The age of maturity of meat - what is it and why is it done?

[The age of maturity of meat - what is it and what is it for?]

Meat products are the main supplier of protein, and this, in turn, is the nitrogen required for building and repairing body tissues. The digestibility of proteins in meat products is much higher than in plant products. The fat in meat is a source of energy. Meat products are rich in nitrogenous extractives, which, when cooked, pass into broth, giving it aroma, stimulating appetite and promoting better absorption of food.
Meat products contain vitamins A, D and group B, as well as mineral salts of phosphorus, potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron. Meat is used to prepare a vast assortment of dishes of high quality and great variety of flavors. All this makes meat products irreplaceable, valuable food products.
The age of maturity of meat - what is it and what is it for?

People have learned a long time ago that meat gets better after aging. In ancient times, after slaughtering a bull, the whole carcass, of course, was not eaten at once, but hung in the cellar for storage. And the more time passed, the more delicious and softer each cut piece became.
In Russia, it has always been believed that fresh meat is the best, but it turns out that we are deeply mistaken and fresh meat is just the most uninteresting.
Why? We read about this below.

Fermentation (ripening) of meat
The meat of a just killed animal has a dense consistency, when cooked it gives a non-aromatic broth, it is almost impossible to extract meat juice from such meat, its reaction is close to neutral, it is tough, poorly digested. During the first 24 hours after the slaughter of the animal (depending on temperature and other factors), the nutritional quality and external characteristics of meat change dramatically: the meat becomes tender, the meat juice is easily separated, when cooking, the meat gives a transparent aromatic broth, its reaction shifts to the sour side, the meat is well digested. The acquisition of other new properties by meat is caused by changes in its chemical composition and physical-colloidal structure. The process, as a result of which meat acquires new characteristics, is called fermentation or maturation of meat.

WIKIPEDIA
Meat autolysis - the process of spontaneous changes in the chemical composition, structure and properties of raw meat after the slaughter of an animal under the influence of the meat's own enzymes.
After the termination of the animal's life, due to the cessation of oxygen supply, the absence of oxidative transformations and blood circulation, inhibition of the synthesis and production of energy, the accumulation of end products of metabolism in the tissues and the violation of the osmotic pressure of cells, self-destruction of vital systems and spontaneous development of enzymatic processes occur in meat long-term preserving their catalytic activity of enzymes. As a result of their development, tissue components disintegrate, the quality characteristics of meat (mechanical strength, level of water-binding capacity, taste, color, aroma) and its resistance to microbiological processes change.

Further I offer material from the Internet

Ripening meat
The recently raised topic of trying to cook beef properly, as befits a closer look, revealed additional nuances.
Many, like me, have probably heard something and somewhere about the maturation and aging of meat, but as it turned out, no one has a more or less complete understanding. On the Internet, by the way, there is also very little information.
But something touched me, and I tried to rummage around here and there and somehow rake everything I read into a pile, which I want to share with you, without pretending to be the ultimate truth.



I don’t know why, but when it comes to aging or ripening meat, it usually means beef, especially since in English it is called “beef aging”, that is, in translation - aging of beef.

Autolysis of meat
But it turns out, to be precise, from a scientific point of view, the processes occurring in meat after the slaughter of an animal are called autolytic, and scientists are studying the autolysis of meat.

Autolysis - (from Auto ... and Greek lýsis decomposition, decay), self-digestion of tissues of animals, plants and microorganisms.)

From what I was able to learn, it can be unambiguously concluded that these processes are very complex and, apparently, have not yet been studied with absolute accuracy. Therefore, I did not focus on chemistry, but focused on more understandable, applied nuances. At the first glance at autolysis, it becomes clear that it concerns absolutely any meat, even fish, and not just beef. Therefore, talking only about the ripening of beef is somewhat incorrect.

Autolysis of any meat is characterized by at least 3 main stages.

- Steamed meat. This is meat immediately after the slaughter of the animal. It is soft, elastic, characterized by good moisture content and moisture retention. True, as experts say, it has a less pronounced aroma and taste. While cooking is soft. The shepherds told me that there is nothing better than a steamed mutton kebab, no one pickles it, they only fry it with salt and pepper, stringing it on the skewer while still warm. But fresh meat does not last long.

- Depending on the type of animal, the ambient temperature and other factors, after a while the meat enters the rigor mortis phase.
On average, it is believed that for rabbits and birds rigor mortis occurs in 30 minutes at normal temperatures, and at 0 ° C it takes a little more time, about 4-6 hours. Cattle enter the rigor mortis stage a little later, it takes 10 to 24 hours for it, depending on the temperature, size of the animals, the nature of the food and conditions of detention, and even on their mental state and other factors. It should be noted that rigor mortis occurs not quite evenly over the parts of the carcass.

Rigor mortis is not the most interesting thing. He sharply increases rigidity and elasticity. Scientific evidence suggests that shear stress and modulus of elasticity are doubled. For some reason, the acidity, the so-called Ph, goes to the sour side, from 7 units to 5.5. Other changes are also observed. It is clear that cooking such meat will not give good results.
Analyzing current trends, we can conclude that very often we just eat meat in a state of rigor mortis or close to it. For example, the bull was killed yesterday, and today it was brought to the market. And we just bought it today, in a day or even 12 hours, at the most "suitable" moment for rigor mortis, and ran to cook.

- But, thank God, after the onset of rigor mortis, the meat enters the next phase, the so-called resolution of rigor mortis, or the stage of maturation. This is where all the fun begins.

Ripening meat
Due to autolytic processes, metamorphoses occur with meat, it becomes softer even when it is paired, the shear stress and modulus of elasticity from 100 units (fresh meat) decrease to almost 60, in addition, experts testify to positive changes in other organoleptic characteristics. In short, the meat becomes just great.

But with the maturation of meat, everything is far from simple. There are still no uniform criteria for assessing the degree of maturation. There is also no single recommended technology. Meanwhile, holding temperature and time are very important conditions.And also there are related problems, this is the development of microorganisms and the subsequent tendency of meat to spoil, as well as the loss of moisture in the meat, the so-called shrinkage.

The higher the holding temperature, the faster ripening occurs, but the higher the likelihood of spoilage of the meat, and, accordingly, the requirements for compliance with sterility increase. The lower the holding temperature, the longer it takes to ripen, but the tendency of meat to spoil is lower.

It is worth noting that after a certain stage of maturation, the characteristics of the meat stop changing and further aging becomes meaningless, moreover, the meat enters the stage of deep autolysis, in simple terms, it begins to actively decompose with the release of certain odors, mucus, and so on.

In the old days, butchers were guided only by their sense of smell and tactile sensations. Apparently, this is still being guided now, only by adding a little science.

There are several approaches to meat maturation.
Old methods prescribed keeping meat at temperatures close to 0 ° C, with a humidity of about 85% to reduce shrinkage, as well as with high ventilation of the premises to prevent the active development of microorganisms. It was recommended to constantly wipe the meat or wrap it in a constantly changing shroud of plain cloth. This is the so-called "dry" method, "dry aging".
Shrinkage up to 25% of the initial weight was considered the norm. Whole carcasses or rather large parts of the carcass were subjected to this aging. During maturation, they usually dried outside, covered with a film, which had to be removed when preparing the meat for cooking. At the same time, special cuts could be made on some carcasses to improve ventilation to prevent premature spoilage. It is clear that in this way it is extremely difficult to ripen individual steaks. Since the aging process required additional costs and threatened to lose the weight of the carcass by almost a quarter, only the most elite varieties of meat were subjected to such a procedure - well-fed carcasses of certain breeds, mainly Angus, specially fed, with a large amount of fat and marble veins. In this way, the meat could be aged for more than 25 days, in the flesh up to a month.

Modern approaches are less conservative. So, it was found that at a temperature of 37 ° C, meat ripening occurs in just 4-5 hours. Therefore, now at industrial plants, meat can be subjected to electro-stimulation, as well as exposure to high-frequency currents with heating up to 39-400C. In addition, it can be saturated with special solutions that accelerate aging. And to prevent the development of microorganisms, ultraviolet irradiation can be used, which, if I'm not mistaken, is the norm, for example, for hospital operating rooms and other places requiring sterility.

There are also other industrial approaches, the most common is called "wet aging". The meaning of the method is that the meat is ripening already cut into portions and enclosed in vacuum packaging. In this form, it is little susceptible to spoilage, which allows it to withstand the time required for ripening.

Although there is an opinion that technologies that minimize meat shrinkage during its ripening process do not allow achieving a truly rich taste.

Nevertheless, even conservative methods are being corrected, for example, in one of the studies it was shown that an increase in the maturation temperature of meat to + 4 ° C reduces the maximum aging period to 16 days. That allows you to reduce the level of costs.

As a guideline, beef can be assumed to be fully ripe:
- at a temperature of 1-2 0С for 10-14 days
- at a temperature of 10-15 0С 4-5 days
- At a temperature of 18 0С 3 days

Concerning pork, then I did not find accurate data on the time required for ripening, some sources suggest that this time is comparable to the time indicated for beef, others, on the contrary, declare that pork does not need long aging and needs no more than a day.
Regarding mutton, guided by my own experience, even if not rich, I am still inclined to believe that some endurance improves its quality.
At first I made a reservation about fishFor most fish varieties, aging is contraindicated due to the high probability of active growth of bacteria, to which, as it turns out, the fish is very prone.

Homemade meat ripening.
As a rule, maturing meat at home is not recommended. Since it is necessary to be sure of the sterility not only of your kitchen, but also of the process of slaughtering and cutting the carcass into pieces. In addition, no one can guarantee that your scent and eye will not fail. However, I came across a butcher's recommendation for home-maturing meat.
An uncut piece of beef meat, preferably large with outer films, must be thoroughly washed and dried. Then place it on the coldest shelf of the refrigerator, wrapped in a canvas cloth, wipe the piece several times a day and change the wrapper to a new one. The old one must be carefully removed from the blood and dried, after which it will become suitable for subsequent use. Continue this process for 16 days, after which you can cut pieces and fry. If the meat is not eaten within 22 days, it is recommended to transfer it to the freezer and store it for no more than two months.

On my own note, it is probably permissible to ripen the meat in the refrigerator, wrapping it in cling film, thoroughly washing and drying it beforehand, a kind of vacuuming. By the way, I think that even a fairly large piece can be eaten in two weeks, and the issue of freezing meat becomes less relevant.

Everything seems to be, additions and clarifications from experts are not only desirable, but also probably required.

A source: 🔗

Chilled meat from New Zealand, popular in the UK, is at least two months old - it just won't reach it before. And this is not the limit: technologies have been developed in New Zealand and Australia that allow you to store chilled meat for up to 180 days. Without even going into technology, one might suspect that frozen meat is arguably the best alternative.

Russia, it would seem, can breathe out - we import mainly frozen meat. Of course, there is refrigerated meat even from such distant countries as Brazil, but it accounts for such a small share that it is possible that meat is still delivered by air. But in any case, the timing is not magic - at least 2-3 days, which for a "fresh" product means a quick approach to the category of stale.

There is also nothing to guarantee that the meat produced by local native farmers will come to you fresh on the shelf. In the UK, it is estimated that meat can get there 3-4 weeks after slaughter. It is unlikely that Russian farmers and suppliers are much faster.

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