8.5 Dry heat for tender cuts

Tender cuts of meat, and meat that has been made tender, can be cooked in a frying pan by two dry-heat methods: pan-frying and pan-broiling. Lamb chops, pork chops, beef patties, pork sausage and bacon all cook well this way.

Both methods begin the same way. Cut through the epimysium, the connective tissue around the muscle, at one-inch intervals.

Pan-frying

• Brown both sides of the meat in a little vegetable oil or shortening. Some cuts need no added fat. Lean meat and breaded meat need enough fat to coat the whole bottom of the pan.
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• Turn the meat from time to time so it browns evenly. Set the heat so the inside reaches the doneness you want while the outside is neither too brown nor too pale.
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• Test doneness with a sharp knife: a small cut beside the bone, or in the middle of a boneless cut.

Pan-broiling

Pan-broiling cooks meat in a dry, heavy pan, with only enough fat to stop sticking.

• Brush the pan with vegetable oil or shortening so the meat will not stick. Skip this with a non-stick pan.
• Put the meat in a heavy frying pan or on a griddle.
• Cook it slowly and turn it now and then. As with pan-frying, adjust the heat so the inside and outside are done at the same time.
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• Pour off fat as it collects. If the fat stays in the pan, the meat ends up fried, not pan-broiled.
• Check doneness with a small knife cut near the bone, or at the center of a boneless piece.
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Meat that has been made tender

Meat can also be made tender with an enzyme. To test this, cut a half-pound round steak into two matching pieces. Treat one piece with a store-bought enzyme tenderizer, following its label. Pan-broil both pieces to medium, and salt only the untreated piece.

Questions to think about

• What five dry-heat methods can you name?
• What is the lowest safe internal temperature for whole cuts of beef, veal, lamb and pork? For ground meat?
• How do flavor, juiciness and tenderness change as meat is cooked further?
• Which ways of tenderizing meat by machine worked?
• Is every muscle in a single retail cut equally tender?