What Causes Marbling In Meat

Prime has more marbling than choice and choice has more than select.

What causes marbling in meat.

As meat is cooked to more advanced degrees of doneness the tougher it will get. The marbling keeps the meat moist so. Why is marbling in meat important. Fat is far more tender than muscle fiber in steak.

Cattle that are raised on grain will have more marbling than grass fed beef. If you like well done steaks you want cuts with more marbling. Marbling helps to insure acceptable tenderness at higher levels of doneness. Beef tenderness is actually caused by microscopic fat cells within the meat fibers that are invisible to the naked eye.

Marbling is the visible unsaturated healthy intramuscular fat that accumulates within the muscle and between the muscle fibre bundles. As a result marbling adds tenderness which is a preferable. This is fairly intuitive since you can imagine how difficult it would be to get fat by eating grass. Graders evaluate the amount and distribution of marbling in the ribeye muscle at the cut surface after the carcass has been ribbed between the 12th and 13th ribs.

Marbling is the little flecks of fat found within the muscle of the meat cuts. What causes marbling in meat. When cooking marbling adds flavor and juiciness as the fat melts into the steak. When beef is cooked the degree of tenderness is mostly dependent on the amount of fat in the meat.

Marbling is known for adding flavour to the meat. At chiller temperatures marbled fat appears white and will become less obvious as the meat comes up to room temperature with unsaturated fats beginning to melt. Usda select has only slight marbling. Marbling is fat so it is largely determined by the diet of the animal and to a certain degree the breed of cattle.

Marbling keeps the meat moist during cooking so natural juices don t evaporate in the pan. Usda prime beef has the highest marbling score or fat content followed by usda choice. Cuts with more marbling have a tendency to be more tender and to tolerate being cooked to greater degrees of doneness. As the fat melts into the meat it therefore keeps the natural juices while cooking preventing the meat from becoming dry.

Microscopic fat cells within the meat fibers hidden within the red muscle tissue in the photo at the top of the page. It also affects the juiciness texture and tenderness of the meat. Visually marbling is soft intramuscular between the muscle fibre fat made up of polyunsaturated monounsaturated and saturated fats. Because marbling is added fat between the muscle not the kind that you cut off the edge it impacts your steak s juicy flavors.

Degree of marbling is the primary determination of quality grade.