A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE ART OF MEAT HANDLING

The flesh of animals eaten as food by humans is known as meat. Meat has to be cooked because it is unfit for human consumption in its raw state. Anyone who can cook can be a chef, but to become a professional chef you need to be competent in all aspects of the vast field of food preparation, and butchery is a fundamental chef skill. To select quality meat of a suitable texture, one must have a good knowledge of meat. This is why we as chefs need to talk about the art of meat handling that comes under the science of butchery.?

Encompassing red meat, white meat, poultry, game, seafood, etc, meat collectively brings us quite a plethora of choices as a source of food, offering chefs wonderful opportunities to turn out a wide variety of dishes for the table. In fact, meat has become a staple food for many popular restaurant menu items. Being a very valuable livestock product, for many people, it serves as their first choice of a source of animal protein. The nature of the animals' flesh differs on factors like the type of the animal, breeding conditions, diet, etc. The parts of the animal's carcass need to be handled and processed carefully in order to ensure the quality, flavour, texture, etc of the final dishes that are eventually cooked. These include freezing, hanging, smoking, brining, curing, drying, butchering, defrosting, etc before the actual cooking. All these processes come under the subject of handling meat.

Raw meat derived from the animal's body needs to be cut into smaller portions to be utilized for eventual cooking. In butchery, the cuts also depend on the portion of the carcass from which they are taken. Different parts of the animal's body have different levels of connective tissue. The relevant culinary treatment of a cut taken from a portion primarily depends on the degree of connective tissue present, and the dish to cook also has to be chosen from a suitable part. While the meats have been adapted to different cooking styles found around the world, individual cuts vary from country to country throughout different regions.?

The procedures that raw meat has to undergo before it is converted into food should ensure that they prevent the harmful effects of the microbes that meat harbors. Therefore, the environments of the meat departments of catering establishments should always be maintained in a clean and hygienic manner through strict sanitary procedures to avoid the effects of harmful pathogens. It is also very important that the staff who handle meat should use and wear proper equipment, both for their personal protection and the efficient utilization of the meat. In butchery operations, such measures are essential to prevent food poisoning through cross-contamination.

As a professional chef, I have learned that the effects of the meat production department are a huge factor in the catering industry and play a scientific part in the cost of kitchen meals in any catering business. One of the most important operating expenses of a restaurant business is the cost of its food. Known as food cost, it is what determines how much money a business makes or loses. It is calculated as a percentage of sales by adding the purchases to the opening inventory, subtracting it from the closing inventory to find the actual cost known as 'usage', and dividing it from the food sales. It is invaluable to maintain effective control over all stocks of raw meat that go through butchery operations to reduce the cost that ultimately shows through figures. Good stock control procedures include suitable storage of raw food, monitoring of stock movement, observing proper stock rotation, etc, and are very important practices for handling meat that is at the heart of kitchen management.

Overall, food waste can negatively impact the restaurant's profitability by way of high costs. Reducing meat waste by following correct butchery practices contributes to reducing food costs. This in turn will contribute to achieving a better profit margin while keeping costs within your allocated kitchen budget. Thus, the importance of professional butchery operations from how to separate muscle tissue from bone and fat to utilizing every piece of meat from an animal carcass for commercial use can be seen. It is essential that a good commercial chef knows how to do his food cost-accounting business in the kitchen while maintaining the quality of the food coming out of the kitchen. The meat handling knowledge that you possess will be a good factor to enable you to save and control your food production costs.

Dear culinary students, if you have a real interest in cheffing and plan to pursue your career in the kitchen sector, this is my message to all of you. A comprehensive understanding of the meat production process is essential in this field. Naturally, you should be well-versed in butchery subjects, and possess a thorough knowledge of the fine art of handling meat. I want you all to consider raising your awareness in your culinary journey to eventually become a successful and professional master chef.

?On the other hand, if you do not like working in meat production operations, please do not choose this career path. For your convenience, I contribute my wealth of knowledge by publishing numerous informative articles on many interesting culinary subjects via social media, and would love to share my knowledge with all of you. My butchery training programs will provide a vast range of technical practical & theoretical knowledge with a skill-building approach to the importance of every part of the animal and how to get the best out of the parts. I believe that such know-how will help you to hone your professional skills and learn how to handle raw meat better. This is especially true for our young passionate chefs to do well during their steps in the exciting culinary career!

Thank you for reading my article. See you soon with another delicious culinary article!?

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?Baba Borhan