Beef Tenderness Marbling

Marbling and external fat crusts on meat cuts may add to the grease in the frying pan but they are not responsible for the flavor and tenderness of the meat.

Beef tenderness marbling.

Although marbling or the intermingling of fat with lean has been equated with palatability and tenderness for years increasing concerns regarding animal fat in the diet has caused the perceived health benefit from fat reduction to receive greater. Usda s agricultural marketing service ams employs 200 highly skilled beef graders who sometimes with the help of electronic monitoring evaluate several factors that determine the grade including the amount and distribution of marbling. Fat is far more tender than muscle fiber in steak. Well marbling refers to the white flecks of intramuscular fat in each cut of meat.

As meat is cooked to more advanced degrees of doneness the tougher it will get. However with beef steaks and roasts tenderness usually receives the highest priority. As a result marbling adds tenderness which is a preferable mouthfeel. Hence the practice of wrapping tenderloin steaks with strips of bacon without it the steak would lack flavor and moisture.

The visible fat streaks of marbled beef have become the standard for gauging beef tenderness in north america because until recently virtually all beef in north america was. Tenderness and marbling don t necessarily go hand in hand so while the beef tenderloin is possibly the most tender cut of beef it doesn t usually have much marbling. Prime has more marbling than choice and choice has more than select. Marbling the visible fat streaks and layers in your beef is actually not the important fat.

Marbling helps to insure acceptable tenderness at higher levels of doneness. It impacts the tenderness moistness and overall flavor and has become one of the most well known elements of steak evaluation. Marbling is what gives beef its flavor juiciness and tenderness. When cooking marbling adds flavor and juiciness as the fat melts into the steak.