi bers into small groups. The endomysium is the layer under the perimysium that surrounds each muscle fi ber. Each layer is thinner than the one before.

Muscles engaged in lighter activities have a fi ner texture; heavily worked muscles will have a coarse texture. The fi ner textured meats will be more tender and moist.

These nonmotion muscles are located more toward the center of the body. Motion muscles are the legs and arms in humans.

Fish muscles are made up of myotomes and myocammata. The anatomy of fi sh muscle is simple. Basically, there are two bundles of muscles on each side of the ver-tebral column, and each of these bundles is further separated into upper mass above the horizontal axis. A septum, ventral mass below this septum, and the muscle cells run in a longitudinal direction, separated perpendicularly by sheets of connective tis-sue (myocommato). The muscle segments lying in between the sheets of connective tissue are called myotomes. The longest muscle cells are found in the twelfth myotome counting from the head. The length of the cells as well as the thickness of the myo-commato will increase with age.

THE ART OF CHARCUTERIE

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Sides are prepared by making a cut down the length of a backbone.

Each side is cut into two pieces to make quarters, dividing the sides between specifi c vertebrae. Saddles are made by cutting the animal across the belly, again at a specifi ed point. The exact standards for individual animal types govern where the carcass is to be divided.

The next step is to cut the animal into what are referred to as primal cuts. There are uniform standards for beef, veal, pork, and lamb primals. These large cuts are then further broken down into subprimals. Subprimals are generally trimmed and packed as food service, value added, or HRI (hotel, restaurant, and institution) cuts.

There may be even more fabrication or butchering done to prepare steaks, chops, roasts, or ground meat. These cuts are referred to as portion control cuts.

THE ART OF CHARCUTERIE

49

PORK CARCASS BREAKDOWN

Clear Plate Back Fat

Butt (Boston Butt)

Loin

Belly Spare Ribs

Shoulder, Picnic Jowl

Leg Ham

Hock

Foot Hock

Foot

LAMB CARCASS BREAKDOWN

Foresaddle Hindsaddle

Loin

Leg Breast

Foreshank Chuck Neck

Rack