Fresh new hell in the meat department!

[Jenise]

The package of boneless pork loin steaks, which I picked up because it was uncommonly marbled and good looking, had a sticker on it: Certified Tenderness. I looked around to see if other cuts had the sticker, and they did. All of them. All the pork, that is, and all the beef too. A new sign said, "Certified tender or your money back."

I took the package up to the meat case and asked if they were now injecting the meat with a solution--the package indicated no added ingredients. Nope, the butcheress told me, "we have a new machine that has hundreds of tiny needles on it, and when we run the meat through that it gets REAL tender."

Every. Single. Cut.

Jenise, Hi....

I have been known to beat octopii on rocks, to pound my veal schnitzels with a wood mallet and to massage my calamari but never, never with the tiny little needles. A shame that Dante is not alive. Perhaps he might propose a new level of hell in which we could install a machine such as this into which we can tenderize the humans that previously "tenderized" our meat?

Best
Rogov

Seems better than the solution injection solution. (So to speak.)

Would be nice if they just offered plain ol' pork, though.

There is a store by my office that has that type of machine and offers the service on request. I have only requested the process twice and that was on boneless lamb shoulder. I liked the results because not only did it naturally tenderize what can be a tougher cut of meat but it allowed my marinade to more deeply penetrate the meat. But I am thankful it is just on request and not all cuts of meat are automatically run through the machine.

I don't think you're going to like the needled meat. It's a cheap trick to break up the sinewy tissue in tough meat. A lot of the mass feeding joints use needled beef.

There's a horror movie about hell (Hellraiser I think it's called) that has, as a main character, a guy named Pinhead. Could this be his kind of entre?

and for all of you who would like to play along at home:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001347JK6/?ta ... heyp6yj6_e

I have a Deni http://www.amazon.com/Deni-MT48-Blade-Meat-Tenderizer/dp/B0000DDUCM that I use on tougher cuts. It beats chewing until your jaws are sore. But I'd rather do it myself than have it done for me at the store. Last weekend, while at my sister's in Maine, I prepared several chuck steaks by stabbing with a table fork (she doesn't have a Deni), then followed with a 24-hour marinade of Italian salad dressing and dry white wine. Turned out pretty tasty. I used leftovers a few days later to make Strogonov.

But I'd rather do it myself than have it done for me at the store.

Which is the crux of it IMO. At home you do it when you want to on the precise pieces of meat that need it and for as much or as little as required.

[TROLL] Seems like a way for the supermarket to sell crappier pieces of meat... for more money

regards

Ian

A couple of years ago, I was talking with someone about food and what is happening to it, and how it is being delivered in the stores. This lady told me that her pastor had given a wonderful sermon at church...it was all about how compliant we, as Americans, were becoming. The pastor said we are accepting things we do not like, trust or understand, and we should start speaking up and doing something about it.

When our Costco store first came to Redding, they were selling meat that had been through a needle machine. I hated it and I told them that until they stopped doing such a horrible thing to meat, unless I requested it, I would not buy it there. For a very long time I never even looked at their meat. I guess they had lots of complaints from this meat and potatoes town because they no longer do it, unless you request it. So folks, get out there and complain and don't spend your money on things you are unhappy with. I take back food, on occasion. I call companies and give them my opinion about product, always in a business mode and with respect to the person I am speaking with. I've had some great results and some not so great. My pet peeve is the companies that say...."you are the first one to tell us this," or "I've never heard that from anyone before". Yea, right!

I'm curious Jenise, did you buy it and if so, how was it?

This reminds me of a wonderful story from Nigel Barley in his book, The Innocent Anthropologist, describing his experiences amongst the Dowayo people of northern Cameroon -

"...A kindly old woman ... brought me a calabash of the flesh already stripped. This was very much more tender. I remarked on it to Matthieu. 'Of course patron', he replied, 'she has already chewed it for you'. ..."

The book (in fact any book from Nigel Barley) is HIGHLY recommended.

The machines have been around for years. Restaurants used to use them when making their veal cutlets. They would purchase leg of veal, cut it themselves and run it through the machine. This gave them the opportunity to keep veal on their menu at a reasonable price.

Also I believe that in some countries of Latin America where Milanesa (made from beef "lomo") is popular the machine is used.

I frankly think I prefer the end product from the machine than one produced by pounding the hell out of a piece of meat with a meat hammer. The machine product is less mushy.

But "Sobre gustos Y colores no hay nada escrito"

Last weekend, while at my sister's in Maine

You were were you!

Carl

All the more reason I am glad I eat only what I hunt. As soon as the acorns fall I am going to have some nice tender hog, no needles required.

rwj