The main requirement when cooking stuffed meat is to choose the right big piece of “marble” flesh, without veins, with a small amount of evenly distributed fat.
To begin with, five tips for choosing the right meat:
Tip one is the market, not the store. Meat is not yogurt and not cookies, its purchase cannot be allowed to drift. Buy good quality meat can only be on the market. Only there you can protect yourself from different tricks, which are used by supermarkets, creating the appearance of freshness of products.
Tip two - learn the color. The color of meat is the main sign of freshness along with the smell. Good beef has a confident red color, pink pork, veal is also pink, but darker, lamb resembles beef, but even richer.
Third. Inspect the surface. Dried meat with a thin pale pink or pale red crust is considered quite normal if it has a uniform color. If it stains a different color - beware. Good meat can not be mucous, after merging with his hand should not leave any traces.
Fourth. A true adviser in determining the quality of meat will be its smell. Sniff it. A subtle smell should prompt you to make a tasty steak or chop immediately. Do not hope that the heat treatment will remove the unpleasant smell - the taste of spoiled, bad-smelling, meat may not be quite pleasant.
And the fifth, last tip - do a test for elasticity. Fresh meat should spring up, if you press on it with your finger - the fossa is immediately smoothed.
Stuffed Meat - Food Preparation
Preparing meat for stuffing, clearly remember the goal - it should be a boneless tenderloin, thick, of large volume, without veins. It is better if the fat is distributed throughout the volume, so the meat will be more juicy. Feel free to share your wishes with the butcher. Frozen meat should also be checked for sound - knock on it, cut it a little and attach a finger. There should be a bright color - it means the meat is quite suitable. Defrost it gently and for a long time, then cooking stuffed meat from frozen foods will be the same as with fresh foods.
Stuffed Meat - Cooking Utensils
As a rule, stuffed meat is cooked in the oven, often the recipe involves the use of foil. It is advisable to use cast-iron, clay or enameled ware. Do not use aluminum pans - on a thin bottom the meat can burn. For this purpose, modern heat-resistant glass chafers are perfect.
Recipe 1: Beef Chest with Mushrooms and White Wine
From this dish you can come to the real “veal” delight. Choose a large and thick piece of beef pulp. Beef recipes are different in that meat is hard to make soft. In our case, we first roast it, and then put it in the oven for baking.
Ingredients: beef whole piece (1 kg), white wine, mushrooms (mushrooms or white, 500 gr.), Onions (1 pc.), Carrots (1 pc.), Olives, oil (30 gr. ), pepper, salt, red sauce.
Method of preparation
Fry the meat with a piece of carrots and onions, cover with white wine and red sauce so as to cover it completely. Stew for 30 minutes. From the cooled piece we cut off the lid - a flat layer of meat, so that the walls and bottom of the chest remain.
Mushrooms passeruem on oil. We form the contents of the trunk - 3/4 of meat, cut into pieces, browned mushrooms or porcini mushrooms, sliced olives, meat mouth sauce, salt, pepper, mix thoroughly. Fill the inside of the trunk with minced meat and close it with our lid. Sprinkle with grated cheese, sprinkle with butter and bake. Our little chest is a real jewel in culinary art.
Recipe 2: Stuffed Pork with Nuts and Oranges
This is a gorgeous dish of a festive table or dinner party, a real royal recipe. Who can give up sweet and sour pork with nuts cooked with great love? Be patient, you have to tinker a bit. Ingredients: a large piece of pork (1 kg.), 1 orange, nuts (3 tbsp. L.), Garlic (2-3 cloves), a bunch of parsley or basil, vegetable oil, salt, pepper, soy sauce (2 tablespoons), honey (2 tablespoons).
Method of preparation
Wash, dry, grate the meat from all over with salt and pepper. From the side we make a big cut, we practically cut all the meat, leaving the edges. We open it like a book. We spread the filling on half: chopped nuts, greens, garlic, vegetable oil. Align the surface of the filling and close the second layer of meat, tightly tied with thread, lay out in foil, wrap and set to bake.
Syrup: separate the zest from a small orange, three on a fine grater, squeeze the juice. Add the zest, honey, ginger, soy sauce to the juice, set on high heat, boil until thick. We unroll the meat, coat it with syrup, wrap it again and bake in the oven for another 5-10 minutes.
Original, unusual and tasty!
Recipe 3: Pork neck with apples, baked in foil
Pork neck is a real hit among fans of roasted meat or kebabs. In our case, this is the ideal basis for the most juicy and appetizing baked stuffed dish. Apple sauce will give it a delicate flavor and turn it from ordinary roast pork into a real gourmet dish.
Ingredients: pork neck (800 gr.), Apples (2-3), crackers (0.5 cups), onions (2 pcs.), Pepper, vegetable oil, lemon juice, bay leaf, peas black pepper.
Method of preparation
Cut the neck layer of the same thickness. Sprinkle with lemon juice and vegetable oil, sprinkle with pepper, salt and rub with hands in meat. Onions, cut into small cubes, fry in vegetable oil until browning, cut the apples into cubes or three grated and add to the onions. Pass a few minutes. Remove pan from heat, add crackers, salt, pepper, mix. This is our filling. Cool it to room temperature. Lay out the stuffing on the spread out meat and wrap the meat in a roll, tie up with a string. In order for the meat to be wrapped in foil completely, fold the cross two pieces of foil and lubricate the top sheet with oil. Put the meat on it, bay leaf, peppercorns, wrap and put in a well-heated oven. Important! Wrap the meat so that the juice does not have a chance to drain, then our meat will become juicy and soft. We bake more than an hour, approximately 80 minutes.
Stuffed meat - tips from experienced chefs
- For the preparation of stuffed meat is taken a large number of spices, since mainly used large pieces. Ideally, if you marinate the meat overnight and leave it in the refrigerator for several hours, it will evenly salt and absorb the aromas of spices and spices.
- Do not feel sorry for the foil for meat. Wrap it so that the juice stays inside, it will make the dish more juicy and tender. If you want to brown it - open under the grill for 15 minutes.
