Marbling In Meat Lubrication

Overcooking is marbling s worst nightmare since it renders all the fat out of the meat leaving behind a dry and tough steak without the moist flavors we know and love.

Marbling in meat lubrication.

Marbling keeps the meat moist during cooking so natural juices don t evaporate in the pan. In general the more marbling it contains the better a cut of meat is. Review of material what the student should know. If marbling enhances juici ness by serving as a lubricant around muscle bundles then it should be uniformly and finely dispersed throughout the lean.

Marbling is so named because the streaks of fat resemble a marble pattern. Also called intramuscular fat marbling adds flavor and is one of the main criteria for judging the quality of cuts of meat. As meat is cooked to more advanced degrees of doneness the tougher it will get. Marbling helps to insure acceptable tenderness at higher levels of doneness.

Marble score or grades are a component of the aus meat beef quality grading system and is assessed within the ribeye muscle. As the level of marbling increases in meat the bulk density decreases. In addition to the quantity of marbling the distribution and texture of visible fat flecks within the ribeye are also considered during assessment of marbling score. Marbling that is fine textured small flecks and uniformly distributed is preferred over marbling that appears as large coarse flecks of intramuscular fat.

There is less muscle fiber and collagen per unit volume of meat potentially requiring less oral processing foster et al.