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Diagram Showing Structure of Meat

a. Muscle fiber. b. Connective tissue. c. Fat globule. Under the microscope, lean meat will be seen to be made up of muscle fibers lying very close together, wrapped with a thin, tough membrane called connective tissue. Between the fibers are fat globules in greater or less quantity according to the age and condition of the animal. These muscle fibers are tubes filled with protein. When the animal is alive the protein is in a liquid form. Soon after the animal is killed the protein thickens and the muscles become stiff and hard. If the meat is allowed to hang in cold storage for a number of days the protein again becomes liquid and the walls of the tubes become softer and more tender. - Muscle fibers vary in length. The shorter the fiber the more tender and digestible the meat. Meat will be more tender when it is cooked if it is cut across the grain of the meat or at right angles to the length of the fibers.

The older the animal and the more the muscle is used the thicker will be the walls of the muscle fibers and the more connective tissue there will be around the fibers, consequently the meat will be tougher. This meat is juicier and richer in flavor, however, than the more tender portions. Also the kind of feed upon which the animal has fed affects the flavor and tenderness of the meat.

Cuts of Meat.

The methods of cutting up an animal for the market and the names by which the different cuts are known vary somewhat in different localities. The following diagrams will give the relative location of the more common cuts of beef, veal, lamb and pork, both in the animal before it is dressed and in the dressed side as it hangs in the meat market.

MEAT.